My full name is Marianne Susaanti Follingstad.  I'm 64 years old and I've lived in Rockville since 1986, in the DC area since 1972.  I grew up outside Chicago in Park Ridge, IL where I was the salutatorian of my class at Maine East High School.  I attended Michigan State University where I was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated with high honors.

I spent three years getting a Masters in Acupuncture from Tai Sophia Institute (now Maryland University of Integrative Health or MUIH at www.muih.edu) so I could take their five month certification course and become an animal acupuncturist.  I now teach at MUIH, which became the first accredited acupuncture school in the U.S over 30 years ago.

I lost my fifteen and a half year old greyhound/beagle mix named Betty (that's her on the right) in 2009.  She was a joy to all and is greatly missed.  During her time with me, she greatly benefited from long walks, a raw food diet, and regular acupuncture treatments.  I adopted both Betty (at age six and a half years) and Annie, a five year old domestic short hair cat (who died in 2002 at fourteen and a half years), from the Montgomery County Humane Society.  Over the years, I've been guardian to three other dogs and lived with four other cats, each having a special place in my heart.