Professor Zhanxiang Wang has been named Assistant Dean of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) at National University of Health Sciences. This top position within the university’s AOM program oversees both the AOM clinic and the master of science degree programs in both acupuncture and oriental medicine.

Dr. Wang has taught and served as a clinician at National University since 2014. He teaches western principles of biochemistry, western nutrition, oriental medicine diagnosis skills, an introduction to oriental medicine, as well as the AOM evidence-based practice course.

“Our program has a great reputation right now,” says Dr. Wang. “In the future, we’d like to create a first professional degree such as a doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine (DAOM) program, which will help elevate our professional training in this field to the same level as the university’s doctor of chiropractic and doctor of naturopathic medicine programs. Dr. Yihyun Kwon has put in a great deal of work on this project to date, which we hope to carry forward.”

“To augment our curriculum, we also plan to invite more visiting scholars and clinicians, giving our students the opportunity to learn different styles of AOM,” says Dr. Wang. “I am the vice president of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine American Alumni Association. We have 500 alumni in that association, plus 1000 practitioners in another alumni association that represents all Chinese medicine universities in China. I plan to use these connections to draw in specialists to give seminars at NUHS.”

“Our department will also continue to do more research and explore partnerships with Asian universities, as well as domestic opportunities for internships, hospital rotations and observational clerkships,” he explains.

Dr. Wang lauds his colleague and predecessor in the post, saying: “Dr. Yihyun Kwon is an unparalleled administrator and is the person who grew this program from its inception. His design for this program is very advanced, with attention to early clinic observation and offering a competence-based education. He is now working on important research for the university.”

Dr. Wang, originally from China, studied for six years at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, where he specialized in internal medicine, including hematology and immunology. Later, he worked at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences for 12 years, where he received a PhD in integrative medicine.

“Dr. Wang’s extensive experience in AOM research and integrative medicine makes him a valuable asset to our university’s academic leadership team,” says Dr. Randy Swenson, vice president for academic services at NUHS.

After working for a year in Sweden, Dr. Wang joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2002. There he worked at the Well Center for Pediatric Research, and also in the departments of microbiology and immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology. In addition to receiving the Walther Cancer Institute award for post-doctoral research, Dr. Wang also received NIH funding for several projects as an assistant professor for research at IU.