Misha Ruth Cohen - The New Chinese Medicine Handbook: An Innovative Guide to Integrating Eastern Wisdom with Western Practice for Modern Healing

My name is Misha Ruth Cohen, and I am a doctor of Oriental medicine and a licensed acupuncturist. In 1975, I started on the path of learning Asian medicine. I studied Shiatsu with a world-renowned master, went to acupuncture school, and practiced in the Lincoln Hospital Detox Clinic in New Yorks South Bronx. I moved to San Francisco in 1979, where I was fortunate to study with fabulous teachers of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other Asian medicine; learned Chinese herbal medicine; and attained my doctorate in Oriental medicine. In the early 1980s, I started a full-service Chinese medicine clinic for people with HIV, and I began doing research in Chinese herbal medicine.

In 1984, I cofounded Quan Yin Healing Arts Center in San Francisco, a nonprofit clinic devoted to treating low-income and indigent people as well as people who would not be treated by other clinics, such as people with AIDS.

We set up the first comprehensive program for people with AIDS, working with medical doctors and other practitioners. In the late 1980s, I performed herbal research, and I had designed herbal formulas for people with HIV. I continued to develop herbal formulas for liver disease, endometriosis, and gynecologic conditions for the first Western herb company to produce Chinese herbal pill medicines in the United States.

By the year 2000, I had designed several Chinese medicine research projects. In 2003, I joined the faculty of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and I eventually became the first Chinese medicine doctor to research Chinese herbal medicine as a UCSF principal investigator. From 1990 through the present time, with my colleagues, I have taught thousands of Chinese medicine and Western medicine practitioners how to create comprehensive programs, especially for HIV, hepatitis C, and cancer support. I have held leadership positions at the Society for Acupuncture Research as well as at Quan Yin Healing Arts Center. Currently, I am a member of the brainstorming team of the Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program, on the board of directors of the Society for Integrative Oncology, and on the board of the Humanitarian Acupuncture Project.

For twenty-five years, I have maintained an Integrated Chinese Medicine private practice in San Francisco, auspiciously named Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine. Every day, my team provides complex consultations, integrated treatment plans, acupuncture, herbs, massage, and the full gamut of Chinese medicine and natural medicine to people who are looking for wholeness, balance, and wellness. We specialize in gynecology, cancer support, liver wellness, immune system imbalances, viral diseases, metabolic syndrome, digestive disorders, and pain management. The clinic is especially known for working with people with unusual and complex conditions and people who have unresolved illnesses or who have had unsuccessful treatment with conventional medicine.

The New Chinese Medicine Handbook allows me to share with you what I have learned in my years of teaching and practicein an easy-to-read format. This book offers you an exploration of the Chinese medicine philosophy, theory, and practices as well guidance on how to use this philosophy to inform your daily life and healing practices.

Part One of The New Chinese Medicine Handbook walks you through the physiology and anatomy of Chinese medicine, causes of disease in Chinese medicine, and how we determine patterns of disharmony.

Part Two explains dietary principles for rebuilding and maintaining your health; includes a survey of Chinese herbs; and details the arts of acupuncture and moxibustion, Chinese exercise and meditation, Chinese Qi Gong massage, and other body therapies. Of most importance, Part Two tells you what to expect when you visit a Chinese medicine practitioner.