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A
Childhood in Wartime Italy
Serafina
Corsello was born in Palermo, Italy on May 13, 1933. She was
raised in Rome, and spent her summers at the family home in
Petrignano, in the foothills of the sacred town of Assisi. During
the dark days of World War II, when many in Rome were starving,
Petrignano was a place of sanctuary for her and her family. The
people of Petrignano, mostly farmers by trade, raised all their
own food, and often used folk remedies for healing. Her time there
remained fixed in her memory and had a profound impact upon her
future.
Grandmother
Filippa’s Influence
Serafina’s
maternal grandmother, Filippa, had undoubtedly the greatest
influence on her life choices. Filippa introduced her
granddaughter to two major passions—music and medicine. During
World War II, when it seemed that all the physicians were
ministering to the dying and wounded soldiers, Filippa became a
highly respected lay healer, using natural remedies to cure all
types of disorders for family, neighbors and friends. Filippa and
her husband were dedicated patrons of the opera and Serafina, who
was blessed with a quality of voice, dramatic sensibility, and
discipline, was beginning to train for a career in music when she
developed typhoid fever. At the age of fourteen, her
life-threatening bout with illness shifted her career interests
from music to medicine. She nurtured both of these early loves
with passion and devotion throughout her life.
Education
in Italy and America
Serafina
went to one of the most rigorous public schools in Rome, The
Virgilio. There she chose the Classical track, which included
seven years of Latin, five years of ancient Greek, three years of
philosophy, art, Italian literature, chemistry and mathematics. In
Italy, this type of education was a prerequisite for medical
school, but it also gave her the broad classical foundation that
would support her healing, teaching, and writing for decades to
come. While at the University of Rome Medical School in the late
l950s, Serafina met and married an Italian-American colleague, R.
Anthony Martino. They returned to the United States in 1962 to
begin their medical careers. She was the first foreign-born woman
to be accepted into the prestigious psychiatric residency program
at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York. She always felt that she
was drawn to psychiatry because it enabled her to understand the
important link between the mind and the body as it related to both
illness and wellness.
A
Career in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Serafina
was an early practitioner of medical care that integrated
mainstream and complementary and alternative treatments. If she
considered herself a pioneer, she again credited her grandmother’s
example for that. Pilippa was a woman before her time. She was a
trained midwife who had wanted to be a doctor. She was extremely
knowledgeable in many areas of healing, which now fall under the
umbrella of complementary and alternative treatments. Serafina’s
desire to find safe, nontoxic, natural routes to healing, her
strength of character, and her dedication to the care of others
all can be traced back to her grandmother’s influence, As part
of Serafina’s early training, she became certified in
orthomolecular medicine — the treatment of disease using large
doses of nutrients. She then trained with the American College for
the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM), which teaches Chelation
Therapy and other natural healing techniques. She was proud to
have been at the forefront of what she believed was a revolution
in medical care. In 1992, she was honored with being one of only
twenty-five physicians in the United States to sit on the ad hoc
committee which established the guidelines for the Office of
Alternative Medicine within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In 1997, this office was expanded by Congress into the National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) within
the NIH.
Serafina
was an internationally respected clinician, lecturer, and mentor
and the recipient of numerous awards. She was the co-founder of
the Foundation for the Advancement of Innovative Medicine (FAIM).
Her book, The Ageless
Woman, published in
1999, focused on anti-aging medicine and Bioidentical Hormone
Replacement. She was the Executive Medical Director of the
Corsello Centers for Complementary-Alternative Medicine, with
offices in Manhattan and Long Island. She hosted a weekly radio
program, “Ask Dr. Corsello,” on WOR in the New York
Metropolitan Area.
Serafina
said, “The guiding force for all physicians should be the
Hippocratean
dictatum, ‘Prima
non nocere’ — first
do no harm. From this
basic starting point, physicians need to recognize that good
physiology depends upon a healthy relationship among our thoughts,
our spiritual beliefs and our chemistry.”
Family
Serafina
is survived by her only child Paola, son-in-law Robert, and adored
granddaughter Sofia Grazia. In Rome, she leaves behind her younger
brother Piero Corsello and sister-in-law Paola, as well as her
nieces, Chiara and Elena, and her nephew, Riccardo. In Palermo,
she leaves her extended family including her first cousins
Giovanni, Salvina, Ginella and their children.
On October 27, 2006, Serafina’s only grandchild, Sofia Grazia,
was born. Serafina had the opportunity to feel the completeness of
her life’s journey from physician to mother and finally to
grandmother. Sofia was one of her greatest joys in a life full of
unique experiences, great accomplishments, and enduring passions.
May she rest in peace in the knowledge that all of the love she
gave will be returned to her many times over.
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