News in Brief

Tai Sophia Institute Offers Chinese Herb Certificate Program

Tai Sophia Institute is now offering practicing acupuncturists an opportunity to add an additional certification to their practices via its Chinese herb certificate program. The program is designed for practitioners who are new to using Chinese herbs, as well as those who wish to broaden their knowledge and diagnostic skills.

The 30-month stand-alone certificate program will provide students with grounding in traditional Chinese medicine theory as it relates to herbal formulas and treatment strategies. It will include more than 200 hours of clinical training with experienced practitioners and will provide students with the ability to formulate safe and effective herbal treatments. The course includes a comprehensive didactic component, as well as a clinical rotation. Special features of the program include comprehensive coverage of disease patterns such as dermatology, gastroenterology, gynecology, neurology trauma and other areas.

Classes will begin in September 2008 and will be offered in an executive weekend format to accommodate working practitioners. For more information, visit www.tai.edu. To reserve a spot, call (410) 888-9048 ext. 6647. E-mail queries may be addressed to admissions@tai.edu.

AIMC Berkeley Starts New Asian Bodywork Program

The Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College (AIMC) Berkeley is launching a new 500-hour medical qigong certification program that begins in October 2008. The new program will qualify participants to sit for the NCCAOM Asian bodywork exam. It will be taught by Dr. Suzanne Friedman, who developed AIMC Berkeley's 200-hour qigong certification program. Friedman is a nationally renowned qigong master and a doctor of medical qigong, specializing in oncology. She is also the author of Medical Qi Gong Exercise Prescriptions and The Yi Jing Medical Qi Gong System. This one-of-kind program takes a Daoist literary tradition approach, training scholar-practitioners with the classics. The program is made up of eight five-day modules, running from Thursdays to Mondays.

Licensed acupuncturists and acupuncture students will qualify for the NCCAOM Asian bodywork certification with Modules 1 and 4 through 7. For more information, contact AIMC Berkeley CEU & Events Director Sara Szmodis at (510) 666-8248 x106 or via e-mail at sszmodis@aimc.edu. You also can visit the school's Web site at www.aimc.edu.

AOM Educational Leaders Help Promote Tiger Conservation

On June 9, 2008, Lixin Huang, president of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Judy Mills, board member of ACTCM and director of the International Tiger Coalition (ITC), joined members of the international conservation community and actors Harrison Ford and Bo Derek for an event at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The event, sponsored by the World Bank, was held to raise awareness about tiger conservation and to announce plans to undertake a global joint venture to help reverse the decline in wild tigers.

Ford and Derek are working with the World Bank to develop a conservation initiative that will look at existing projects in tiger habitats, review efforts to combat the trade in illegal tiger parts, and develop alternative funding for saving tigers, among other strategies. The World Bank has asked ITC members (including ACTCM) to provide expertise and guidance for the initiative.