Meet Larissa: 7 Things You Might Not Know About Larissa Vados, MIHS Co-owner

1. Larissa’s soulmate is named Leo (and he was her horse)

Larissa + Leo Forever

“I am a lifelong equestrian, I started riding at the age of 5. I used to spend much of my free time with my soulmate of a horse, Leo, who I grew up with for 25 years. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, but when the time is right (when I actually have time, that is!) I am excited to get back into riding again, and introduce my son to it as well.”

2. Traditional Chinese Medicine is personal for Larissa (and so is Pilates)

Today, Larissa is a Licensed Acupuncturist with a PhD in Traditional Chinese Medicine with over fifteen years of clinical experience. But as a kid, this was far from the path she imagined for herself. 

“I was on track for a very different career and life. I was a very active and athletic person, I grew up as mentioned riding horses, dancing, and spending a lot of time in the gym, but all of that was severely impacted by my diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 19. I was so frustrated by the standard care in our health system and the tremendous expense of the medications that actually worked for me. 

When I found TCM and was able to get off medications, achieve remission and get back to a “normal” life, it completely changed me. It changed my goals in life. I had always wanted a career where I could feel I was helping people, and now I knew what that was. Integrative health care gave me my life back, and I wanted to help other people the way I was helped.”

As we shared in this blog article about Pilates, Larissa’s health journey was also the origin point of her career as a Pilates instructor. In the early days of her Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis, her joints were so swollen that she had trouble gripping anything–even the simplest objects necessary to daily life. When Larissa went to a yoga class looking for relief, her instructor told Larissa that Pilates may be even more helpful than yoga. Larissa says that in addition to dietary and lifestyle changes, acupuncture, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, this advice to try Pilates laid the foundation for her eventual remission and recovery— physically, mentally, and emotionally. She says Pilates “was life changing” and inspired her to share this gift with others by becoming a STOTT PILATES® instructor, with advanced training in Pilates for neurological conditions.  

3. Larissa makes s**t happen

Larissa and Said have been married since 2016, and opened MN Integrative Health Studio together in 2023. Like any successful partnership, each brings different strengths to the business. 

Larissa explains, 

“I am extremely detail-oriented…you know, I make the plans, follow the rules, check all the boxes, cross all the T's, dot all the I's. [Said is] more free-flowing and dreams big. 
It’s obviously not to say that he doesn't get things done, but we're just opposite in the way that I do a lot of the detail work, and he loves to be doing hands-on patient work. That's what he excels at, working with people–and having the bigger ideas of things…”

She laughs and continues, “...and then I have to make them reality—make them realistic and actually happen.”

Said describes Larissa’s contributions similarly:

Humphrey, Susan, and Said

“She’s responsible, which is good because I’m… chaotic. She’s organized. She does a lot, she's more organized than me…she keeps up with all the details. Like, I'm a general plan person, I get stuff planned…but there's a lot of details, and the back end stuff, she’s really good at.”

Susan Smith (super-volunteer at the front desk since MIHS opened in 2023) puts it more succinctly: 

“Larissa does everything….without Larissa, nothing happens. You need something done? You ask Larissa, and it gets done.”

4. Larissa didn’t necessarily set out to be a business owner (which is exactly what makes her such a great business owner)

Larissa and Said began talking about someday owning a TCM clinic in the earliest days of their relationship. But soon after they moved from Tianjin, China to Minnesota in 2016, Larissa got a job as an acupuncturist in a hospital system. She worked collaboratively with other health care providers, and gained clinical experience treating complex and acute conditions–all while advancing Chinese Medicine’s place in the mainstream U.S. healthcare system. This was work she truly enjoyed. 


When they opened MIHS in 2023, Larissa was still working full-time as an acupuncturist in a position she planned to stay in. Said explains, “I pushed the clinic harder than she did.” 

Larissa describes her vision for her role in clinic operations at that time as:

“just being able to see some patients, like, one or two nights a week…but also to help make decisions on business aspects of the clinic…kind of behind the scenes, helping orchestrate…things like that.”

When Larissa lost her position amidst a climate of layoffs and cuts integrative health departments in 2024, everything changed. She soon took on a more full-time role at MIHS, increasing her patient load and taking charge of the administrative responsibilities that were rapidly growing as the clinic expanded. 

Larissa describes her present role at MIHS in this way:

“When people ask, I say I work 4 days a week. But really, I work like 24/7… it never ends. 
I'm up in the middle of the night on my computer updating stuff. When I left the hospital, I was pretty much able to cut myself off and be like, ‘it's not my problem.’ 
And now—it's my problem. That's one thing that I really like about just having a job. You just go to work and do your job and see your patients. 
And I do that here, but then I feel responsible for everything.”

I mean, it's terrifying me to have, 20-some employees….that I'm responsible for that for all those people and their work and their paycheck and making sure that…they're getting paid, and all their stuff is going smooth; and that we're paying the bills, keeping the lights on, and then…we have to come deal with something like the bathroom sink is leaking all over…it just never ends. 
So I just feel responsible for a lot. More than just myself and my patients.”

While Larissa’s hyper-attuned sense of responsibility to MIHS patients, staff, and operations may weigh on her at times, it’s exactly what makes her so effective as a business owner. She creates a steadiness and reliability that is felt by everyone in her midst. 

Susan explains Larissa’s influence:

“Larissa is the calm in the storm. She quickly addresses any issues as they come up. She’s always open for questions and to help. So much of what she does is behind the scenes and screen. She is the one that creates the forms, writes and updates policies, and more. And sometimes within minutes of the issue happening.”

5. Larissa and Said are very different (but always agree on the big stuff)

As anyone who’s been in a long-term relationship knows, the idea of going into business with your spouse can be daunting. Larissa is honest that there are disagreements at times. Explaining their differences, she says, “we're very opposite, which in theory is very good. 
In practice, it kind of clashes sometimes.” 

Said says that whether it’s at home or at work, Larissa’s support and advice is essential: “You need to have checks and balances. She’s the checks and balances.”

Larissa says that while she and Said may butt heads on day to day matters, 

“That’s minuscule things, right? But, overall, the big picture: I trust him. 
Really completely. 
We have differences, but also in the big picture, we have the same beliefs. It’s the same belief and desire and goal. 
I trust that he's always coming from a good place. There’s a deep trust there, just knowing where his heart is.

There's disagreements…it's not perfect….but we both want the same thing. We both care about having this clinic, helping our community, helping patients, being a good place for people to work.”

For Said, their shared values extend beyond work. He appreciates Larissa’s strong commitments to her family: “what stands out to me...a lot of people here [in the United States] don't feel obligated to their family members. 
She is...kinda rare.”

6.Larissa is a brilliant TCM practitioner

Larissa with Dr. Du YuZheng

Larissa is a skilled acupuncturist and TCM practitioner with years of experience treating a wide range of conditions in health care settings in China and the United States. Specifically, as we discussed in our article TCM for Stroke Recovery and Neurological Conditions, Larissa is a subject matter expert in TCM for neurological conditions. Her PhD from TUTCM focused on stroke recovery, and this past spring she presented at Northwestern Health Sciences University about TCM Stroke Recovery protocol for colleagues in the field of TCM. 

MIHS acupuncturist Ashley Steffensen LAc who has been practicing TCM for well over a decade says: 

“I am so glad I have Larissa in my workplace to bounce ideas and cases off of when I'm feeling like I need a hand with a challenging presentation. I'm especially thankful for her as a resource for cases with neurological issues. She is an absolute WIZARD for stroke and other brain and nerve conditions.” 

7.Larissa has big dreams for the future of health care

When Larissa and Said trained at Tianjin University for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TUTCM) in China, they experienced first-hand what a health care system looks like when TCM is fully integrated into every level of care. (Learn more about Larissa and Said’s experience in China here.) Their time in China had a profound impact on both of them. 

Larissa’s vision for the future of health care is ambitious and expansive, inspired by what she saw is possible in Tianjin. In this article about TCM for Stroke and Neurological Conditions, Larissa describes health care at the First Teaching Hospital of TUTCM as “fully blended….
Traditional and modern medicine together, in the hospital.” 

Larissa says it is this formative experience in China that made it especially gratifying to work in a hospital-based health care system in the United States:

“Exposing patients that would not otherwise be exposed to [Traditional Chinese Medicine], exposing other medical, professionals, and other providers, and and then C-Suite people to, like, this type of stuff that they would never otherwise be exposed to. 
I think it is very valuable…I loved working in that system for that reason because I have that vision of what it's like in China.

A good integrative health care team can often give people something our current health care system is lacking- we can truly spend time with the patient and listen. We can offer many treatment options and lifestyle recommendations that patients can put into action to support their own health. We can refer to other practitioners such as a competent dietitian or PT to support diet and safe activity - not just provide you a list of generic exercises to do at home or a copy of the current food pyramid and send you on your way, as unfortunately happens in many cases in our over-burdened system. Health care should be a collaboration of professionals AND patients together, that can actually spend time with patients and hear what their goals are and what is important to them.”

Does she think it is possible for TCM to achieve this level of respect and integration in the U.S. health care system?

“I don't think we're gonna get there in my lifetime, but that's the ultimate goal….I firmly believe in a model like the Chinese healthcare system. While it of course is not perfect, it is affordable for most people, and often seamlessly integrates modern and traditional care together, offering patients more options for care.” 

Larissa acknowledges the many challenges to advancing TCM and integrative health care in the U.S. health care system: economically, socially, culturally. “However,” she says, “nothing will change for the better unless we come together and advocate for it.” While she sought to influence health care from within while working at a hospital, she says that MN Integrative Health Studio offers its own opportunities to advance the practice of TCM. 

“Having your own clinic has a lot of benefits….You can practice this medicine how it's supposed to be practiced: spend time with people, actually really talk to people, and do other [TCM] modalities [e.g. cupping, tuina, herbal medicine]….A lot of times working in [the conventional hospital] system, you're also constrained. Here, we can take the time…we have the ability to practice our medicine to the fullest extent of what it should and could be.”

As MN Integrative Health Studio continues to grow and expand, Larissa says, “beyond helping patients individually, I want to be a part of working to change our healthcare in this country.”

This includes policy, “being involved in and supporting legislation that makes healthcare more affordable and accessible, and that supports including integrative care such as acupuncture in the greater health care system.”

Larissa and Said also want the clinic to be part of advancing the practice of TCM and integrative care in the United States. In the years to come, they envision MIHS collaborating with fellow health care providers across disciplines, “educating them on what TCM is and what it can do for patients, and how we can all work together.” Among the “never ending list” of dreams and goals for the future, Larissa says, “we would love to host more trainings, and host some of our teachers here from China…different things like that.” 

Just 3 ½ years since its inception, MN Integrative Health Studio has grown into a small institution in its own right, thanks in large part to Larissa’s influence. As for what’s next on the “never ending list” for what the future holds?

Stay tuned.

To find out more about Minnesota Integrative Health Studio services, check out our website. You canbook online here. Questions? Feel free to contact us, call (612.345.5648), at or stop by “the studio” on our corner of northeast Minneapolis.