Letters from Alumni

Dear President and the professors at TCTCM,

I'm writing to tell you how successful my career in acupuncture has been and how much I thank you and all of the professors and staff who helped in preparing me well for this kind of success. I enjoy my work as an acupuncturist immensely and my clinic retains a high percentage of successful treatments, patient satisfaction, and financial stability.

It's been more than three years since I graduated from your college in 2005. I opened my independently owned clinic in the middle of north central Austin around the beginning of 2006. Now I have three treatment rooms and stay busy most of the days during the week. Effective treatments of various medical conditions are taking place in my clinic, incuding all kinds of pain, sometimes, decade-long debilitating back pain, asthma, IBS, cardiovascular conditions, allergies, gynecological conditions, and migraines. Some days more patients will call the clinic for appointments than I have time for them, and therefore, I will open on weekends to meet their needs. Like many starting businesses, it is through a lot of trials and hard work that my clinic made it this far in its development.

I attribute my success largely to the comprehensive and solid training I received in the TCTCM. The school greatly broadened my scope of knowledge. I had had acupuncture experience in China before I entered the TCTCM, but it was in your school that I began to learn many new and different modalities and techniques in acupuncture and herbal prescription. I feel very thankful to all the faculty members for their dedicated teaching. In particular, I wanted to express my thanks to Drs. Guili Zheng, Shaozhi Li, Jianguo Mu, and Yong Cui.

Clinic internship was one of the most valuable experience in preparing me for running my own clinic in the real world. Western medicine, administrative and legal courses were not insignificant. When you open an acupuncturist practice, you open doors to all kinds of professional and legal problems a medical business will face. The TCTCM provided me with well-rounded knowledge and informatino to deal with these aspects of my business.

I look forward to more learning opportunities the TCTCM will continue to provide to the licensed acupuncturists through continuing education and alumni programs. I wish the best to the TCTCM in future, in that it will offer more successful training to more students and acupuncturists who can serve the public in need.

Yours Truly,
Jingyu Gu, PhD and Lic Acu
Owner and President
Wellspring Acupuncture and Holistic Health Clinic, PC

"This week, I saw forty-nine patients, and forty-eight the week before, and this is my first year in practice.
Yesterday, my wife and I had an appointment with an MD for an ultrasound for our unborn baby.  When he found out I was an acupuncturist, the doctor teased me a little, and asked whether I made my living practicing acupuncture.  I smiled as I told him that, yes, I did.
Now, I know that this MD charges his patients much more than I do, and I know that at least part of this is because of his higher overhead.  Ultrasound machines, such as the one he was using, are not cheap, and neither are any of the rest of the high-tech equipment they use in Western medicine.  And while their medical technology works, and works quite well in some cases, we practitioners of TCM need only inexpensive needles and simple herbs to give them a real run for their money.  Healing comes from the skill of the practitioner, and not from the tools he uses.
I would like to thank the Texas College of Traditional Chinese Medicine not only for providing me with the skills and knowledge to become a successful practitioner, but also for the opportunity to share my experiences with you today."
- Yien Long "Dragon" Chu, TCTCM Class of January 2004; remarks delivered at TCTCM Graduation, April, 2005

"When I graduated from TCTCM, I was confident and well-prepared to treat my patients.  I accepted a position in a thriving, established practice immediately after graduation; the senior acupuncturist, trained in China, was amazed at my skills and knowledge, and initially refused to believe that I had received such a thorough education from an American school.  'They don't teach that in the West,' she would say.  I am now treating about fifty patients a week, and thanks to referrals from existing patients, our clinic is booked solid for weeks at a time.  More importantly, though, are those patients who don't come back, but who call or send cards and letters thanking me for helping them get well again.  I am proud of my new profession, and grateful to TCTCM for giving me the skills and knowledge I need to help others."
- Wu Ping "Apple" Yu, TCTCM Class of August, 2005; remarks delivered at TCTCM Graduation, August, 2006

"The intensive clinical experience further allowed me to react quickly and diagnose patients extremely accurately and thus gain excellent results and esteem with my patients and colleagues within the medical community.  The school's character stems from a foundation of solid course structure. After graduation and through years of practice in TCM, I began to realize the vision and mission of the founders."
- John Cary, TCTCM Class of August, 1995

"As the President stated, this is not just another school teaching acupuncture.  Indeed, the in-depth training that I received at TCTCM has helped me to more effectively treat my patients in my daily practice. It is also true, that every day I practice, makes this profession even more fascinating."

Sue Livingston
Acupuncture Associates Chinese Medical Clinic

Dear Lisa,

I hope that you and your family are doing well, and wish you all a very happy new year.  I have been meaning to send  you this email for a while now, to show my gratefulness to you and TCTCM for the great time I spent amongst you feeling as a member of a loving family.  You made me feel at home during very difficult times, but the greatest gift you gave me was TCM.  Although I have been a physician for years, I never felt this powerful with knowledge as I am feeling now with TCM.  I am very proud to be a TCM physician for I can see the great effect of practicing it everyday in the eyes of my grateful patients after years of trying western medicine modalities.

Dear Lisa, I take this opportunity to thank everybody at TCTCM especially my marvelous professors for their devotion to teach us the best of their experience and knowledge. I always remember them whem I diagnose every patient of mine.

Again, I thank you and wish you the very best, and look forward to meeting you again.

Sincerely,
Muhammed Aboul Ela, MD

Dear Lisa,

Please accept my gratitude for the outstanding education I received at Texas College of TCM.  When I decided to further my education and work torwards a Doctorate, I found that I was well prepared for that next step.

This past year, when I visited China for my externship, I had the opportunity to see first hand acupuncture performed in several hospitals.  Further validation of my excellent education was verified as the points chosen by the OMD in that setting were the same or similar points I would have chosen to treat the same problem here in the States.  Understanding TCM concepts is key to success and I feel that Texas College of TCM gave me a well-rounded education regarding those basic concepts.  I know that my education has just begun.

I am proud to be an alumni of Texas College of TCM.  As such, I would like to present you with a copy of the Medical Acupuncture Journal which published a case study that I submitted. Also enclosed is a copy of my Diplomate in Oriental Medicine certification from NCCAOM which should complete my school file.

I look forward to what life has to offer - I look forward to very day - I look forward to helping people learn about the benefits of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Thank you for laying that foundation.

Sincerely,

Beverly K. Cowan

DAOM, Dipl OM (NCCAOM), LAc