My New Degree, and What That Means to My Practice
Things are looking up!
I am proud to announce that I recently graduated from my Doctorate program and am now officially Dr. Jim Chialtas! I wanted to take a moment here and explain what this means to me and what’s to come.
To begin, let me describe a little about my program. I earned my Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) from a program designed to add on to the nearly four-year Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine (MTCM) program that we all went through to become acupuncturists. Interestingly though we didn’t learn anything new about Chinese Medicine in this Doctorate, as far as how the medicine is practiced. We were all seasoned professionals already in clinical practice. Instead we were encouraged to dig deeper into our particular scope of practice (as outlined by our State), and research ways that we can better contribute to the medical community at large. There was a heavy emphasis on writing, reading, and understanding medical literature from all medical modalities, and contributing to research and journal articles. In essence, this program made us more well-rounded medical professionals.
In this program I spent the majority of my time and efforts digging deeper into Functional Medicine which, while not the same as Chinese Medicine, is within my scope of practice here in California. My interest in practicing medicine is to combine the traditional wisdom of Chinese Medicine, while having a strong foundation in modern, evidence-based approaches used in Functional Medicine. This allows for a much wider view of the problem at hand and provides more tools to draw upon when helping my patients. As I embrace the title of “Doctor” my commitment is to maintain an open mind and a keen observation of what is being presented so that I can work efficiently to moderate and improve the concerns of my patients. We live in an increasingly complex world with increasingly complex medical conditions, and it is essential for the medical community to keep up. My goal is to do just that.
Another avenue that I have been following since earning this higher degree is to become more of an instructor to my peers and to the general public. I was recently hired by my Master’s program University to design and teach a blood chemistry course for their newly launched online Doctorate program. I am so honored to be a faculty member, content expert, and instructor at Five Branches University in Santa Cruz! In addition, I look forward to creating continuing education courses for my fellow acupuncturists in the areas of Functional Blood Chemistry and how it can be integrated into a Chinese Medical practice. I also look forward to designing online courses for the general public who are interested in understanding more about the lab tests that their doctors order. So keep a look out for these in the coming year!
Thank you for your continued support and your trust in my service. I am committed to continued growth and look forward to sharing what I learn along the way!
Yours in health,
Dr. Jim Chialtas
