Chiropractic College Adds Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Program
The Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (LACC) in Whittier, California, has announced the addition of an acupuncture and Oriental medicine degree program to the curriculum. Program classes are set to begin January 2001.
The college has also announced the appointment of Dr. Wen-Shuo Wu as the associate dean for the new program. Dr. Wu has a medical degree from China Medical University in China (1987), a master of science in public health (UCLA, 1992), and a degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine (South Baylo University, Anaheim, California). Wu has already opened an acupuncture and Oriental medicine practice at the college's chiropractic health center in Whittier.
"Dr. Wu's reputation as an educator and clinician is a perfect match for the college," asserted Dr. Reed Phillips, LACC's president.
"Acupuncture has grown in popularity throughout the U.S.," Wu observed. "With confirmation by the U.S. Department of Health on positive outcomes, we expect this science to join chiropractic as part of mainstream health care early in this new century. After all, it's been successful in other parts of the world for over 2,000 years, and there are now over three million practitioners worldwide."
According to Dr. Phillips, the new program will be divided into six components: acupuncture and traditional Oriental medicine; Western sciences and orthopedics; herbal studies; ethics; practice management; and clinical training.
"Los Angeles College of Chiropractic is known for its academic and research excellence," observed Dr. Wu. "With the quality of its basic science program, there's a natural fit here for acupuncture and Oriental medicine. I believe there is no reason why we can't quickly become the best college of its kind in the U.S."
New Faculty Appointments at Bastyr
Bastyr University has added three new faculty members to its botanical medicine, nutrition, and acupuncture and Oriental medicine programs.
Robin Dipasquale, ND has accepted a position as chair of the university's department of botanical medicine, a role she had filled on an interim basis since last summer. A 1995 graduate of Bastyr, she has set a number of goals for the department, including a revitalizaton of the current botanical medicine curriculum; the launch of a new herbal sciences undergraduate degree program; and the creation of a foundation to develop master's and doctorate programs in botanical medicine.
"I am delighted to play an integral part in directing the department and herbal education," said Dr. Dipasquale.
Beverly Kindblade, MS, RD has been appointed director of the university's didactic program in dietetics. In her new position, Ms. Kindblade will help ensure that students in the program are academically prepared to become registered dieticians.
"Coming to Bastyr has fulfilled my lifelong dream of teaching and working in an environment of whole foods and integrative medicine," she said.
Before joining Bastyr, Ms. Kindblade served as a professor of nutrition and dietetic technology at Shoreline Community College in Seattle, Washington. She also worked as a clinical nutritionist for the University of Washington Medical Center.
Mary Cucco, MS, LAc will be the new clinic program coordinator for acupuncture and Oriental medicine at the Bastyr University Natural Health Clinic. A 1997 graduate of Bastyr, Ms. Cucco worked as a clinical acupuncturist at the National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, Illinois. She helped design a master's of science in acupuncture program at National and played a vital role in persuading one of the state's largest health insurers, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, to cover acupuncture for its policyholders.
"I am thrilled to have Mary in this position on a permanent basis," said Dr. Lise Alschuler, the clinic's medical director. "She brings a high level of commitment, enthusiasm and experience to the job."
New RDAs Established for Vitamins C, E and Selenium
The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has released new recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for vitamins C and E and selenium for adult men and women in the United States. The board has also developed upper intake levels for each substance to reduce the risk of adverse events in individuals who take high doses.
For vitamin C, the recommended daily allowance was raised to 90 milligrams per day for adult males and 75 milligrams per day for females. The RDA for vitamin E for both men and women was raised to 15 mg/day (up from 10 mg for men and 8 mg for women, respectively). The RDA for selenium, meanwhile, was lowered to 55 micrograms per day for both males and females.
Upper intake levels were also established for each substance. For vitamin C, the upper intake level has been set at 2,000 milligrams per day; for vitamin E, 1,000 milligrams per day; and for selenium, 400 micrograms per day.
New York College to Award Fall Scholarships
The New York College of Wholistic Health, Education and Research in Syosset, New York has announced two new scholarships available to students for the Fall 2000 semester. The Alumni Scholarship Award is available to current and prospective students and consists of a $1,000 scholarship. The Robert C. Sohn Endowed Scholarship, meanwhile, is open to financially disadvantaged, first-time entering students and consists of a $1,400 tuition credit to be applied at the beginning of the fall semester.
Students interested in applying for the alumni scholarship are encouraged to contact the school's alumni association at (516) 496-3740 or by e-mail at alumni@nycollege.edu. Prospective students who would like to apply for the Sohn scholarship can contact the director of financial aid at (516) 364-0808, ext. 132, or by e-mail at finaid@nycollege.edu.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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