WHO WE ARE

WHY AIMC BERKELEY?

CULTURE & COMMUNITY

AIMC Berkeley’s collaborative and supportive community is made up of a diverse student population from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds including Western medicine, bodywork, theology, retail, corporate management, the arts, and more. Our school is BIPOC & LGBTQ+ friendly, supports green medicine with our Climate Club, and focuses on sustainability using natural, earth-based medicines for healing such as those found in our on-campus Botanical garden. Ranging in age from 25 to 65, our students come from around the country and the world. Their unique experiences inform our community and shape our college. We boast an active student body and student council, a variety of student-led groups, student initiatives, peer-tutoring, and more. Our students support each other, feed each other, take care of each other’s kids, share notes and arrange study groups, and hang out on weekends together. We don’t just go to school together, we’re a community!

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

With over 1,000 hours of clinical experience, AIMC Berkeley exceeds most other acupuncture schools in the country in providing you with the opportunities to learn and practice the medicine. Your clinic internship begins in the second trimester with a theater observation class and continues throughout the whole program, with opportunities to work in our acupuncture and integrative medicine clinic, herbal dispensary, and with a variety of patient populations at our off-site internship locations. AIMC maintains a commitment to providing services for underserved people through our low prices, Community Clinic shifts, and relationships with organizations like the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic. This comprehensive clinic experience throughout the whole program reinforces your learning from your classes with real-world experience.

INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE

Our goal as educators of the art and science of acupuncture & East Asian medicine is to produce successful practitioners that can network and collaborate with other types of providers, function effectively as primary health care providers, and become the future leaders of our profession. We are committed to a continuous process of assessment and improvement to provide the most complete education available for 21st-century Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine practitioners.

We teach a contemporary, integrative approach to traditional medicine, and have first-rate off-site off-site internships at various hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities. Some of our partnerships include UC Berkeley’s Center for High Performance Student-Athletes, the West Berkeley Clinic for Lifelong Medical Care, and the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic where students can help underserved women with cancer. Integrative Medicine is the foundation of our program.

JAPANESE MEDICINE

AIMC Berkeley is the only school founded by Japanese acupuncturists & alumni of Meiji College in Japan, which makes our school uniquely rooted in traditional Japanese medicine. This medicine is known for its gentleness, its usefulness in treating sensitive patients, including seniors and children, and its high quality, easy-to-use Kampo herbal remedies. Students have the opportunity to take Japanese Medicine elective courses at AIMC Berkeley to learn Japanese modalities and theories including abdominal diagnosis; moxibustion heat therapy; contact needling; and the use of intradermal needles for gentle facial rejuvenation acupuncture. Opportunities for deeper study of Japanese techniques with master practitioners are available as part of AIMC Berkeley’s continuing educations courses in the U.S. and abroad. Students in our Doctoral track can also receive a deeper study of and training in Japanese Herbal Medicine.

EXCEPTIONAL FACULTY

Our highly qualified faculty members are recruited for their depth of knowledge, the diversity of their skills, and their unique personal qualities. Our instructors are skilled practitioners who maintain successful practices and believe in the importance of disseminating their knowledge and sustaining the rich tradition of our medicine. Our didactic faculty are committed to guiding students through the exciting and challenging world of East Asian medicine and teaching them to transform theoretical education into practical application. Our clinical supervisors are committed to instructing interns in diagnosis, methodology, prognosis, proper record-taking, and clinical judgment. All are dedicated professionals who generously share their knowledge to develop and refine our students’ abilities. Learn more about our faculty…

STUDENT SERVICES

There are a multitude of services available to students, including academic advising, tutoring, counseling, disability services, scholarship & financial aid support, and much more. AIMC also hosts a number of events outside of the classroom such as Lunch & Learn events, workshops, social gatherings, and town halls.  These services and events are facilitated by staff who are dedicated to serving and supporting our students during their time at AIMC.  Please visit our Current Students page to learn about the various student services available and how to access them.

STUDY ABROAD

AIMC leads annual trips for students & alumni to China, Japan, and France, offering students the opportunity to learn from the best teachers in the world & to explore these medicines where they were born. Students on past trips have been privileged to learn Japanese needling technique, palpation, moxibustion, and facial acupuncture in hands-on practice with practitioners in Japan. We’ve also toured Chinese medicine universities, traditional herbal markets, and a specialized Chinese herbal medicine botanical garden in China. In France, Dr. Nogier teaches auriculotherapy just opposite the restaurant, “Les enfants terribles.” As a student of AIMC, you can gain cultural experiences while mastering the art of integrative medicine with our study abroad opportunities!

Student Profiles

WHAT IS A CAREER IN ACUPUNCTURE ABOUT?

ACUPUNCTURIST INCOME & OPPORTUNITIES

Our alumni include Chris Kresser, globally recognized leader in the fields of ancestral health, Paleo nutrition, and functional and integrative medicine, as well as Haro Ogawa, Acupuncturist of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. Licensed Acupuncturists’ incomes vary greatly depending on their business model, the hours they work, their practice location, their specialization among other factors. For that reason, the average income statistics for acupuncture profession need to be reviewed with these differences in mind. In 2015, the California Acupuncture Board completed a comprehensive analysis of 485 acupuncturists practicing in the state, read their report here.

Our graduates are working in a variety of settings or pursuing further education:

• Sports Medicine: Some of our graduates pursue specialties in sports medicine. For example: one graduate is an acupuncturist for the SF Giants, another graduate is an acupuncturist with the San Francisco Ballet and Olympic athletes and a third graduate works with golfers, football players and other athletes in his practice.
• Private practice: Other graduates pursue sole entrepreneurship as acupuncturists, or team up to open practices with their fellow graduates or they work under an acupuncturist who has an established business.
• Community Acupuncture: A number of AIMC Berkeley graduates have gone on to create affordable health care clinics under the principals put forward by POCA (People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture: https://www.pocacoop.com). Oakland Acupuncture Project, Alameda Acupuncture Project and Berkeley Acupuncture Project, Berkeley Community Acupuncture are all staffed, created or owned by our graduates.

Tapping Their Potential

Students come to AIMC Berkeley from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds, and when they graduate they bring those unique backgrounds and skills to their careers as Acupuncturists. Some graduates choose to work closely within the Functional & Integrative Medicine settings while others pursue more creative private or community practices. Being exposed to a wide variety of Clinic Supervisors, externship opportunities, and Alumni as guest lecturers or during community events, our students graduate with a strong sense of the possibilities for growth and development in the field of East Asian Medicine and having a career that aligns with their values and goals.

PRACTICE BUILDING

Alumni report that they feel very well prepared for their profession. For example, 65% of alumni are working as practitioners compared to 50% of all acupuncturists. AIMC Berkeley grads are working as sole practitioners, as staff in private practices and in community Acupuncture clinics. They are working in Acupuncture schools and hospitals and pursuing doctorate degrees so they can teach or do research.