Navigating through the sea of medicine

Most new patients at the hospital, regularly ask for an explanation of  Chinese medicine , so that they understand how the treatment works. In the United States, the religious, or those with a background in science are often very suspicious of a system that is being frequently advertised as the product of  vague eastern practices , or is  surrounded by mystery  and/or encompassing  near occult methods.   Many of my acupuncture students, sometimes also find it difficult to come up with a clear definition that doesn’t include the keywords:  qi, energies, yin and yang, five elements , and  5000 years of TCM history . An attempt to explain it as a method of using needles to stimulate  “channels and meridians” , or using herbs to access the internal organs according to  ancient experiences  of the Chinese people, again doesn’t sound scientifically convincing.    From my experiences in a hospital setting, when the religious or t...

I t was back in 2018, and I was still working at the Sports Trauma Hospital in Guangzhou, China. That day, a young gentleman comes to the clinic with a martial arts injury. Physical examination/palpation of the limb and also an x-ray revealed a fractured ulna. Typically, in these types of situations, the standard of care at the hospital, required that the patient moves to the inpatient department for further evaluation, processing and to await surgery. During the surgery, the specialist would open a small incision, realign the bone and then secure it in place with pins or metal implants. However, this approach is not always necessary. In the not-so-distant past, for a simple fracture of the ulna with less than 50% displacement and less than 10% angulation, a simple cast and plenty of rest would be sufficient.  In any case, the patient outright refused surgery and casting. He simply asked that we use traditional bone-setting to realign the bone, and then secure it in place with wood...

I have recently been appointed as member of the Governing Board and Secretary of the Neuro-Acupuncture Institute.  This weekend, therefore, I find myself in Albuquerque, helping iconic Professors Jason and Linda Hao to supervise students at the Level II Neuro-Acupuncture training.    Neuro-acupuncture is an advanced clinical method which integrates cutting-edge applied clinical neuroscience with traditional needling techniques.  The Neuro-Acupuncture Institute is non-profit organization that studies, teaches and researches the effects of neuro-acupuncture in acute and chronic central nervous system disorders.   Here’s a few photos taken over the last 4 days. 

Early in 2021, I was appointed Associate Editor for the   "Chinese Medicine and Culture" , one of the better-known Academic Publications of the Shanghai TCM University, the only peer-reviewed TCM Medical Humanities publication in the academic world. I have been peer-reviewing for them for a while, and also have contributed an article or two over the years. But in 2020 they approached me to serve in the Editorial Board, and also appointed me Associate Editor. However, the official certificates only reached me in November 2022.     Over the last year, they invited me together with Prof. Charles Buck to guest edit a special issue on  “The global cross-cultural integration of TCM in the mainstream healthcare, medical education and the practice of medicine” I believe it will be a historical issue, with contributions from the most iconic figures in the western TCM world. I will keep you all updated. 

In 2019, I left China after a long tenure of 17 years, to accept a position of Researcher, Faculty and Clinic Supervisor at the  Foundation for PIHMA Research and Education   in Phoenix, AZ. My work there also involved kickstarting PIHMA’s   Entry Level  “Doctoral Degree” (DACM), and establish an Integrative Medicine clinic shift that would assist students to reach an elementary understanding of Integrative Medicine, as per accreditation standards.   I soon went on to develop PIHMA’s  “Integrative Clinical Diagnosis”  and  “Integrative Case Management”  classes, and I started teaching from my many years of experience in China.    At the same time - in 2019 - together with the then Clinic Dean, we contacted St Vincent de Paul, to establish a Chinese Integrative Medicine clinical shift.   The shift originally run from late 2019 until the pandemic lockdown, and it was re-established again in the early 2021.    At SVdP, w...

As all of you already know from the news, in 2022 Arizona passed the SB1080 into law, which now defines Acupuncture as a "System of Medicine" . What probably you don’t know is that  the part of that law that enables acupuncturists to order labs and imaging  was my own personal contribution.  But let’s start from the beginning. In the first week of January 2022, there was a meeting at the  Francine Restaurant  in Scottsdale, where several of us discussed the direction of acupuncture in the State. It has been years since the last update in the acupuncture law, and excitement levels were high. Certain directions were considered, such as animal acupuncture and AHCCCS to be included in SB1080. But in the end my suggestion was to go with the absolute necessities first, and therefore labs and imaging found their way into the proposal. On the other hand, animal acupuncture and AHCCCS will be considered for 2023.    I also worked really close with the...

The new semester is upon us, and today I am teaching my Integrative Clinical Medicine students the International Standard Scalp Acupuncture system. This is the first time I teach a class in person since the beginning of the pandemic, and we took a few photos to commemorate the day.    At the SVdP hospital, we often treat people suffering from brain injuries, stroke and cerebrovascular disease, disorders of the cranial and spinal nerves, fibromyalgia, headaches, and even long-Covid and PTSD.    These are diseases that respond really well to scalp acupuncture. In this class I teach the International Standard version, which was developed in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. This is the textbook standard, and perhaps one of the most commonly used TCM medical modalities for neurological diseases. 

A few days ago, I received this "Letter of Appointment" (under my Chinese name), as an Academic Advisor for the Jinan University History of Materia Medica Education Fund.    I am super pleased that my old school, the  Jinan University  still remembers my previous work and research, and wishes to involve me in projects, even after so many years after my PhD graduation. 

The Educational Instruction Committee of the   World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies   has recently produced a series of textbooks entitled the   “World Textbook Series for Chinese Medicine Core Curriculum” .   The Chief Editor for that series was Zhang Bo-li, which you perhaps may remember for being the person in charge of controlling the original Covid-19 outbreak at the epicenter in Wuhan in early 2020.    Well, in 2014, Prof. Zhang approached the most famous proponents of each Chinese medicine specialty from all over the world, to compile the textbooks in the series.    At that time, my first book, the  “Gold Mirrors and Tongue Reflections”  was making big waves in the TCM Diagnosis circles in China. And although I had not yet completed my PhD, I was invited to co-author the Diagnostics volume, as  Associate Chief Editor , being the youngest scholar of the entire project.    The position of Chief Editor was of...

Important Note, July 21, 2022: This essay was originally written in February 2020, when the Covid-19 epidemic was still in its early stages. Therefore, some of the information may be outdated and/or erroneous. I choose to keep it in its original form, as a personal historical record. This essay originally  appeared in the Singing Dragon Blog, here: https://blog.singingdragon.com/2020/03/tongue-diagnosis-during-the-sars-and-the-covid-19-outbreaks/   --- Please note:  This blog entry presents some very gruesome tongue pictures related to the corona virus. Although in China it is now legal for traditional doctors to assist in the management of epidemics in well-regulated hospital setting and fever clinics, in other countries most traditional clinics are not equipped to deal with such events. Please refrain from trying to provide treatment unless your clinic is fully equipped to do so, and also always act in accordance to the laws of the country you’re licensed to provide hea...

This is more of a personal entry. It is not a secret that I will be leaving China in a couple of days, after having spent 17 years in Beijing and Guangzhou. I leave my job at the Sports Trauma Hospital with feelings of great accomplishment and satisfaction after putting together a fully functional spinal deformities correction department.  However, since February there has been a hostile overtake of the hospital administration, and a split between the Niu Family. As a result, I decided not to follow either of the brothers, and opted to pursue an academic and clinical position in Phoenix, AZ.    Before leaving though, I had the chance to meet with my PhD supervisor, Prof. Chen Li-guo who’s retiring soon. Prof. Chen was the person who single handedly took the TCM Department at the Jinan University in 2000, kickstarted its Medical Degree, then a few years later established its Medical Master’s and more recently the PhD program.  Chen had an amazing journey in medicine, ...