Speaker Bios

Betsy Hafkin

Betsy Hafkin is a New York State Licensed Massage Therapist with over 11 years experience. She specializes in sports, orthopedic, and deep-tissue massage geared towards health maintenance and relieving chronic pain and tension. As a professional dancer and avid cyclist she's particularly aware of the aches and pains troubling active individuals.

Betsy earned her degree at the Swedish Institute for Massage Therapy, where she studied both Eastern and Western modalities. Since graduating she has continued to add to her knowledge base, with advanced education in medical and sports massage, as well as earning her Certificate in Personal Training in order to better understand the challenges facing the athletes she treats.

Betsy currently works as a full-time massage therapist at Google, treating both the chronic muscular imbalances caused by hours in front of a computer, as well as keeping the very athletic Googlers healthy and in top condition.

Bruce Mandelbaum

photo credit to woife

Bruce Mandelbaum L.Ac., LMT, Dipl. Ac. is a New York State and CT licensed acupuncturist with private practices in both NYC and Fairfield CT. He has been specializing in the treatment of sports injuries and back and neck pain for over thirty years and has over forty thousand hours of hands on experience treating mostly runners, cyclists and triathletes. He is currently the Acupuncturist for the Olympic Development Committee of the Central Park Track Club in NYC where he treats both Olympic and elite athletes.

Bruce utilizes a combination of trigger point acupuncture and hands on acupressure to treat cycling injuries. His experience as a life long competitive athlete having run over two hundred races from 5k to the marathon also helps him to understand the needs of each individual patient, what corrective exercise they need as well as what they need to do to maintain their fitness. He is a 1994 graduate of the Tri-State College of Acupuncture Masters program and a 1983 graduate of the Swedish Institute for Massage Therapy. Bruce has appeared on the Today show, The View and Channel 12 CT.

Robert J Fluegel, PT, OCS, COMT

Rob Fluegel graduated from Saxion University in Enschede, Holland in 1998 with a degree in Physiotherapy. His education in Holland was very manual therapy-based. Upon returning to the US, he continued to pursue training in manual physical therapy through Maitland Australian Physiotherapy Seminars (MAPS) becoming a Certified Orthopaedic Manual Therapist (COMT) through MAPS in January 2003. He presently works as an instructor with MAPS, teaching weekend continuing education courses to other Physical Therapists throughout the country. In June 2004 he became a Board Certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties.

In his 15+ years as a practicing Physical Therapist, Rob has worked in a variety of outpatient orthopaedic and sports physical therapy clinics in the tri-state area. He’s worked with a broad spectrum of active patients, from the “weekend warriors”, to High School, College, Olympic and Professional athletes. He served as the Head Physiotherapist for the US Freestyle Ski Team during the 2011-12 World Cup season and remains on the Rotational Medical Pool Staff for the US Ski and Snowboard Association. He has also worked as a volunteer Medical Provider for the NYC Triathlon and the NYC Marathon.

In June 2014, Rob decided to take the best of his vast clinical experience and open his own, one-on-one, patient centered physical therapy clinic: Manhattan Orthopaedic & Sports Therapy.

Dr. Louis Calvano

Louis Calvano received his undergraduate training at Bucknell University, with a degree in Biology. He had an inclination towards the health sciences, but put off further studies upon graduation in 1976 to pursue his athletic aspirations as a road runner and marathoner.

Highlights of his career included a 14th place finish in the New York City Marathon, Course Record holder of the Long Island Marathon, winning the event twice, and an invitation to compete in the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon.

A nasty case of sciatica put Louis on the sidelines, and he was introduced to chiropractic care, which helped him enormously. As a result of that positive experience, he chose chiropractic as his profession. It was also during this time that he discovered the benefits of cycling to keep fit while in recovery.

Dr. Calvano studied at New York Chiropractic College, graduating with honors in 1986. In his final semester, he was chosen to be assistant director of the school’s outpatient clinic. Since graduation, Dr. Calvano has been in private practice in New York City, serving thousands of patients, with an emphasis on athletic injury prevention and treatment.

NYCC wishes to thank INFINIT Nutrition for sponsoring our November 11th Program

Raffle prizes will include the following INFINIT formulations:

GO Far, Speed, Jet fuel, ISIS Endurance (go far for women), ISIS Hydration (speed for women), MUD, REPAIR, NOCTURNE, Napalm orange creamsicle, and Napalm grape

The grand prize will be a compilation of many of these products.

Read more about INFINIT Nutrition: INFINIT Nutrition 101

You can find INFINIT on the web at http://www.infinitnutrition.us