Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Heather Vaughan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Heather, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

It’s been a long road to opening up my Acupuncture clinic just north of Asheville in Weaverville, North Carolina, this year. My first job in healthcare was in 2010, thanks to my friend and colleague, Dr. Eric Grasser, MD who offered me a unique opportunity: a dual role as Ayurvedic Practitioner and Medical Assistant at his integrative primary care family practice. I learned so much more than if I’d just gone into private practice. I learned how to run a medical clinic, take vitals, do a short, effective intake, draw blood, run EKGs, how to work with insurance companies and run prior authorizations, and so much more.

It was there I learned two major things that directed the course of my education and career. The first is that the way to put access to alternative or complementary care in hands of the people is by making it affordable, and the way to do that with the current system we have is by accepting insurance. The other was that Ayurveda, while effective for many conditions, is a slow process and when people are suffering, they need relief right away. Enter acupuncture. Thanks to the tireless effort of associations and individual practitioners over the past 35 or so years, acupuncture has made it much further into the mainstream and medical system here in the United States than I dreamed possible back in the 90’s. In 2024, everyone has heard about it. On top of that, many insurance plans, workers compensation, and auto accident treatment options include acupuncture coverage. This opens the door to treatment to a much more diverse population financially. And, acupuncture can relieve pain and other symptoms like sleeplessness, digestive trouble, and anxiety quite quickly. Even one treatment can make a difference. With patients able to feel even a little bit better right away, they become more willing to try herbal medicine and make diet and lifestyle changes at home to augment the treatment and keep moving forward. So, for me an acupuncture license was a clear open door to the level of clinical practice I wanted to have.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Synthesis Medicine, my small integrative Acupuncture clinic is the culmination of over 15 years of study and clinical practice in holistic medicine. Like many who enter this field, my exposure was through necessity – navigating my own chronic illness. As a teen, I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a disease which radically altered the course of my life, making it impossible to move forward on my initial career path in classical music. AS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints of your spine, causing fusion, significant pain, and carries with it potential severe complications. I had an open door to study with a world renowned voice teacher responsible for catapulting international careers in opera at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, when I hit my low point and had to make a very tough call. Unable to work full time, but not quite disabled, finances were limited and my choices in life had become quite narrow. At that time in the early 2000’s, both rheumatology and alternative medicine access were in a very different place compared to the leaps and bounds that have occurred over the past 35 years. From this context, knowing that in order to get better, I needed more than occasional treatment I left the music world and my life in San Francisco to attend the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For me, the choice was equal parts health and career related. A practical, resourceful person by nature, I knew I simply did not have the time or energy to have a career and my health. They had to be one in the same. Lucky for me, I had considered becoming a doctor in high school, so it wasn’t as big a leap as it seemed moving from classical music to medicine. Ayurveda and acupuncture are creative by nature, making the transition very seamless.

Over the course of many years, I did improve slowly, to the point where I am now, opening my clinic and enjoying the outdoors when time allows. I applied those same innate personality traits of a classical musician (precision, dedication, extreme attention to detail, deep emotional connection, highly present attention) to the study of Ayurveda, Herbal Medicine, Craniosacral Therapy, and ultimately Acupuncture. This is the quadra-fecta that gave me my own life back, and with its breadth and depth of clinical assessment and treatment possibilities, opens the door to a great deal of freedom, even when facing very serious medical challenges. The combination allows my patients to improve from a variety of angles. Acupuncture and craniosacral therapy bring a level of immediate relief. Herbal medicine covers the “middle,” relieving symptoms and giving the body a boost. Ayurveda addresses the long game – adjusting diet and lifestyle step by step to become supportive of long term improvement while empowering patients with the tools they need to regain a sense of control that is easily lost in chronic disease.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Listening deeply with curiosity and keeping an open mind are extremely important in both clinical practice and entrepreneurship. These skills allow us to think around corners, neutrally asses what is working and what is not, and try something new. A rigid mind will trap you. The terrain in which we live, work, and practice is constantly changing, so to become rote or set in ones ways will lead to stagnant growth as much as it will lead to ineffective treatments.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Yes. I love my work. It’s deeply satisfying both emotionally and intellectually to help people feel better. Since each patient is so different and we have so many approaches and techniques to work with as acupuncturists, it’s endlessly interesting – tough to imagine getting bored and wanting to move on! Good news since it’s such a heavy lift to complete all of the education required, seemingly endless clinic hours, and board exams to get here. Running my own practice, I get to work for myself, and love the freedom that comes along with that. For me, the responsibility of everything on my shoulders is a worthwhile price to pay so that I can go visit my sister in Honolulu when I want to or start seeing patients a bit later the morning the night after a networking event. This is very important to me given both my personality and the fact that I manage my own autoimmune disease as well. If I need a day off, I take it. That said, if for some reason acupuncture hadn’t shown up, I would have really enjoyed working with animals.

That also not to say I wouldn’t have done things differently overall. Had I known the future, I’d have skipped the degree in music entirely, and gone straight into medicine. It really suits me much more. Although I didn’t believe it in my early 20’s, it’s true when they say graduate school is harder the older you get. So… stay in school, kids!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.synthesismedicine.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/synthesismedicine
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/synthesismedicine/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-vaughan/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SynthesisMedicine
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/synthesis-medicine-asheville-3