Meet Our Team
You Can Thrive! is a caring volunteer community that uses our resources to positively influence the lives and journeys of all people, especially those living with breast and other cancers.
Luana DeAngelis is a social innovator with a multi-generational lineage in natural health. Luana has emerged in the past two decade as an expert and speaker in the fields of integrative health, disease prevention, and palliative cancer care. In 2005, she founded YCT using her knowledge in integrative medicine to transform the way our system approaches disease and aftercare. She presented at conferences as a keynote speaker and was co-investigator gathering outcome data with Columbia Presbyterian (IRB) Internal Review Board approved researchers on our methods for delivering effective symptom reduction and resiliency care.
For the past two decades, Luana has provided the model and the leadership needed to mobilize our system from treatment of disease to prevention of it. Supporting the feminine energy is needed as caretakers of society will be the key to sustaining healthier populations. Her practice incorporates these methods and trains practitioners in many modalities.
Eileen is a multidisciplinary practitioner whose ethos, ability to create a thriving conscious community and entrepreneurial vision is at the core of all her endeavors. A two-time cancer survivor, Eileen found solace in therapeutic sound and has traveled the globe immersing herself in holistic therapies.
From her first hand knowledge, she has no doubt about the transformational power that integrative care has for those undergoing challenges and transformation. She regularly co-creates immersive programming with experts in the field of therapeutic sound, meditation, yoga, acupuncture and movement.
Board of Directors
Dr. Sokolof trained at Harvard Medical School and has been on the physicians team giving care at NYU, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and is now Director of Functional Medicine and Oncological Rehabilitation at Catholic Health in NY. With a commitment to evidence-based practices, he has implement functional medicine principles that address the root causes of ailments.
His leadership extends beyond clinical duties as an active Executive Board Member of the American College of Sports Medicine's Moving Through Cancer Global Health Initiative, where he advocates for patient wellness and rehabilitative strategies. He has specialties in Oncology.
Meredith Fabian-Ludke
Meredith brings 25+ years of non-profit leadership and management to You Can Thrive!. She is Vice President for Latin America at an international non-profit Covenant House, as well as a certified Reiki Master and Professional Coach. Blending her passion for transformational healing with her non-profit expertise, Meredith leads our board with skill & devotion.
The two mothers in Meredith’s life, her own mother and her mother-in-law, are survivors of breast cancer, which brings her close to our cause. She believes a vital part of the You Can Thrive! community are those family, friends and peers who support and love members throughout their breast cancer journey.
Katie Down, (LCAT, MT-BC, MM) is a licensed creative arts therapist, music psychotherapist, Reiki practitioner, deep listening practitioner, teacher, composer and performer. She has been facilitating sound bath meditations and deep listening workshops for over 10 years offering classes, and training programs in music therapy and sound meditation/healing as well as clinical supervision for LCATs, LCSWs, MDs and other creative arts therapists.
Katie received her master's degree in Music Psychotherapy at New York University with additional trauma training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and with Laurel Parnell in EMDR and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Paulette Graf. Incorporating MBSR, EMDR, and creative visualization for trauma and trauma-related symptoms, Katie provides a nurturing, grounded and open environment for opening the heart and letting go of blockages and negative patterns that hold us back from feeling connected to our higher selves and each other.
Katie is the former Department Chair of Music Therapy at the Brooklyn Music School, meditation teacher has worked internationally in the Balkans, South Africa, and Ecuador, offering workshops and events in improvisation and song writing and has trained with Musicians Without Borders in the Netherlands.
Emily Penzo is a finance professional with a background in economics, a long history of community involvement, and a deep commitment to inspiring hope in fellow cancer survivors. A lifelong proponent of social justice, Emily grew up taking part in peaceful demonstrations on behalf of marginalized communities throughout New York City.
For over a decade, she facilitated budget and forecast preparation of a 2.5-billion-dollar portfolio of infrastructure investments for one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the country, and developed expertise in project management, cost analysis, and contract administration.
Diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, Emily struggled with a difficult healing process before discovering holistic therapies as well as encouragement and strength in the sisterhood at YouCanThrive! The experience ignited a passion in her to empower other survivors. Inspired by YCT’s care model, Emily founded North Node, a digital platform connecting volunteers with local nonprofits and philanthropic communities.
Dr. Caroline Hartridge is a doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, who is licensed as a General Practitioner in New York and Georgia. She completed her Internship in a Family Medicine residency program at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Patchogue, NY, studied Osteopathic Medicine and Public Health at Touro University, California and Environmental Education at Davidson College, North Carolina.
From her aunt to her best friend's mother, Dr. Hartridge has witnessed the ripple effect of a breast cancer diagnosis. She is honored to be part of a team focusing energy and expertise towards healing.
Advisory Board
Dr. Jenny Isaacs received her PhD in psychology at St. John’s University in the field of clinical psychology and completed her clinical internship at the University of Washington. She pursued a year-long postdoctoral research position in a developmental lab at the University of Turku, in Finland. Dr. Isaacs is engaged in programmatic research within the field of developmental psychopathology and social and personality development, focusing largely on child/adolescent peer relations, antisocial development, and associated social cognitions. Much of her work examines problematic peer relations from a dynamic, developmental perspective..
Her teaching interests are statistics, abnormal psychology, clinical psychology, psychology of death and dying, and advanced research in psychology. Her research interests are children’s social development, social-cognitive learning theory, and quantitative methods.
She has received the University of Turku Award for Excellence in Developmental Psychopathology Research and a Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Award. She has been published in peer reviewed works and articles throughout her career.
Catharine DeLong is a certified Contemplative Musician and Music-Thanatologist in New York City. With harp and voice she tends to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of Visiting Nurse Service of New York hospice patients at Mount Sinai and the Goodman Brown Residence; to individuals receiving palliative care at Bellevue Hospital; to late stage breast cancer clients being served by the You Can Thrive Foundation; and to others who are approaching the end of life.
Catharine is the current facilitator for the the New York Open Center’s Art of Dying “Integrative Thanatology” certificate program. She also presents workshops, “Introduction to Thanatology” and “Music as Medicine at the End of Life.”
She is an ordained interfaith minister affiliated with the One Spirit Interfaith Alliance. Catharine is grateful for the opportunity to both educate, and to aid patients and their loved ones in making meaning of their end of life experience.
Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor was a very beloved and important member of our guiding board of directors at the time of this passing. He was instrumental in oversight and guiding our programs featuring therapeutic Sound for those diagnosed with cancer. His energy and passion lent this mission a unique enthusiasm.
As the Founder and President of Gaynor Integrative Oncology and Gaynor Wellness in New York City for 30 years, Dr. Gaynor became a renowned pioneer in the field of integrative oncology. A bestselling author, speaker and composer of original sound healing meditations. His last book, “The Gene Therapy Plan – Taking Control of your Genetic Destiny Through Diet and Lifestyle” was forwarded by Dr. Mehmet Oz.
His legacy provides a revolutionary approach to reverse gene damage associated with aging, cancer, obesity, and diabetes and to prevent future gene deterioration with specific programs that are appropriate for anyone who wants to maximize longevity for themselves, their children and future generations. Please consider giving to the Mitchell L. Gaynor Therapeutic Sound Fund in his memory.
He is so very missed.
