Dr. Na Zhai Clinic Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Part I   The road of education

 

 

Dr. Na Zhai (third from left) with Professor Wen Shen (second from left) and colleagues at the Beijing Acupuncture Institute, China, where Dr. Na Zhai completed her Master's thesis in August 1988. Her thesis was titled The Effect of Acupuncture on Acute Myocardial Infarction in Rabbits.      

 

 

After her Master's thesis defense, Dr. Na Zhai (right) is pictured with her tutor Professor Liu Zhuoyou (center) and classmates in May 1989. She received her Master's degree from Guiyang Medical School.

 

 

Dr. Na with her professor Xu-Ping at The Second Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China, 1989.

 

 

Dr. Na Zhai with Professor Xu Ping in the Histochemistry Laboratory at The Second Tianjin Medical University, China, where she completed her Ph.D. thesis, The Effect of Acupuncture on Acute Cerebral Infarction in Rats, in 1990.

 

                Tianjin Daily announced Dr. Na's Ph.D. research. The headline read:                        "The First Affiliated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine makes new contributions to acupuncture medicine:
Unveiling the secrets of acupuncture treatment for stroke"

 

 

 

Dr. Na Zhai (back row, center) with her professors and classmates after her Ph.D. thesis defense.

 

 

Dr. Na Zhai (third from left) with her professor Shi Xueming (center) after the Ph.D. award ceremony in 1992.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Na arrived in Japan for her postdoctoral research in 1993.

 

Part II   Life in Japan

Professor Yutaka Futaesaku of Kitasato University, Japan, invited Dr. Na Zhai in 1993 to complete a research project: The Brain Response to Needling Different Acupuncture Points, derived from [H] 2-DG Autoradiography.

 

 

 

 

Her professor, colleagues and friends         in Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Chinese dumplings with Japanese professors and students

 

Dr. Na giving a lecture in the Japanese community on ancient Chinese medicine. She had studied Japanese for eight years during her undergraduate years.

 

Attending international conferences in Japan

The research done in Japan was announced in a Chinese national newspaper. The headline read: "New findings in acupuncture research: Different acupoints do indeed have different therapeutic effects."

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Dr. Na in a kimono (seated in the center) with her friends and colleagues.                   It took three hours to put the kimono on her—once in a lifetime.

Part III   Put Knowledge at work

 

Dr. Na (center) with her team in the pathology lab at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. In this room, many Master's and Ph.D. students completed their theses.

 

 

At work on a National Research Project at Professor Bao-Zhen Zhang's electron microscope lab at the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.

 

Part IV. Come to the US

In July 1996, Dr. Na arrived in New York

 

Dr. Na Zhai spent the first three months of her American life visiting famous universities and remarkable people across the United States. She visited The AIDS Institute in New York, where Dr. David Ho (second from left)—a world-renowned AIDS expert—developed his famous "cocktail" for AIDS patients.

 

Dr. Na worked at Springfield Clinic with Dr. Fortin (second from right), a neurologist. She learned so much from him and from all of her colleagues at the clinic.

 

Dr. Na Zhai and Dr. Claude Fortin, a neurologist at Springfield Clinic. Their collaboration was featured in the State Journal-Register, December 20, 1999.             Dr. Fortin standing behind.

 

Our patient John Landers had been suffering from severe trigeminal neuralgia for two years. He could not eat, speak, or brush his teeth. He was pain-free in two and a half weeks under our care. The newspaper headline read:                                   "Acupuncture goes mainstream."

 

"Invited by the St. Vincent Memorial Hospital Foundation in 2001 to present 'Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine' to the community."

 

 

"Presenting on Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Ethnic Heritage Festival (2005)."

 

 

"Invited by the Arthritis Foundation to present 'How Can Acupuncture Help My Arthritis?' at Springfield Clinic."

 

              Over the years, many SIU medical students came through Dr. Na's clinic—some of them selecting her class for their training.

See what the Students say about their experience in the clinic