Our Board of Directors

The IMA Board of Directors serves for two-year terms in a voluntary capacity.  We are always seeking dedicated individuals who support the IMA's values to join our Board. If you are interested in joining our Board of Directors, or wish to nominate someone, please contact Harvey Zarren at hzarren@cove.com.

Board Members:

Karlo Berger, ABT, LMT

Karlo is Founder and Coordinator of the IMA. He has an extensive background in non-profit organizational development, and community dialogue and problem-solving. He has worked for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Geneva, Public Voice International and Saferworld in the UK, and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He is active as a whole health consultant and helps individuals and healthcare organizations connect productively with the whole health sector.  In addition, he is a certified shiatsu massage therapist, working at Harvard University Health Services.  Karlo may be reached at 401-383-0661.

Michael Basso, Jr., MS, MBA, Ph.D.

Michael is President of The Connecticut Holistic Health Association in Hartford Connecticut and a special correspondent on holistic and natural medicine for the Norwalk Hour and the Greenwich Times newspapers. Basso also teaches at the University of Connecticut in Stamford and participates in CAM activities at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. He earned his PhD in Professional Psychology and Biomedical Systems at Union Institute Graduate School.

Judy Christine Copp, M.Ed, RPP

Judy joined the IMA board in March 2005 to focus on marketing communications, publicity and public relations. Formerly a corporate communications manager, Judy now practices Polarity Therapy and other healing modalities in private practice and at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem and Lynn, Massachusetts.  Judy also teaches Kripalu Yoga and Kriya meditation at Prana Center in Salem.  Judy earned a BA in Media Communications from Emerson College and an M.Ed in Psychological Studies from Cambridge College.  With a lifelong interest in holistic practices, Judy looks forward to furthering IMA’s mission.

Joan Strauss, MBA

Joan is the IMA's Treasurer and Clerk.  She is Senior Project Manager in Service Improvement at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Formerly Operations Director for Interdisciplinary Services and the Healing Connection at Union Hospital, North Shore Medical Center in Lynn, Massachusetts, Joan has also been a Consultant to the health care industry in marketing and market research and earned her MBA from Simmons College in Boston. Strauss has published extensively and says that her interest in the scientific study of immunology is driven by a fascination with the body's wisdom, intelligence and capacity to heal. She is currently working to create space in a conventional care setting where each individual can gain knowledge of and confidence in their self-healing abilities.

Harvey Zarren, MD, FACC

Harvey is President of the IMA's Board of Directors.   Zarren is the Founder of The Healing Connection, a hospital based program at the Union Hospital in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Healing Connection is a working practice that places people and the value of human interaction back into the center of the healing process. Since 1982, Harvey has been an Assistant Clinical Professor in Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. A physician trained in allopathic Cardiology since 1975, Zarren's practice and approach to healing has evolved over the years. He has included a focus on nutrition as a cornerstone of cardiac wellness and has emphasized hope, personal responsibility fostered by education, and the value of human relationships in the prevention and treatment of heart disease. He is a graduate of Columbia College and the Tufts University School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and speaks and presents workshops around the United States and internationally.