Dr. Michael Bandy’s commitment to manual therapy began after a bicycle race up Cedar Hill in Dallas in 1984. A skilled massage therapist had released the tension in his rib cage a few days before and he found that he could breathe more deeply and with greater ease. He finished the race third, ahead of a pack of much better climbers. Huge for a cyclist at 6 feet 2 inches tall and 195 pounds, Dr. Bandy calls his finishing third “a minor miracle.” After a few visits to a Rolfer and a Feldenkrais practitioner restored the freedom in his often-separated right shoulder, Dr. Bandy’s commitment to manual therapy solidified. By 1988 he had completed a...
Director of Clinical Education
Dr. Jing Fan joined AOMA in 2016 as a new faculty member and Director of Clinical Education. Dr. Fan received his bachelor of medicine (M.D. China), master of clinical medicine, and Ph.D. in orthopedics of Chinese medicine at the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine in Nanjing, China. He completed three fellowships in orthopedics and Chinese medicine at Nanjing First Hospital, Jiangsu Province Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Shanghai No.6 People's Hospital. He has been an associate Chief at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies and an...
Dr. Yongxin Fan has more than 20 years of clinical experience in treating muscular-skeletal disorders, pain, digestive disorders, and psycho-emotional disorders. Dr. Fan started his practice in acupuncture and Chinese medicine upon graduating from Beijing College of Acupuncture and Traumatology and Orthopedics in 1991. Fan subsequently practiced and taught as an attending doctor and instructor in the Acupuncture Institute at The China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and at the Beijing International Acupuncture Training Center for ten years. In 2002, following several visiting professor stints at institutions abroad, he made...
Dr. Finnell is an Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine practitioner, a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, and a researcher in complementary and integrative medicine (CIM). He earned his Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and his Master of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from Bastyr University in Kenmore/Seattle, WA. Dr. John’s personal history provides a foundation for his philosophy regarding patient efficacy. Dr. John was born with clubbed feet and spent his formative years in and out of surgery, casts, and braces. The day his orthopedist gave up on the hope of his feet ever straightening out was the...
Lesley Hamilton has been a licensed Chinese medical practitioner since 2003 and all the hallmark of her practice is found in the way she builds and nurtures her patient-practitioner relationships. Hamilton’s patients are loyal, with some having been treated by her over the course of 8-10 years. Hamilton genuinely enjoys being a part of her patients’ healing process and she recognizes that the journey is just as significant as the destination. Some patient visits are for the purpose of health maintenance while others tackle acute events of chronic conditions or the treatment responds to something new. Whether or not the patients can heal completely,...
Robert Laguna’s clinical work includes protocols for a wide variety of common ailments, a specialty interest in pain management, and the treatment of patients with chemical dependencies. He also provides integrative care in family practice clinics alongside Western physicians. “Acupuncture’s role on the detox process and the subsequent recovery from addictions is powerful,” Laguna says, adding that, “I also recognize that pain has physical and emotional causes and symptoms and often manifest as discomfort of all sorts. This is why I have trained over decades to utilize the most effective pain management tools that exist in...
“Wellness and healing should be an empowering, collaborative process. Medicine should build you up, not break you down." Tara Lattimore grew up in Indonesia where she was exposed to different types of medicine and cultures from a young age. She moved to the United States for her undergraduate studies at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she focused on psychology, neuroscience, and vertebrate evolution. She had planned to pursue a different career path but after being diagnosed with a painful autoimmune disease, she found little relief being treated with Western Medicine exclusively. She tried acupuncture and Chinese herbs and was...
As a child, Dr. Luo spent time every day with his great-grandfather, who practiced traditional Chinese medicine. “My great-grandfather always put his whole heart into patients’ well-being,” Dr. Luo recollects. “When he was 90 years old, a patient’s husband knocked at his door at midnight and asked him to help his wife who was having severe abdominal pain. Even though it was cold and dark outside and he was tired from working all day, my great-grandfather got dressed and went to help her without any hesitation. The most important thing I learned from him was how to take care of patients from the bottom of your heart.” Song...
Dr. Morris is a lifelong seeker of knowledge and has been a practitioner and healer since 1980. With acupuncture licenses in California and Texas, he is also a member of the American Herbalist Guild. Morris has thus far earned two doctorates: a PhD focused in the area of Chinese pulse diagnosis and a Doctorate of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in pain management. His work reflects a long-held passion on the subjects of personal transformation and natural medicine. The basis underlying Morris’ philosophy is that of understanding the root or the source of the dysfunction. Such clarity is accomplished...
Dr. Xiaotian Shen is a 4th generation Chinese Medicine practitioner. As a small child and while growing up, he was surrounded at home by frequent conversations about the philosophies of healing and medicine. This experience instilled in him an abiding love for his cultural heritage and its capacity for healing. According to Dr. Shen, “The philosophical part of Chinese medicine most appeals to me due to its unique perspective of the universe and because of its deep-rooted heritage.” Shen taught acupuncture and herbal medicine at two colleges in China and was also a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine at the Teaching Hospital of...
At just 17 years of age, Dr. Song knew that the study of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was her calling. She was introduced to the medicine from early childhood through her family, who use Chinese medicine for their own health care. Dr. Song’s passion for Chinese medicine is also inspired by its rich history. “Chinese medicine can solve complicated diseases in a simple way,” Dr. Song says. “There is a lot of Zen in the background of TCM, gathered from the wisdom of ancestors dating back 2,000 years. All those experiences and dimensions can still be applied today to heal a disease.” Becoming a practitioner of Chinese medicine...
Dr. Shengyan “Grace” Tan is the first PhD-trained TCM practitioner specializing in ophthalmology to teach in the United States. Her dedication to her medical practice is the result of both nature and nurture. She was born in Chengdu, China into a traditional Chinese medicine family, and both her father and grandfather are noted Chinese medical doctors. Her father, also a well-known university professor, is an expert in dietary therapy and herbal preparation. Whenever she got sick as a child, Dr. Tan recalls always being treated with acupuncture and herbs and not by Western medicine. This was her inspiration to pursue her PhD in traditional...
Dr. Qiao “Chelsea” Xu was born into a family that emphasized traditional Western medicine, and she always thought that she would follow in her grandfather and uncle's footsteps into medicine. However, her grandfather developed a liver disease untreatable with Western medicinal techniques, and it was traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that ultimately helped him recover. After this event, Dr. Xu changed her aspirations and began studying TCM. Dr. Xu graduated in 1983 from the University of Liaoning Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. Before moving to America, she worked as a doctor in a traditional Chinese hospital for three years. After relocating,...
Zhongling Zhang’s first exposure to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was during childhood. When her mother was ill she would always take herbs, so Zhongling was able to witness firsthand the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. When she was in high school she had a neighbor who was an acupuncturist, and during summer vacations she would observe acupuncture treatments in her neighbor’s clinic and at the hospital: “It felt fitting when I would walk into her clinic.” These early experiences strongly influenced Zhongling to pursue TCM studies so that she could help people: “To be able to help people, to have compassion and...