Felicia Newsome, LMT

As a Licensed Massage Therapist, Felicia has practiced at some of New York’s most elegant hotels, high-end spas and private membership clubs.  Her clientele has included a number of dignitaries, celebrities and sports figures.  

She began working at Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Integrative Medicine Center (2005 - 2011),  treating people in various stages of cancer treatment in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

In 2009, Felicia was hired as the Senior Massage Therapist for the R.E.S.T. Initiative, a non-profit organization which created the first program to provide massage for patients receiving chemotherapy at NYU’s Perlmutter Clinical Cancer Center in NYC.  The program was eventually transitioned to the Perlmutter Cancer Center Integrative Health Service where Felicia was named Team Lead and was integral as liaison to the chemo suite nursing staff, developing documentation, procedures, safety protocols, and training new hires.

Fully understanding the value of massage and other integrative modalities as part of a person’s oncology journey, as well as the importance of having knowledgeable, well trained non-medical practitioners, she set out to create a  comprehensive continuing education program focused on oncology as a specialty for massage therapists.

In 2014, Felicia brought together a team of oncology professionals and seasoned oncology massage therapists to collaborate and develop the initial training program, and in 2015 partnered with the The Center for Advancement of Therapeutic Arts (CATA),  offering the CATA Oncology Massage Training and Certificate Program.

In 2020, she and Rebecca Smith founded Advanced Massage Specialty Group, Inc. and in 2021 Felicia joined the Body Craft Massage Therapy team.

Felicia holds an AS in Occupational Sciences from Swedish Institute (2001), a BA in Communications from SUNY Empire State (2007), and MS in Acupuncture from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (2019).  She is a NYS licensed Massage Therapist, a National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) recognized oncology massage specialist.