Mary L Jurisson, MD

Mayo Clinic

I began my Taijiquan training under Grand Master Kuo Lien Ying in the Guang Ping style while an undergraduate at Stanford. After moving to Rochester, Minnesota, for postgraduate medical training at the Mayo Clinic, I trained with Dr. Charles Liu, who taught me a modified Yang style. I have completed two levels of Chunyi Lin's simplified Spring Forrest Qigong™, and I now train with Dr. Yang Yang to learn Chen style and his Evidence Based Traditional Taiji (EBT)™ form. Since 2005 I have taught Taiji and Qigong to a small group of staff and patients at the Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Center.

As a physician who's board certified in internal medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and rheumatology, I've focused my research on the mechanisms of cartilage repair and differentiation, and, more recently, on how motor control and motor learning promote congruent, health-promoting joint loading. Dr. Carmen Terzic, a Mayo Clinic colleague, and I are beginning to explore how Taiji and Qigong might help treat cardiovascular disease. I'm also avidly interested in facilitating research on how Taiji, Qigong, and dance might help treat rheumatic conditions, particularly osteoarthritis, and in how these joyful activities enrich our health and our lives.