Miles Reid ('01) who practices in Beverly Hills, participated in the Ideas Festival in Aspen, an annual event sponsored by the Aspen Center for Integrative Health. The event featured Miles in a panel discussion on the role of TCM in the surging Integrative Medicine model developing in the US. More info can be found on Miles’ web site under "events" – http://www.tilomedical.com.

Marc Ryan ('02) Marc reports, "After doing a couple of stints in the work-comp world in 2 Orthopedic surgeons' offices, I landed a job doing acupuncture at The Sports Club LA in Beverly Hills and West LA (quite a contrast), focusing on orthopedics and internal medicine. Beginning March 31st I will join The UCLA Men's Health Clinic with a urologist, an oncologist and a nutritionist. The focus of the clinic will be men’s health issues (prostate cancer prevention and treatment, BPH, sexual dysfunction and andropause). The most enlightening part of this experience has been the open mindedness of the MDs. They are quite interested in learning about what Chinese Medicine has to offer patients and I am quite eager to tell them (as you can well imagine)."

Sylvana Candela ('99) I would like to let all current interns know about a wonderful opportunity available to you at Being Alive, Yo San's externship in West Hollywood. Being Alive is a self-help organization created for and by people who are HIV+.Yo San provides acupuncture services at Being Alive each Monday. This is a unique opportunity to serve the community while honing your skills as a healer. The clinic is very full and the interns are kept busy! I have worked with the HIV/AIDS community for several years, and there is nothing in the world that is quite as awesome as the caring and open-hearted tenderness and compassion a healer feels and administers, to people who are greatly in need of a gentle touch and loving kindness. The only thing that has topped that for me has been seeing the beautiful light and love I have seen over the past year, on the faces of the Yo San students, past and present, who have interned there: Marius, Alexa, Kanitha, David, A.J., Virginia, White Eagle, Jennika, Glenda and Denise. It has been, and continues to be, such an honor for me to assist them as their supervisor. I know that they will move on to do wonderful things for the global community as they earn their acupuncture wings in Sacramento! Speaking of which, a huge congratulations and mazel tov to Marius, Alexa, Kanitha, Virginia and David, who are now officially among the newborn angels, having just passed the State Boards! I look forward to seeing new faces at Being Alive as we continue our service to the AIDS community.

Laraine Crampton ('98) I've now been a supervisor in the YSU clinic for over a year. I can’t even quantify how much I recommend this to any YSU graduates with a few years of practice under their belts. The first term was a bit nerve-wracking, as I held myself against the high standards we saw in Dr. Zhang, Dr. Given, Daoshing and Maoshing Ni, Drs. Wen, Li, Hu...and faced scrutiny from interns who, naturally, want really good supervision and may initially be mistrustful of a new supervisor. Supervising is full of enjoyment and growth, as I offer students what I can in helping them focus their knowledge and skills on patient care. The challenge of finding new ways to explain why a basic treatment works has made me examine and deepen my own treatment habits and understandings. Supervising is a win-win proposition. It may not be as financially remunerative as an afternoon in your own office, but, it may stimulate your practice to greater vitality and growth. This may more than compensate for taking the time to check out opportunities at the local university. If you’re not in a position to offer your time to a school, consider making a gift to YSU that supports the future of Yo San’s clinic and its externships. As the school grows, the clinic will need to grow. The cost of interning is already high enough without having to worry about whether the school can afford to eventually expand clinic facilities, programs and staff to appropriately support intern training.

Janene Mitchell ('01) I've just moved into a beautiful new office, giving me more treatment rooms and hours to see patients. I'm sharing the space with Carrie Tanenbaum, who graduated from Yo San 4 or 5 years ahead of me. It's a good match since we’re both doing a lot of women’s health. Carrie’s a pleasure to be around, and I'm thankful to have such a peaceful setting to work in.

Richard Rosen ('97) is opening The Good Life Herbal Emporium, custom herbs and natural products, and Forestville Acupuncture in Forestville, CA (near the Russian River in Sonoma County). He has been practicing in Santa Rosa since 1999 and running his software business providing TCM Windows and TCM Pro to students and acupuncturists. The Yo San clinic began using TCM Pro in February this year for scheduling, billing, inventory, medical data tracking, etc. Other colleges using his software are Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in SD, NY and Chicago, Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine, The Alternative and Integrative College of Berkeley, Samra, and the New England School of Acupuncture. In addition there are several hundred acupuncture clinics and more than 1000 students using these 2 software programs.

Julia (McIntire) Thie ('99) Update from the hills of Tennessee...This year calls an end to my term as President of the Tennessee Acupuncture Council. We went through many legal issues during this time as most of you know. This spring we had a "Day on the Hill" where we performed acupuncture demonstrations on Representatives, Senators, Secretaries and Lobbyists in the Legislative Plaza. It was very effective and we "converted" many. Our lobbyist helped us get an Oriental Medicine Day Proclamation and this year will celebrate the first official day on October 23. Lastly, we had had a great turnabout in the Chiropractic legislation as to the legality of the term "chiropractic acupuncture." It was deemed an illegal term by the Attorney General, since acupuncture is a system of medicine as stated by our licensing bill. We waited over a year for this opinion! I don’t know how this will play out, but a precedent has been set. I'm glad to have done my part in all this and look forward to passing the torch. Now I can put my feet up on my back porch and rest a while. Practice is great. I have a secretary sent from heaven now and am still using the Balance Method with great results. Thanks to the generations-long Appalachian herbal tradition, I've also been using a lot of "western" herbs in conjunction with Chinese herbs. So much grows here. I contributed a chapter on acupuncture to the American Psychiatric Publishing Association for a book on CAM approaches in the treatment of mental health. I worked hard and learned a lot. I'll try to get a copy for the bookstore. Thank you to the Yo San Alumni for your words of encouragement. I keep a photo of our graduation class at my desk and think fondly of you all.