Interview with Tian Haihe, President of the American Traditional Chinese Medicine Association (ATCMA), and Wei Hui, CEO
Zhenzhen Zhang
When the spring breeze finally blew through the land of the Eastern United States, one day in mid-April, President Tian and CEO Wei Hui and I met on Zoom to talk about the ATCMA that they founded. My acquaintance with them began by participating in their academic activities. Their academic activities gave me the impression that they were rich in content and highly practical. I heard that they are going to hold their 10th annual meeting, and I hope to take the opportunity to introduce this ten-year-old American Professional Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine to readers of our Journal. For more information about their personal charm and achievements, readers are invited to read the inside cover of this issue. The following is just a conversation between us:
Zhang Zhenzhen: There are 50 states in the United States and Washington, D.C., and almost all of them have their own TCM associations. What gave you the opportunity to found the American TCM Association (ATCMA)?
President Tian: About 10 years ago, thanks to the popularity of WeChat in the Chinese community, Chinese medicine practitioners from Chinese traditional Chinese medicine schools established alumni groups across the United States, bringing together students scattered across the United States. First, we united the alumni associations of each school to establish our organization – the American Traditional Chinese Medicine Alumni Association. We Chinese medicine practitioners share many commonalities, including our education in traditional Chinese medicine, cultural background, and experiences practicing in the United States. Therefore, we have a common language, and our members graduated from different Chinese medical schools, representing various schools of thought in Chinese medicine. This diversity also reflects the different acupuncture laws and practice environments in various states across America. These characteristics fostered resonance among us, leading to the decision to establish a nationwide academic organization—— the American TCM Association (ATCMA).
Our establishment’s initial goal and purpose were to break through regional restrictions, allowing colleagues to learn from each other on a national platform, improve their skills, and further promote and disseminate Chinese medicine. As the association grew, more Chinese medicine practitioners trained in American acupuncture schools joined, especially young physicians who showed strong enthusiasm for learning and knowledge. Subsequently, the American Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine Young Physicians Association was established.
We shoulder the historical mission of cultivating the next generation of young people, so that academic inheritance can be passed on, and there will be successors to traditional Chinese medicine in the United States. At the same time, the society also pays attention to horizontal connections and has actively established close ties with national TCM organizations in the United States to work together to meet challenges, promote comprehensive legislation on acupuncture in the United States, insurance coverage, and further expand the scope of practice of TCM physicians, and determine higher, Broader goals.
Zhang Zhenzhen: The society has gone through ten years, what does it rely on to bring members together?
President Tian: Based on the academic specialties of our association, we have formed different professional committees to conduct in-depth research and exploration in specialized fields. I’ll let CEO Wei Hui elaborate on this.
CEO Wei Hui: Yes, currently our society has established 14 professional committees, namely the Traditional Chinese Medicine Gynecology Professional Committee, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Professional Committee, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Orthopedics Professional Committee, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Diet Therapy Professional Committee, and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Oncology Professional Committee. Chinese Medicine Qigong and Tai Chi Professional Committee, Chinese Medicine Dermatology Professional Committee, Chinese Medicine Cosmetology Professional Committee, Chinese Medicine Classics Professional Committee, Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine Professional Committee, Chinese Medicine Pediatrics Professional Committee, and Chinese Medicine Prescription Professional Committee, in addition to the Scientific Research and Education Committee. Since 2014, we pioneered WeChat academic lectures and organized many WeChat and Zoom lectures since the epidemic, about 400 of them. Especially during the 2020-2023 epidemic, our online academic exchanges were very active, and lectures were arranged almost every week to improve members’ professional knowledge and clinical skills. Carrying out specialist training is also a major feature of our society. For example, since 2020, our Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine Cosmetology, in collaboration with Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has organized a series of lectures on Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Cosmetology Month for three consecutive years, inviting top experts in the field to deliver novel and practical topics, which have been well received by members, enhancing the cohesion of the association.
Zhang Zhenzhen: Yes, I have also participated in some high-level academic activities organized by you, such as the annual conference in Washington DC, and the International Medical Qigong and Tai Chi Forum in Boston. I was very impressed. Not only outstanding Chinese experts but also local American experts, such as Dr. Benson and Dr. Peter Wayne, several famous experts in Tai Chi and Qigong from Harvard Medical School, were also present to share. Can you tell us about your successful experience in organizing these events?
CEO Wei Hui: After the establishment of the association, we have been organizing the annual American Traditional Chinese Medicine Congress, rotating the hosting responsibilities among alumni associations of various schools. For example, the first congress was hosted by the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Alumni Association in Orlando; the second was hosted by the Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Alumni Association in Tucson; the third was hosted by the Anhui University of Chinese Medicine Alumni Association in Washington DC; the fourth was hosted by the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Alumni Association in Seattle; the fifth was hosted by the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine Alumni Association in Los Angeles. Due to the pandemic, the sixth to ninth congresses were held on Zoom, with strong assistance from Chinese medical schools in Shanghai, Nanjing, Shandong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and New York, among others. Behind the alumni associations is the strong support from various mother schools in China. Our annual meetings often invite representatives from various Chinese medical colleges. Of course, many renowned Chinese medicine masters or academicians are also invited. Their years of invaluable experience, like rain and sunshine, nourish numerous overseas successors of Chinese medicine. Each annual meeting is a grand banquet of knowledge and spiritual cultivation for Chinese medicine colleagues. In recent years, due to the pandemic preventing us from gathering offline, we have shifted to online platforms, and the large-scale online annual meetings have also been hugely successful, with enthusiastic responses.
Zhang Zhenzhen: Great, Could you provide a detailed introduction to this year’s conference in October?
CEO Wei Hui: Since this is the first offline conference after the pandemic and also the 10th-anniversary celebration of the association, members are eagerly looking forward to reuniting after four years. We are actively preparing for it, inspired by everyone’s enthusiasm. According to the survey results and members’ wishes, we will invite renowned experts and scholars in the field of Chinese medicine and acupuncture from China and the United States to present academic reports at the conference, sharing their valuable experiences. This time, our conference will focus more on clinically effective and unique treatment methods or techniques, showcasing their practical operational methods on-site. Our organizing committee has made careful preparations, and we hope everyone will be pleasantly surprised and gain a lot from the conference.
Zhang Zhenzhen: For an association, there are always challenges in the long run. Finally, could you tell our readers about the future plans of the association?
President Tian: Opportunities and challenges often coexist. We face many challenges. For example, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture are still not within the mainstream medical system in the United States; the vast majority of members work in individual clinics; medical insurance payment is limited, and currently, there are only Western medicine acupuncturists receive insurance payment for the elderly in the United States; as an important part of traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese medicine cannot be used as medicine, etc. are all problems we need to solve in the future. Our society has both short-term and long-term goals. At present, we should continue to improve the professional knowledge level and clinical efficacy of our members; expand the publicity and popularization of TCM knowledge to the American people, so that more people can understand TCM and benefit from TCM; support the construction and development of the Young Chinese Physicians Association, train young American Chinese medicine practitioners, and let the flame of Chinese medicine be passed on in the United States; actively organize members to participate in acupuncture legislative activities, national census activities of acupuncture practitioners, etc. The long-term goals are: first, to establish a re-inheritance project for famous teachers, give full play to the special inheritance method of TCM education, cultivate TCM specialists, and not only pass on the treasures of TCM from generation to generation but also carry forward them. The second is to implement specialist training, cultivate TCM acupuncturists with specialties, compile high-level and practical specialist training materials suitable for American TCM practitioners, and organize experts to formulate industry standards and clinical guidelines for disease diagnosis and treatment based on professional committees. The third is to actively organize and participate in clinical research when conditions permit so that traditional Chinese medicine can have a place in evidence-based medicine. The fourth is to continue to run the American edition of “The World Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine” and make it a must-read for American traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. The fifth is to strive to build the ATCMA into an influential model professional society in the United States and even the world.
Zhang Zhenzhen: Thank you two presidents for accepting the interview. I admire you very much for developing from the alumni association of various colleges of traditional Chinese medicine into the National Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine. You are so creative! Thank you even more for your outstanding contributions to developing traditional Chinese medicine in the United States! Finally, I wish the 10th Annual Conference great success!
Author information:
Zhang Zhenzhen is a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has more than 40 years of clinical experience in traditional Chinese medicine. She graduated from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Hebei Medical College and the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He has practiced medicine and taught in China, Japan, and the United States. Dr. Zhang has taught at the New England Acupuncture College in Massachusetts for over 20 years. At the same time, he has worked part-time at the Women’s Health Center of Salem Hospital in Massachusetts for nearly 20 years.
