SPECIALTIES & INTERESTS

• Autoimmune Diseases

• LGBT Health

• Qi Gong

• Tuina Massage

• Herbal Medicine

Dr. Theodore Treantafelles, L.Ac., DACM, Dipl. OM

training

That's a lot of letters...what do they mean?

Well, the really long bit at the beginning means that I am Greek and that we tend to have long last names. In particular, this one means "rose" or "thirty friends" depending on how you pronounce it.

L.Ac. stands for Licensed Acupuncturist. In California, that means that I have :

• earned a baccalaureate degree separate from my acupuncture training;

• graduated from a post-graduate acupuncture program consisting of at least 2,500 hours of instruction;

• passed all of the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) national board examinations (herbology, which I also passed was optional);

• been certified in clean needle technique by the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM); and

• passed California’s acupuncture board examinations.

In my case, I received my B.S. in Biology from UCLA and my post-graduate training was done at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. In all, my post-graduate studies comprised over 4 years of full-time schooling including 3,700 hours of instruction and nearly 1,000 hours of clinical experience.

DACM stands for Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. This indicates that I opted to continue my training at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine beyond what is required. Doing this allowed me to really focus on using evidence based medicine in my treatments and how best to work alongside other health care practitioners.

The last one, Dipl. OM, stands for Diplomate of Oriental Medicine. This is a special designation given by NCCAOM signifying that I have passed all of the national board exams (including herbology) and graduated from an accredited institution. It also means that I have pledged to remain current in my knowledge through continuing education that is monitored by the institution.

BACKGROUND

My journey to this medicine began with my love of learning about the human body focusing on ecology, behavior, and evolution at college. I loved studying nature and loved medicine’s ability to heal, but the ideology and practice of western medicine was not a match for me. I felt that it focused too much on treating symptoms and not enough on underlying causes.

Years later, a friend introduced me to kung fu. I loved the class, which eventually expanded to include Qi Gong and first aid acupressure. The instructor mentioned there would be more opportunities for its use in healing than kung fu in our daily lives. He was right, and soon after, I had already used it to help more than a couple family members.

It was so gratifying to realize this passion through with I could really benefit society. This work would come to integrate strong points in my life such as my critical eye, kindness, empathy, and love of medicine.

During my training, I was also lucky to have done rotations that have deepened my experience and interest in certain areas of our medicine. My first rotation was with The Institute for Family Health, a leader in health equity. Next, my time at Housing Works - whose goal is to combat the dual crises of AIDS and homelessness - helped spur my interest in helping those with chronic conditions. Finally, my time at Mount Sinai Beth Israel's Continuum Cancer Center opened my eyes to just how much our medicine can do.