Dan Bensky has been a student of Chinese medicine for almost 35 years. He is a translator of many commonly used texts, has taught in both the United States and Europe and has been combining Chinese and osteopathic medicine for over 20 years. Dan is a graduate of the Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine (Oriental Medicine Diploma, 1975), the University of Michigan (bachelor’s in Chinese language and literature, 1978), Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (Doctor of Osteopathy, 1982), the University of Washington (master’s in Classical Chinese, 1996) and the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Science (Ph.D. in Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine [Shanghan lun], 2006). He has been the medical editor of Eastland Press since 1981 and the director of the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine since 1993. He also has had a private practice at Chiron Health Associates in Seattle since 1986. He is co-author of the companion volumes, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica and Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies.
Matt Callison
Matt Callison earned his Bachelor of Science in sports medicine from San Diego State University in 1985. Callison worked in the sports medicine field at Alvarado Sports Medicine Clinic and Scripps Hospital, La Jolla for six years. In 1991, he received his master’s in Traditional Oriental Medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, where the class that he developed, Treatment of Orthopedic Disorders, is still being taught. Callison serves as Pacific College’s supervisor of acupuncture interns at the University of California San Diego Sports Medicine RIMAC Center, where they are blending Chinese and sports medicine in a Western setting. Callison’s unique ability to blend Chinese medicine with sports medicine has lead to his excellent reputation and is revealed in his international lecture series, Sports Medicine Acupuncture. He has published a clinical study on acupuncture and tibial stress syndromes (shin splints) in the Journal of Chinese Medicine. Furthermore, Callison is well known for his work with professional athletes. Callison is also the creator of the Motor Point and Acupuncture Meridian Chart, as well as the author of The Motor Point Manual and Sports Medicine Acupuncture.
Effie Chow
Effie Poy Yew Chow, Ph.D., R.N., Dipl. Ac, NCCAOM, Qigong Grandmaster, is the founded and is the director of the San Francisco-based international organization East West Academy of Healing Arts (EWAHA), as well as the EWAHA Qigong Institute, the American Qigong Association, the American Medical Qigong Association and the World Qigong Federation. In July 2000, she was one of the original 15 appointees by President Bill Clinton for the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. She is the recipient of over twenty awards, including the “Humanitarian of the Year 1999” and the “Visionary of the Decade 2000” award. The City and County of San Francisco made a proclamation of “Dr. Effie Poy Yew Chow Day” for November 22, 1997. She has been the only Qigong Grandmaster and acupuncturist involved in the development of national health policies within DHHS. She was appointed to the first Ad Hoc Advisory Panel for the congress-mandated Office of Alternative Medicine (now NCCAM) at NIH. She has made over 300 media appearances and interviews in the area of complementary and alternative medicine. Chow received her training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, and Qigong in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and the United States. She is a registered public health and psychiatric nurse and has received a master’s degree in behavioral sciences and communications, as well as a doctorate in higher education. She co-authored with Dr. Charles McGee “Miracle Healing from China…Qigong” and has two videos and an audiotape on Chow Qigong and meditation. Her clinical practice and teaching covers the general spectrum of health and illnesses. She travels world wide to see clients and lecture as she is internationally renowned for her exceptional success with difficult rehabilitative cases of chronic and debilitating conditions, such as pain, paralysis, cancer, asthma, arthritis, Cerebral Palsy and many other “hopeless” cases. She also helps world-class athletes reach higher performance levels and works integrally with the medical team who cares for the referred client. She believes in an integrated, creative approach to health and life and prescribes at least 8 hugs and 3 belly-aching laughs a day to everyone!
Nigel Dawes
Nigel Dawes has been practicing Oriental Medicine for 25 years. His primary training was in Japan, where he lived for six years followed by graduate studies in China and the U.K. He began teaching in 1987 and founded the London College of Shiatsu, which he directed for six years before coming to the U.S. He was Dean of the Graduate School of Oriental Medicine at the New York College for Holistic Health from 1993 to 2001. He has been actively engaged in various roles within the profession at a national level: He has done committee work for the Council of Colleges, exam work for the NCCAOM, was a board membership of the Acupuncture Society of New York and a site-team chairman for the Accreditation Commission. Since 2001, Dawes has focused on his private practice in Manhattan and adjunct faculty work for Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and Tristate College of Acupuncture. He regularly teaches workshops in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel. He also founded and directs an NCCAOM-approved one-year postgraduate internship in Sino-Japanese Herbology (Kanpo). He is the author of two books on Shiatsu, numerous articles on Oriental medicine and is about to publish a translation of a celebrated, modern Kanpo text.
Felice Dunas, Ph.D.
Felice Dunas received her award for single-handedly teaching the subject of sexuality to the U.S. Oriental medicine profession. She was among the first non-Asian acupuncturists in the United States and has been in practice since 1974. She is a public speaker and consultant for corporate and hospital CEOs and has lectured in over 40 countries and on every continent. She is responsible for giving over 30,000 referrals to acupuncturists around the U.S. Dr. Dunas earned her bachelor‚s in medical sociology from UCLA and served a three-year apprenticeship with noted Japanese and Korean acupuncturists. She also completed a three-year licensing course at the California Acupuncture College before earning her doctorate at Samra University in 1988. A veteran media guest, she is the author of the best selling book, "PASSION PLAY: Ancient Secrets for a Lifetime of Health and Happiness Through Sensational Sex", which has been published in six languages.
Justin Ehrlich, L.Ac.
Ehrlich received his bachelor’s from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1995 and his Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, 2001. He works in an integrated medical setting where he specializes in the treatment of orthopedic disorders by using traditional acupuncture, internal and topical herbal medicines, tui na and qigong. Ehrlich has also practiced and taught traditional Chinese martial arts for over 17 years. This experience in working with the physical and energetic body allows him to incorporate traditional exercises into the treatment of disease, thereby allowing the patient to take an active role in the healing process. Ehrlich is on faculty at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine where he teaches courses on Chinese medical theory, tui na, qi gong and external herbal applications.
Jean Giblette
Jean Giblette directs High Falls Gardens (HFG), a farm-based, nonprofit enterprise founded in 1993 to advance the practice of traditional medicine in North America through cultivation and study of Asian medicinal plants. HFG’s National Botanical Studies program supports the Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and their efforts to broaden clinical herbal studies with whole-plant access and related subjects. Activities include distribution of seeds and plants, lectures, internships, field workshops, research, publications and teacher training. Giblette coordinates the steering committee of the Medicinal Herb Consortium, which consists of five growers associations in different states working together to develop domestic cultivation of Asian herbs. She is a contributing author of Mending the Web of Life: Chinese Medicine and Species Conservation, and since 1994 has studied Chinese Herbal Medicine with Jeffrey C. Yuen in New York City.
Rick Gold, Ph.D., L.Ac.
Rick Gold is a 1978 graduate of NESA. Since that time, he has devoted his professional life to studying, practicing, teaching, and researching Asian healing arts. His study of Traditional Thai Massage began in 1988 at The OZA Medicine Hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Dr. Gold is the author of the book, Thai Massage: A Traditional Medical Technique, first published in 1998. Dr. Gold is also one of the founders of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Currently, he is in private practice in San Diego, and serves as the president of the International Professional School of Bodywork.
Bill Helm
Bill Helm is an ordained Taoist priest, and has been studying Chinese martial and healing arts since 1965. He specializes in tai ji quan, tui na, Chinese bodywork, qi gong, and herbal
medicine. Helm is a 20th-generation inner disciple of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowan. He studied traditional Chinese medicine in China at the Shanghai College of Medicine and the Beijing Olympic Training Center. Helm’s studies in the United States continued with Taoist Master Share K. Lew and Dr. Yu Da Fang. Helm is the director of the Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego, and the Dean of Allied Arts at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, San Diego.
Mark Kastner, L.Ac.
Kastner was raised in San Diego, California. Attracted to the healing arts field since age 12, Kastner attended the University of California with the intention of becoming a physician. However, his interest in alternative medicine led him to leave UCSD and began studying with Ram Dass and Dr. Bernard Jensen. Under the tutelage of Dr. Jensen, Kastner was introduced to Oriental healing arts and acupuncture. He then enrolled at California Acupuncture College, completing his internship at Guan An Min Hospital, Beijing, China, in 1985. Upon returning to the US, Kastner and Jack Miller created Park Blvd. Acupuncture Center, a thriving healing center in the late-1980's. Specializing in sports medicine, Kastner began working with numerous professional athletes in Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA. In 1993, he wrote the ground breaking "Guide to Alternative Medicine," which was academically acclaimed, selling 10,000 books in its first year. Kastner is currently in practice with his wife Marie at the Circle of Living Healing Center and has just celebrated his 20th year of practice. Outside the healing arts, Mark is the CEO of Families Forever, a non-profit corporation dedicated to family education. Kastner has recently published of his first novel "Closing the Circle.”
Yue-ying Lee
Dr. Yue-ying Li comes from a long line of Chinese Medical Doctors. Her medical studies unofficially began as an active youth curiously tending to her own athletic injuries. This curiosity of medicine led her to study at the Luzhou University Medical School where she earned her Doctor of Chinese Medicine Degree. After graduating from medical school, she spent a year in the hospital’s emergency room where she integrated modern, biomedical medicine with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As a TCM Internal Medicine Specialist and attending physician, Dr. Li treated a variety of illness. She also taught medical school courses and conducted extensive research in cardiovascular disease and in dermatological disorders. She went on to further her medical education in internal medicine, acupuncture and dermatology at Luzhou, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Sichuan Institute of Dermatology. She continued to hone her skills by studying under two of China’s leading dermatologists. She then left China to practice for nearly two years in a dermatology clinic in London, England. Dr. Li continues to successfully treat a variety of skin conditions (acne, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, wart, herpes and alopecia) by using traditional herbs and acupuncture. Through acupuncture, she also facilitates non-invasive face-lifts for facial rejuvenation. She also treats skin discoloration and provides consultation for overall skin care. Furthermore, Dr. Li continues to treat pain management, internal disease, cancer management, infertility and digestive disorders. In addition to maintaining her clinical practice, Dr. Li is currently a clinic supervisor and faculty member of Yo San University of TCM, Los Angeles, CA. At Yo San University, she teaches a variety of graduate level courses such as Acupuncture Location, Acupuncture Techniques, Diagnosis, and Internal Medicine.
Wei Liu, L.Ac, TCMD
Wei Liu, orthopedic physician (China), professor in Oriental medicine at the Northwestern Health Sciences University, founder of East Wind Acupuncture and Tui Na Healing Center, Inc., is a third-generation Chinese medical practitioner and an orthopedic surgeon at Tianjin's First Central Hospital. Liu’s formal education from the Tianjin TCM College involved a mixed major, which focused on a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western medicine. In addition to TCM training, Liu was also trained in surgery and trauma care and has been hired as an orthopedic surgeon at the Tianjin First Central Hospital where Chinese and Western medicine are integrated. Liu has served on several national-level medical groups in China and has written and published many medical papers about the integration of TCM and Western medicine. Besides his medical school training, Liu also had a 3-year apprenticeship under Dr. Yulin Lian who is an internationally renowned acupuncturist and author of The Seirin Pictorial Atlas of Acupuncture. Liu is the author of “Advanced Needling Technique,” a DVD, which has been scored 10 of 10 by Acupuncture Today. Liu's unique expertise in Traditional Chinese Medicine has made him a highly esteemed practitioner in the Twin Cities area and a coveted teacher and speaker on Chinese medicine from Coast to Coast. Liu was raised from early childhood to be an acupuncturist by his grandfather Jin Li Wang who is a well-known TCM doctor in Hebei. “I was fortunate to be born in a family that had a long medical tradition,” explains Liu. “My grandfather taught me secrets that include acupuncture-needling techniques and our own unique tui na manipulations.”
Kiiko Matsumoto
Kiiko Matsumoto is internationally known for her scholarly work on acupuncture, and the interpretation of Chinese classic texts. She has published three fundamental texts on acupuncture in the United States, and has another in press. Matsumoto regularly publishes articles in the Ido-No-Nippon acupuncture magazine in Japan, and has made two video series for the company. She is best known for her ability to integrate the work of very important Japanese Masters such as Master Nagano, Master Kawai, and Dr. Manaka, into a coherent and clinically effective style. Matsumoto routinely teaches acupuncturists around the world, including the United States.
Bruce Robinson
Robinson is a board-certified surgeon who has retired after 30 years of medical practice to pursue a second career as a teacher and a writer, working with the integration of Western and Chinese medicine. He is the author of the new textbook: Biomedicine, a Textbook for Practitioners of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, 2007, Blue Poppy Press. He has been the director of a TCM college and has been on several trips to China. He is currently an instructor of biomedicine at several TCM colleges in the Western U.S. and directs his own certification program in Western internal medicine.
Z'ev Rosenberg
Rosenberg began his studies of Chinese medicine in the early-1970s with studies in macrobiotics, shiatsu and theory of Chinese medicine. He received a degree from each of the following: Santa Fe School of Natural Medicine in Western herbal medicine and body therapies in 1976; Kushi Institute in 1979; Southwest Acupuncture College in 1983; and Emperor's College of Oriental Medicine (post-graduate master's degree in OM) in 1989. He worked as a macrobiotic counselor and shiatsu practitioner throughout the 1970's and has been in full-time practice in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine since 1983. Rosenberg has lectured widely to the public and to students of both Chinese medicine and macrobiotics over the last ten years. He is the former president of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado where he spearheaded a successful drive to the licensure of acupuncture in Colorado. For the last 17 years, he has served as chair of the Department of Herbal Medicine at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego and also maintains a private practice in herbal medicine and acumoxatherapy. Rosenberg has written articles for several professional TCM and macrobiotic journals and is a consultant and product developer for K'an Herbs, Santa Cruz, Ca.
Paul Schell
Paul Schell, B.S., is the Director of Education for Egoscue University, the training center for the internationally renowned Egoscue Method. With a background in Athletic Training and Exercise Therapy, Paul has taught seminars and workshops in the U.S. and Internationally to a wide array of participants, from fitness and wellness professionals to medical practitioners. Currently, he is teaching and developing Egoscue’s Posture Alignment Specialist certification program and Exercise Therapists who work in Egoscue Method Clinics worldwide.
Richard Teh-Fu Tan, O.M.D., L.Ac.
Tan began his studies in Chinese medicine as a child living in Taiwan. There, he apprenticed with numerous masters and studied herbal medicine, five elements, zang-fu energetics and channel theory. As a young man, he took his training to the army hospital where he treated hundreds of patients in conjunction with their Western medical treatment. After moving to the United States, Dr. Tan recognized frustration in the acupuncture community where many practitioners complained about the lack of clinical results and the length of time that it took for patients to feel better. Yet, the classical texts state that the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments should be seen immediately, just as the shadow appears instantly when a pole is placed under the sun. Dr. Tan had an overwhelming desire to share this information, and he began to lecture about the classical methods of acupuncture that yield instant results. Years later, Dr. Tan is now renowned for sharing his knowledge of the Balance Method to thousands of practitioners worldwide. He continues to lecture on the basics of acupuncture treatments, while constantly expanding his teachings for dedicated students.
Alex Tiberi
Alex Tiberi has been a student of traditional Asian philosophy, arts, and sciences since he was a teenager. He has now been in clinical practice for 30 years. Tiberi is a founder and vice-president of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, and is also on the faculty of the Qing Bai College of Chinese Medicine in the Netherlands. He lectures internationally on various aspects of traditional Chinese medicine including pediatrics, nourishing life (Yang Sheng), orthopedics, treatment during pregnancy, and Korean acupuncture. He regularly leads study groups to China to participate in the “Master’s Classical Studies Program,” and also co-founded the Traditional Chinese Medicine Literature Research and Translation Academy.
Honora Lee Wolfe
Wolfe has been involved in professional health care education since 1976. Director at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy for five years, Wolfe went on to study tui na massage at the Shanghai College of TCM and completed her acupuncture training in 1988. She has taught at many national and regional acupuncture colleges and conferences and is the author or co-author of several books, including: “Prince Wen Huis Cook: Chinese Dietary Therapy,” “How to Have a Healthy Pregnancy Healthy Birth with Chinese Medicine,” “Managing Menopause Naturally with Chinese Medicine,” “Better Breast Health Naturally with Chinese Medicine,” “Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists” and most recently, “The Successful Chinese Herbalist: How to Prescribe Correctly, Gain Patient Comliance, and Operate a Profitable Dispensary.” Wolfe has been a writer, teacher, publisher, entrepreneur and practitioner in the field of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine for over 20 years and in the broader arena of alternative medicine for over 30 years. Known for her engaging and approachable style of teaching and writing, Wolfe has been a lecturer or full instructor at over half of the acupuncture colleges in the U.S. and most of the conferences in the U.S. and Europe. Lately, her main focus is on helping all of us to be smart, successful, fulfilled and happy in our daily practice as care-givers and as business people.
Kasumi has been an instructor of Toyohari since 1993 and an acupuncturist since 1984. He has been a board member of the Toyohari Medical Association since 1994. He is now the General Manager of the Association. Kasumi is very generous and skilled in teaching Toyohari palpitory skills. This is his second visit to the U.S. Michio Murakami - Sensei Teacher, Toyohari Acupuncturist. An acupuncturist for more than 30 years, Murakami was the earliest blind practitioner to apprentice with Kodo Fukushima, the founder of the Toyohari system of Meridian Therapy. He is a teacher and senior member of the Japanese National Board of Directors of the Toyohari Association. He is referred to as the "Book of Knowledge" as he has detailed information on so much of Meridian Therapy.
