Acupuncture & Functional Medicine Education:

I received my BS in Nutrition and Food Science from UC Berkeley in 1986, which included a full battery of courses in the biological sciences, including chemistry courses every year. Instead of doing a 1-year internship without pay to become a Registered Dietician or working in a food lab figuring out diabolical ways to combine sugar, salt and fat to get people addicted to food products, I opted to travel around the world. After exposure to Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine while teaching English and studying Chinese in Taiwan, I returned home to study and received my MS in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1991.

Since then I’ve taken and produced numerous continuing education classes to further my growth and development with the medicine. Some of my more influential teachers include the well-regarded practitioners Yitian Ni, Pingqi Kang, Robert Dreyfuss, Richard Tan, Robert Chu, and Kiiko Matsumoto.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, I rekindled my knowledge of biochemistry and physiological sciences and by studying Western Functional Medicine in depth with the Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine. I find that it complements Eastern Medicine very well in a yin-yang complementary and synergistic manner, and has provided some of the keys for unlocking my more challenging patient cases. My focus is on utilizing 3 key tests, Stress Hormones, Stool Test & Microbiome, and Organic Acids to hep unlock the secrets of the body.