Lafayette Acupuncture & Functional Medicine:
Experienced Acupuncturist & Functional Medicine Provider serving Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda.
As an Acupuncturist in Lafayette with 25+ years or experience, I can help you with the treatment of aches and pains, injuries, digestive disorders, gynecological issues, allergies, immune deficiencies, fatigue, sleep disorders and stress, and many other conditions. For information on conditions I work with, check out ‘Illnesses/Health Imbalances Treated’.
After completing the Initial Intake Form, your first visit includes a detailed review of the issues affecting your health and quality of life. From this we will work out a comprehensive treatment plan together. Besides acupuncture, I may prescribe herbal medicine and supplements, and use other modalities to help you, including bodywork, moxa, suction cups and guasha (dermal scraping). For more info, check out ‘Common Acupuncture Questions‘.
As a former Professor and Academic Dean of the Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College, Berkeley, and a practitioner of Functional Medicine, I have a unique perspective on the strengths and benefits of this ancient medicine, its integration with modern medicine, and how it can benefit you.
More recently I've been studying Functional Medicine with the Kalish Institute and other educational resources. This is like holistic western medicine, whereby innovative lab tests that test hormone levels, organic acid markers, and digestive function & dysbiosis are used to assess the status of your body's systems. I find that this nicely complements the treatment of acupuncture in helping patients get better more quickly.
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.
Lafayette Acupuncture & Functional Medicine, 2920 Camino Diablo #210-C (2024 to present) Lafayette Wellness, 961 Dewing Ave, Lafayette CA (2013-2023) Radiance Family Wellness, 914 Dewing Ave, Lafayette CA (2019-2020) Pacific Integrative & Functional Medicine, San Ramon CA (2016-2019) SOMA Healing Arts, San Francisco (1995-2003) Bancroft Center of Chinese Medicine, Berkley (1992-1995)
Assessed, developed, taught, and managed the curriculum for the professional Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine program, ensuring compliance for three ACAOM accreditation site visits.
Taught and supervised clinic interns from Observation through last year of clinical internship, helped develop and implement training protocols.
Taught classes in OM Theory, OM Diagnosis, General Biology, Organic/Biochemistry.
Quan Yin Healing Arts Center, San Francisco
Immune Enhancement Project, San Francisco
Participation on the Education & Credentialing Committee of the AAAOM, including 1 year as chairperson.
Participation on the Entry Level Standards/Core Curriculum Committee and Co-Chair of Research Information Committee of the CCAOM, a consortium of American acupuncture colleges.
Served on board of directors including two years as president. High level of activity with legislation, education, insurance/HMO’s, and association merger. Served as annual conference coordinator for 4 years.
Served as CSOMA rep to CAOMA, the umbrella organization for various language acupuncture professional associations in California.
“Acupuncturist of the Year” by the American Association of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) in 2003,
“Professional Excellence Award” by the National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics in 2004, and
“Pioneer of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine” by the AAAOM in 2007.
I’ve also been an active participant in the policy development for the field of Acupuncture & Eastern Medicine, working to integrate its potential into the modern healthcare system and enhance its educational standards, including:
I knew relatively early in life that I was going to be a healer, but wasn't sure about which path I would take to become a Lafayette acupuncturist. So at the grand age of 23 years, I traveled throughout Mexico and Central America, practicing basic acupressure techniques on people and promoting vegetarianism as I practiced my Spanish. After a year in the university of life, I returned to UC Berkeley and completed my degree in Nutrition and Food Science.
I then travelled to Asia to teach English, and it was in Taiwan that one of my students, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, turned me on to herbs and acupuncture. I was there in the winter when it was cold, rainy and polluted, and I was getting sick all the time. The acupuncture and herbs worked wonders, clarified my direction in life, (and I stopped being a vegetarian).
I returned to San Francisco in 1988 to study at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. After graduating with a Masters of Science and getting licensed in California, I practiced in Berkeley and San Francisco at Quan Yin Healing Arts and the Immune Enhancement Project.
I treated a lot of HIV/AIDS, and this was a life-transforming experience. Combination drug therapies for HIV had not yet arrived, and my patients relied on acupuncture and herbs to help maintain their health and help combat the wide variety of opportunistic infections and disorders that arose from a weakened immune system. Needless to say, my knowledge, skills, and empathy increased dramatically from the experience.
I also got involved in acupuncture policy and served on the board of the California State Oriental Medical Association for eight years. In addition to serving as president, editor in chief of the California Journal of Oriental Medicine, and producing 5 acupuncture conferences, I helped shepherd seven pieces of legislation that were signed into law and increased the public’s access to high quality Acupuncture & East Asian Medicine by protecting and clarifying our scope of practice, secured and expanded our role in the California Workers’ Compensation system, preserved and advanced the California Acupuncture Board, established higher standards for the education and training of CA Licensed Acupuncturists and the eventual development of a national Professional Doctorate in Oriental Medicine (too many years later in my opinion).
This activity in part led to my work as a clinical instructor, teaching professor, and academic dean at the Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College, Berkeley. We revamped the curriculum and helped transform the school into one of the preeminent institutions in the western world for the study of Acupuncture & Eastern Medicine.
Having retired from the world of acupuncture politics and education, I'm now in private practice as a Lafayette acupuncturist at Lafayette Wellness. I've also gone deep into Functional Medicine, which I find to be highly complementary to Eastern Medicine. Both paradigms are functional at their core, but view our biological systems through different lenses. Functional Medicine differs through its use of numbers and data to quantify our physiology with lab tests.
I’m also the proud father of two healthy and flourishing daughters who sparkle and delight my world, and stay sane and balanced with meditation, reading, yoga, running, biking, ultimate frisbee, tasty cooking experiments, and acupuncture.
(925) 297-4785