Introduction of course chairman: Tsun-Nin Lee, M.D
Dr. Lee, after obtaining a BA degree (chemistry) from Columbia College (1966) and an MD degree from New York University School of Medicine (1970), received his post-graduate training in medicine at the University Hospital of Jacksonville, Florida. He then became a diplomate of Advanced Acupuncture of the Hong Kong Acupuncture Institute and was certified by the Chinese Medical Institute in 1975. He was subsequently awarded honorary directorship of the Cultural Center of Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong. Since 1978, he has been the director of the Academy of Pain Research, which offered the very first comprehensive training course for physicians on acupuncture in North America. Currently, he maintains a practice in the city of San Francisco, combining modern medicine with alternative medical modalities such as acupuncture and traditional Chinese herbal medicine. He is the proponent of the Thalamic Neuron Theory (TNT) (three installments in the span of approximately 25 years, see "sample publications of Dr. Lee" below) which offers a scientific basis of explanation for the mechanisms of various alternative and complementary medical modalities, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Lee has been intimately involved in the teaching and training of hundreds of physicians looking to incorporate acupuncture and the principles of traditional Chinese medicine into their medical practices.