Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Biography

Thomas Burgoon is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) the largest organization of physicians practicing acupuncture in the United States.  He graduated from medical school at Vanderbilt University in 1985 and competed residency training in internal medicine. He began studying acupuncture theory and practice in 1992 and studied with Anita Cignolini of Milan, Italy for 11 years and four years with the New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (NYCTCM). He is a member of the editorial board of Medical Acupuncture, the official journal of the AAMA and is the chairperson of the Institutional Review Board of the NYCTCM. He is interested in traditional Chinese medical theory and practice and also in the fostering of meaningful dialog with our colleagues in regular medicine about acupuncture’s value in modern medical practice.

 

Abstract

The focus of this talk is three bodies of recent research on the effects of acupuncture on inflammation, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular research that has made an outstanding contribution to our modern understanding of acupuncture. These detailed and comprehensive research efforts have utilized a complement of sophisticated techniques including immunohistochemistry, modern techniques of stimulation and recording of somatic, central nervous system and autonomic pathways, along with an array of modern surgical and neurosurgical techniques.

These studies confirm some of the most important and profound principles of traditional acupuncture theory and practice and they provide an important foundation of communication with our non- acupuncture medical colleagues about the practice and benefits of acupuncture.