Our Board![]() (left to right) Ryan Milley (prior board member), Robert Davis, Hugh MacPherson, Elisabet Stener-Victorin (prior board member), Jiang-Ti Kong, Vitaly Napadow, Peter Wayne, Rosa Schnyer, Richard Harris, Claudia Witt, Richard Hammerschlag (Advisory Board member) Not pictured: Remy Coeytaux (left to right) Helene Langevin (prior board member), Hugh MacPherson, Robert Davis, Remy Coeytaux, Richard Hammerschlag (Advisory Board Member), Jiang-Ti Kong, Rosa Schnyer, Vitaly Napadow Not pictured: Richard Harris, Peter Wayne, Claudia Witt The SAR BoardSAR’s Board is comprised of both clinicians and research scientists – each well-respected experts in their field of practice. These dedicated leaders devote their time and resources to keep a pulse on what’s happening in the field of acupuncture research, with an over-arching goal of identifying gaps between research and practice, opening dialogue about issues that affect the global Oriental medicine community, and hosting public conferences, Think Tanks, and symposia that foster communication between all of the different stakeholders to Oriental medicine research. Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE - Co-President Richard Harris, PhD - Co-President Robert Davis, MS, LAc - Treasurer Lisa Jean Taylor-Swanson, PhD, MAcOM, LAc - Secretary Claudia Citkovitz, PhD, MS, LAc Lee Hullender Rubin, DAOM, MS, LAc SAR Advisory Board
![]() Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine, Chief of Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Richard Harris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. His background is in basic science and clinical research in alternative medicine. He received his B.S. degree in Genetics from Purdue University in 1992 and his Ph. D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley in 1997. Following his graduate work, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NIH studying the rhythmic properties of neural cultures. He is a graduate of the Maryland Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and has received an MS degree in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis at the University of Michigan. Dr. Harris is currently investigating mechanisms of acupuncture and acupressure in the treatment of chronic pain and fatigue conditions. His recent investigations have focused on the role of brain neurotransmitters in acupuncture analgesia and chronic pain. He is a member of the American Pain Society and a past co-President for the Society for Acupuncture Research. He serves as Associate Editor of and Scientific Advisor for the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies, and is an ad hoc reviewer for several other scientific publications.
Robert Davis received an MS in acupuncture and oriental medicine from Southwest Acupuncture College, Santa Fe in 1999. He is board certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine and maintains a clinical practice in South Burlington, Vermont. He served as the President of the Vermont Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from 2001 – 2006. He was previously the CEO of Stromatec, Inc., a medical device R&D company developing quantitative tools and “know how” to researchers and clinicians in the areas of acupuncture needling techniques and connective tissue physiology and pathology. He has served as the Principle Investigator for six National Institute of Health SBIR grants.
Lisa Taylor-Swanson is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. She received her Ph.D. in nursing science from the University of Washington and a Master’s degree in acupuncture and & oriental medicine from Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist with specialty training in women’s health, including infertility and the menopausal transition, and previously owned and operated a large private practice for over 15 years. Since joining the faculty at Utah, Dr. Taylor-Swanson’s lab has investigated interoception in the context of acupuncture and applies the concepts of complex adaptive systems theory to the design and execution of research studies.
Director, Acupuncture Services
Research Assistant Professor,
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, NYU Medical School
Acupuncturist, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
University of California San Francisco
Lee Hullender Rubin is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, clinical researcher and international academic lecturer. She is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist specializing in fertility, vulvovaginal diseases, and oncology support at the University of California San Francisco, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Hullender Rubin graduated with her master’s degree from Bastyr University (2001) and completed training in residence at the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine University (2001). She received her clinical doctorate (2009) and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship (2012) from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM). She also completed post-doctoral clinical research certificate from the Human Investigations Program, Oregon Health and Science University (2013). Her primary research interests are informed by her clinical work and look at acupuncture and Chinese medicine’s impact on in vitro fertilization birth outcomes and acupuncture’s effect to reduce vulvodynia-related symptoms, a female sexual pain condition.
As Executive Director, Dr. Kligler oversees the work of VHA’s Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCC&CT) in advancing the Whole Health model throughout the VA system, shifting the agency’s position as a health care system traditionally focused on the treatment of injury and disease to a modern system that also empowers Veterans to discover what matters most. VA’s Whole Health system goes further, both treating and equipping Veterans with Whole Health Clinical Care and well-being programs that support Veterans to take charge of their health and live life to the fullest. Dr. Kligler is a board-certified family physician who has been working as a clinician, educator, researcher and administrative leader in the field of complementary and integrative medicine for the past 25 years. In May 2016 he was named National Director of the Integrative Health Coordinating Center (IHCC) in the OPCC&CT. Dr. Kligler also served as Director of Education and Research for OPCC&CT. He is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was Vice Chair and Research Director of the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Department of Integrative Medicine. Dr. Kligler was the founding medical director of the Continuum Center for Health and Healing, a large integrative medicine practice which opened in May 2000. In addition, Dr. Kligler also held the position of Director of the Beth Israel Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine, which accepted its first fellows for training in 2002, and still teaches in the Beth Israel Residency Program in Urban Family Practice. He is also a core faculty member of the Leadership Program in Integrative Healthcare at Duke University.
Ari Moré is a medical doctor, acupuncturist and researcher at the University Hospital at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil where he coordinates the Service of Integrative Medicine and Acupuncture. Ari is the supervisor of the Medical Residency Program in Acupuncture and Pain Residency Program at the University Hospital-UFSC. He is an assistant professor of acupuncture and orthopedics at the UFSC Graduation Course in Medicine. Ari completed the acupuncture residency program in 2010, received the Master Science degree in Neuroscience in 2012 and the PhD degree in Public Health in 2016. He is a member of the Translational Acupuncture Research Group at UFSC, which involves a group of experts with the aim of improving acupuncture research strategies by integrating basic science, clinical research, social science and public health. He is the vice-president of the Santa Catarina College of Medical Acupuncture and co-editor of the book Clinical Manual of Acupuncture (published in the Portuguese). Ari is an ad hoc reviewer for several scientific journals with interest in the areas of neuroscience, translational medicine, medical education and public health.
Vitaly Napadow is a Professor at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, where he is also the Director of the Center for Integrative Pain Neuroimaging (CiPNI). Dr. Napadow’s laboratory has pioneered the application of non-invasive neuroimaging techniques to better understand the brain circuitry underlying aversive perceptual states, particularly chronic pain. Somatosensory, cognitive, and affective factors all influence the malleable experience of pain, and Dr. Napadow’s Lab has applied human functional and structural neuroimaging to localize and suggest mechanisms by which different brain circuitries modulate pain perception. Dr. Napadow’s neuroimaging research also aims to better understand how non-pharmacological therapies, from acupuncture and transcutaneous neuromodulation to cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness meditation training, ameliorate these states. Dr. Napadow has more than 190 publications in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, is past-President of the Society for Acupuncture Research, and serves on numerous conference, journal, and NIH review panels. He was recently named to the Academy Distinguished Investigator Council by the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research and received the Excellence in Integrative Medicine Research Award by the European Society for Integrative Medicine.
Rosa N. Schnyer, a Doctor of Chinese Medicine (DAOM) and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, Austin, School of Nursing. Her clinical practice has served as the foundation of her research career. Dr. Schnyer has been a leader in the field of Chinese medicine research; she developed innovative research methodologies to evaluate complex interventions and better reflect clinical practice. Her clinical research has focused primarily on acupuncture as a treatment for depression and women’s health. She has served as research consultant to Harvard Medical School, Stanford University, The Beijing Children’s Hospital and the New England School of Acupuncture. She maintains a private practice in Austin, TX focusing on the management of chronic illness, mood regulation, anxiety and stress related disorders.
The primary focus of Dr. Wayne’s research is evaluating how mind-body and related complementary and alternative medicine practices clinically impact chronic health conditions, and understanding the physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying observed therapeutic effects. He has served as a principal or co-investigator on more than 20 NIH-funded studies. He has been involved in the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of Tai Chi exercise for balance disorders, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, and depression, and trials evaluating acupuncture for stroke-related paralysis, hypertension, endometriosis, and chemoradiation-related immune and swallowing side effects in cancer patients. He currently serves as Principal Investigator (with Dr. Buring) of an NCCAM-funded grant on the Use and Effectiveness of a Model Integrative Care Clinic in an Academic Hospital, to characterize referral and practice patterns and aspects of communication and decision-making in the use of conventional and CAM therapies at the Osher Clinical Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrative care team in the treatment of chronic low back pain. Dr. Wayne is actively involved in the teaching and training of students and fellows in integrative medicine research. He served as Principal Investigator of an NCCAM-funded Developmental Center Grant at the New England School of Acupuncture for which the Harvard Medical School Osher Research Center served as primary academic advisor; the center supported a cross-institutional training program for acupuncture research. He currently serves as Faculty for the NIH T32 research training grant in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, funded by NCCAM, and is a mentor for multiple NCCAM career award recipients, including Dr. Weidong Lu, who is the first recipient of the NCCAM/Bernard Osher Foundation CAM Practitioner Research Career Development Award. Dr. Wayne is the author of the Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, published in 2013 by Harvard Health Publications and Shambala Press.
Dr. Hammerschlag began his academic career conducting research in neurobiology at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Duarte, California, where he served as associate chair of the Division of Neurosciences. Twenty-five years later, a growing interest in acupuncture led him to change careers and become founding director of research at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, Oregon. There he engaged in collaborative research projects in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine with Oregon Health & Science University, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, and the University of Arizona, funded by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). A co-editor of the book Acupuncture Research: Strategies for Establishing an Evidence Base, Dr. Hammerschlag currently serves as an executive editor for The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. |