Category: Alumni Spotlights

On Sunday, May 22, 2022, the AIMC community came together on Ohlone Land at the Berkeley Marina to celebrate the graduation of candidates of the Masters in Science and Doctor of Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine. It was a joyous occasion, honoring the accomplishments of AIMC students, and their new chapters as practitioners. Faculty spoke, families applauded their graduates, our graduates took the Acupuncturist’s Oath, and the celebration also included a Taiko drumming performance by Emeryville Taiko. The summer season is prime for joy, warmth, and connection, and this event captured all of these aspects!

The day was particularly poignant as it was the first Graduation Ceremony AIMC has held after cancelling in 2020 due to COVID-19. It was a touching reunion of many classes …

One of the gifts of becoming an Acupuncturist is the capacity to build your dream practice, and in Erin Langley’s case, she’s done that quite literally. Dreams, the spirits of the body and the lands, and ancestral connections are all fundamental pieces of how she practices and connects with East Asian medicine.

Meet Dr. Kim Peirano, DACM, LAc., an Alumni of AIMC Berkeley. She has a thriving practice in Marin focused on Facial Acupuncture & spiritual development. She recently founded the Integrative Healing Institute, a non-profit focused on providing high-quality continuing education courses.

Are you wanting to learn more about acupuncture and Integrative medicine? Learn more about how our school changed Sapho’s life and what they’re doing now.

Explore Erin’s journey as an Asian American herbalist and acupuncturist. We love learning about the personal and transformative journey her career has taken into showcasing her identity as an Asian American practicing traditional East Asian medicine. You can learn more about her herbal shop and her experiences with AIMC. Read more!

“When people come to us for help, they may not necessarily be their best selves, so how do we meet them where they are and do something that’s really with them, and not for them or in spite of them… that relationship is really a sacred one. I’m not doing anything for you, I’m just with you– I’ve had my own journey, and I can share with you my experience and I can share with you my experience with other people, and then together we get to figure out what works best for you.”

The “Reluctant” Healer

Before starting Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine school, Karen Villanueva was a nurse for over 20 years; she worked in the ER, ICU, prison system, and even at the ballpark. …

We recently had the chance to sit down with Licensed Acupuncturist, self-published author, and AIMC Masters & Doctoral graduate Kristen “tank” Conner and chat about their book, their experience as a two-time student at AIMC, and their unique style of practice. Tank uses they/them pronouns, which we will be using throughout this article.

Ehlers-Danlos & the Difficulty of Diagnosis

Tank had lived with a web of various symptoms and discomforts since early childhood before finally receiving a diagnosis in their mid-30s that brought it all together: Hypermobile Type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). They came to this self-diagnosis before any of their doctors were willing or able to recognize it, and, during their time at AIMC while studying to earn their Master’s degree, a doctor finally referred them …

“Every person who comes to a queer self-understanding knows in one way or another that her stigmatization is intricated with gender, with the family, with notions of individual freedom, the state, public speech, consumption and desire, nature and culture, maturation, reproductive politics, racial and national fantasy, class identity, truth and trust, censorship, intimate life and social display, terror and violence, health care, and deep cultural norms about the bearing of the body.[…]Queers do a kind of practical social reflection just in finding ways of being queer.”
-Michael Warner, Fear of a Queer Planet

East Asian Medicine as a liberation practice?

Acupuncturists are always fundamentally focused on the free flow of energy in the body– the “Qi”. You may have heard your acupuncturist talk about “Qi stagnation” as …

It’s been three years since our first Doctoral Cohort began. We wondered, “what are our graduates doing with their Doctoral degrees?” It turns out, they’re pushing our field forward by teaching, publishing books, working alongside physicians in hospitals, physical therapy clinics, & integrative medicine clinics, founding their very own wellness centers, and even growing organic herbal medicine to make our field more sustainable.

Teach

Many of our doctoral graduates are teaching or supervising Clinic Interns right here at AIMC. The list includes Dr. Nishanga Bliss, DAIM, DSc., LAc.; Dr. Hideko Pelzer, DAIM, LAc.; Dr. Joyce Kwok, DAIM, PT, LAc.; Dr. Jody James, DAIM, LAc.; Dr. David Caruso-Radin, DAIM, LAc.; & Dr. Christine Tarradelles, DAIM, LAc.

Dr. Jody James is the most recent …

Opening a private practice during a pandemic may seem daunting, but AIMC graduate Syndey Malewar made it happen. She’s now successfully working as a practitioner here in Berkeley. To find out how she made this happen, check out this blog post!