We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane Stanley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
I’ve always been curious and I definitely have always been stubborn. Through stubbornness and grit, I felt like I could muscle through just about anything. I worked full-time, attended UT Austin full-time with honors, and was the first in my family to attend a university. I was positive I would go on to medical school, but life had other plans.
Unfortunately, like many, I experienced health struggles during school to which conventional medicine did not have the answer. My mom would say I was “stubborn as an ox” on a weekly basis, and I believed I could just keep pushing. It wasn’t until I was sitting in an ER after my first seizure that things shifted. I asked what was happening to me, and the physician responded, “Some people are just wired that way.” I let go of being stubborn and I embraced my other go-to— I got curious. For me, that was Day 1 of pursuing Chinese and functional medicine.
After peeling back the layers of my own health, I once again found myself in a familiar place of very little options and more questions than answers when we learned our baby boy had a large stroke during his birth. I dove into any research I could find on pediatric stroke. I started acupuncture at 5 months. I even went to China to follow in the teaching hospital in Chengdu. Back home, I kept digging. With cerebral palsy as a result of his stroke, every milestone was a question. We didn’t know if our son would be able to feed safely, crawl, or walk. I’m happy to report that with collaborative, integrative care, he is thriving and about as stubborn and curious as I am. He runs with our border collie, loves chips and salsa, and uses sign language and his AAC to make his voice heard.
Life has taught me to be stubborn, curious, and to never hesitate to think outside the box. As a practitioner, my specialty is integrating traditional Chinese and functional medicine, but what matters most is what works best for each individual patient. I access research databases several times a week so that I can approach every case with clinical knowledge, a deep respect for each patient’s lived experience, and the latest clinical insights to support their healing.
Diane, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I remember sitting on the couch wondering what I was going to do after I had that seizure. I remember sitting in the dark on the stairs with no answers for what to expect after I saw my son’s MRI. Now, I’m the stubborn, curious nerd people call when they are struggling to find answers.
My practice is called Brain Body Bold, PLLC. People come to me for support with (peri)menopause, neurological conditions like Parkinson’s Disease, and to tackle inflammation. I am located within a collaborative space called Austin Fitness Clinic founded by Sam and Marci Ditzell. They are kindred spirits, always wanting to glean the latest insights to serve their community toward better health and longevity, and they’ve curated an excellent community of providers to achieve it. I LOVE our community and approach to care.
When I followed in the neurology department of the teaching hospital in Chengdu, China, I found that acupuncture with activity is a common approach to enhance outcomes. I’ve piloted this approach for my patients with Parkinson’s to enhance blood flow to the brain during learning activities, and in collaboration with the trainers at Austin Fitness Clinic, we’re rolling out an all new service called “Neuro Unbound,” where we combine scalp acupuncture and activity to support motor learning and integration.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Be curious! So often, when practitioners are done with school, they are mentally fatigued. Research results for acupuncture and herbal medicine practically double each year on PubMed. If you have a background in functional medicine or immunology, you can further see exciting new insights for phyto-nutritional impacts on inflammatory pathways. It’s an exciting time to work in integrative care, but you have to stay curious.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
It’s funny, because I really thought I was going to be a lawyer. I even got a perfect score for one of the sections of my LSAT. I saw a bacteriophage in my last semester of school and kept questioning if I chose the right path. I served in AmeriCorps to be of service while I figured things out. When I went back to school, I really loved neurology and oncology, but life chose my specialty for me. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, because of the impact I’ve seen acupuncture have on people’s lives, especially my son’s.
Looking back, I have wondered if life happened differently, if I would have done something more creative. I grew up painting and writing stories. I even sold paintings at a local Austin coffee shop to pay for all my textbooks in school at UT. My family always thought I would be an animator for Disney or veterinarian. Animals gravitate to me, especially dogs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.b2bold.com
Image Credits
Rhonda Huynh