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

Sanghyun, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was your school or training experience like? Share an anecdote or two that you feel illustrate important aspects or the overall nature of your schooling/training experience.

Working at Wongu University of Oriental Medicine, I am involved in administration, academic, and the clinical practice department. One clinical experience I have at Wongu Health Center is that most patients visit us for the treatment and care on musculoskeletal issues including low back pain or neck pain.

Patients expect our Acupuncture treatment to reduce local muscle tension, readjust tension distribution on the distal aspects of the body, as well as to reduce their pain level and frequency. Depending on the diagnosis, patients are prescribed Herbal Medicine in liquid and or powder form to reduce those muscle tension and inflammation rates.

As experienced practitioners, we get to witness not only the gradual reduction of pain levels, but are also able to treat patients’ other minor complications that may include gastrointestinal concerns, sensory organ dysfunctions, insomnia, and psychological mood fluctuation issues.

We explain our diagnosis based on the Meridian within the Oriental Medicine theories which include groups of muscles that link to each different organs and each organ associated with different types of emotion such as feeling nervous, hesitant, or depressed. By stimulating certain acupuncture points which belong to specific meridians linked to certain organs, we can influence the organ relevant to the emotions from those points. Herbal Medicine also targets symptoms of emotion the same way as acupuncture as a supportive modality to improve the treatment results.

I also often encounter my patients who have not improved with my treatment of acupuncture and herbal medicine. Some experience feeling nausea, or diarrhea after they took the herbs I prescribed, resulting in more soreness after my acupuncture treatment. From those unimproved treatments, I begin reviewing previous visit treatment chart to see what Oriental Medicine diagnosis, acupuncture point combination and herbal medicine formula I used. I compare with current patient’s condition and change the diagnosis that is more relevant to the current condition. I change point combinations where I usually choose 10 points among 400 points on the body, and change the herbal formula to provide a different function which would be more appropriate for the condition, or modify single herbs to approach in different treatment direction.

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

I was pre-dental in UCLA with an Ecological Biology major, and I found interest in Oriental Medicine books that applied Natural Science concepts and found Integrative Medicine seminars in Korea. I became a Licensed Acupuncturist in California, practiced at Psychiatric facilities and other clinics while teaching classes at Wongu University. Currently I am teaching classes, supervising at the clinic, and offer clinical practice of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine for musculoskeletal, internal medical and mental health concerns.
In the last 2 years of clinical practice, I was able to see local communities recognize our Acupuncture treatment as a non-pharmaceutical treatment, our herbal medicine as a natural and organic friendly medicine which lead to a decuple of patients coming to our Wongu Health Center for treatments. It boosts my confidence in recruiting prospective students for the 4-year Master program of Oriental Medicine that becomes a licensed acupuncture & Herbal Medicine practitioner in Nevada or of a different state.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think attitude and sincerity are important aspects for succeeding in our field. These mindsets are reflected during the treatment, and patients can recognize which practitioner has a dedicated mindset and is serious in the treatment. For example, in the Master program of Oriental Medicine, we have 1,000 hours of internship. clinic intern students are directly seeing patients under clinic supervisors’ guidelines. There are senior intern students who complete most of the 1,000 clinic internship hours. some senior students who have dedicated mind are mostly fully booked with a higher return rate in patients.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Application of knowledge to daily clinical practice and to fully explain to patients to be on the same page would be helpful to build up a practitioners’ reputation in the acupuncture and herbal medicine field. Most patients are not familiar with Acupuncture and Herbal medicine, but just visit due to a family/friend’s recommendation. I imagine how other doctors practice, including dentists or plastic surgeons, how they fully explain what they do to let patients know what to expect. I simplify Oriental Medicine Theory concepts and try to use metaphors from daily life experiences to let patients understand my clinical practice. While I study advanced level of Oriental Medicine theories, this study and concepts often can have distance from daily life clinic practice. I would like to make sure my study applies to daily practice to improve the efficacy of my treatment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wongu.edu
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wongu.university/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WonguUniversity/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WonguUniversity
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wongu-university-of-oriental-medicine-las-vegas-2?osq=wongu