Professional training and certification in paramedical tattooing.
Faculty · Master Trainer
The Master Trainer
Dr. Cecilia Rusnak teaches every credential awarded by the Academy. The discipline she practices is the discipline she teaches — in real clinical conditions, on live cases, with technique correction in the room.
32Years in Practice
12Paramedical Certifications Held
3Academic Degrees
2015VA Outpatient Service Since
Teaching Philosophy
Five tenets that shape the curriculum.
01
The discipline is medical-adjacent. Teach it that way.
Paramedical tattooing is not an aesthetic trade. The Academy’s curriculum treats it as a clinical discipline — with the documentation standards, the regulatory awareness, and the patient-context gravity of medical work. The pace and standards are clinical rather than cosmetic.
Technique is taught alongside compliance. Compliance is taught alongside patient communication. None of the three is optional.
02
Training happens on live cases.
The Academy does not train on rubber skin, on practice pads, or on cadaver tissue alone. Every credential includes supervised practice on volunteer models — live human skin, real lighting, real tissue variability, real consequences.
This is the discipline as it is practiced. Candidates leave with the muscle memory of working under realistic conditions, not the artificial confidence of having executed perfect technique on training surfaces.
03
Correction in the room, not after the fact.
Master Trainer instruction means real-time feedback during the work — not a video review session afterward. When a candidate’s needle angle is wrong, the correction happens before the next stroke. When color selection is misjudged, the candidate sees the error in the chair and adjusts.
This is how Dr. Rusnak was trained. It is how she trains the next generation.
04
The standard is the standard.
The Certificate of Advanced Professional Training is awarded upon completion of the training. Every candidate receives the manual before class and is quizzed on it; in the room, technique is practiced on live models under direct supervision and corrected in real time. Candidates who have not yet met the standard are invited to continue training until they have.
The credential exists because the standard is upheld. That is what makes it worth awarding.
05
The patient is the standard.
Every teaching decision routes back to the patient who will eventually sit in the candidate’s chair. Will this practitioner read tissue conditions correctly? Will they hold the patient’s consultation with the gravity the work deserves? Will they document the case at a medical-grade standard?
If the answer to any of these is uncertain, the candidate is not ready. The Academy’s standard is not "did the candidate work hard." It is "would I refer a member of my own family to this practitioner."
The Clinical Lineage
Thirty-two years, four institutions, one discipline.
The FoundationFlorida College of
Integrative Medicine
Bachelor of Professional Health Studies. Master of Science in Oriental Medicine. The academic foundation of clinical practice.
Clinical InternshipYunnan University
of TCM
Internal medicine internship at Kunming Yuan An Hospital. Specialization in Tongue and Pulse diagnosis. The clinical immersion phase of training.
The DoctoratePacific College of
Health and Science
Doctor of Acupuncture. San Diego. The clinical-doctorate credential that anchors the Academy’s authority in integrative medical practice.
One Master Trainer, Two Formats
Dr. Rusnak teaches the in-person credentials at Dr. Rusnak Academy and the online programs at Paramedical Artists Academy.
Same Master Trainer. Same standard. Two formats — in-person clinical intensives in Orlando, New York, Houston, and Las Vegas, and online cohorts delivered under our sister brand. The credential awarded in either format carries the same authority.
Train Under the Master Trainer
The discipline she practices is the discipline she teaches.
Every credential awarded by Dr. Rusnak Academy is taught directly by Dr. Cecilia Rusnak. Assessment is conducted personally. The Certificate of Advanced Professional Training is signed by the Master Trainer herself.
Academy credentials are professional certifications, not state licences. Florida requires a state-issued Tattoo Artist Licence to perform tattooing; requirements vary by state and county. Students are responsible for obtaining their own licensure.
Botox® is a registered trademark of Allergan, Inc. Dr. Rusnak Academy is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Allergan.