We were lucky to catch up with Oscar Sierra recently and have shared our conversation below.

Oscar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

There are so many…and it’s not as fun to tell them in writing as it is in person or even over the phone. Anything from having the honor & privilege to be with a Pt. on their deathbed–I suppose most people wouldn’t think that’s heartwarming, but when you take into consideration that this Pt. was also a friend AND a fellow herbalist and pharmacist, and maybe that she was cracking jokes and being delightfully well humored and even hitting on the handsome young MD that came to check on her, then maybe your heart would be a little warmed. Or maybe you’d just have to be there. Or the time I helped get some hormones checked for a middle aged woman with grown triplets and recommended some herbs to support her testosterone levels and she gave some to her husband of 25+yrs (who I’d never seen as a Pt). This husband happened to be an electrician who would on occasion scale ladders. When she would call him, his cell would have a special ring tone and on the day after he took the herbs I’d recommended for her, the mere ring tone assigned to his sweet bride was enough to arouse him in a way that made him embarrassed to descend from that ladder and he swore off that he’d never touch the herbs again. I suppose both these could be seen as unfortunate, but I easily choose to see them as heartwarming. Maybe I’m just weird.

Oscar, 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?

Oscar’s origin story seems circuitous at 1st, but in retrospect, I can’t imagine a better way I would’ve gotten here. When I was a kid, a neighbor wanted a discount & maybe a carpool buddy for martial arts classes, so I haphazardly got into that and it ended up being highly formative in my teen & early adult years.
That opened the door to Chinese Medicine and an opportunity to train in that while I taught martial arts in the evenings. The concepts were actually fairly similar & lent well to synergy with each other as well as my degree in nutrition science from the Univ. of Ga.
I began my clinical practice in 2008 and explicitly made it a point to NOT treat cancer (Ca) patients (Pt’s) b/c I really wanted to work with people wanting to PREVENT Ca & really promote health & wellness via natural diet, lifestyle, botanical, nutraceutical, and wholistic therapy interventions (ie acupuncture, reflexology, yoga, etc).
Well, Somehow, a Ca Pt. ended up in my consult room and though I didn’t really know anything about Ca, I just did what I knew to do to get his body working well from both a Chinese Med. & energetic perspective as well as a Functional Med. perspective. I also dialed in some tricks from a Donnie Yance book a colleague lent me which I didn’t even read. I just skimmed the 3-4pgs on prostate Ca & ripped off some ideas.
To the amazement of the Pt., myself, and even the oncologist, the Pt’s PSA plummeted by 50% in < 4wks. I readily admitted I didn’t really know what I was doing, but vowed to look into this Donnie Yance stuff way more thoroughly.
Well, fast forward 12 yrs and though I still see my old Pt’s & their families for routine maintenance & colds, flu’s, aches, pains, GI, hormonal, & GI issues, I now work with mainly Ca Pt’s dialing in the full 360 degree scope of the Donnie Yance Eclectic Triphasic Medical System where we diligently discern the Pt’s condition energetically & objectively via functional testing. We also assess the Pt’s physical, chemical, social, & electromagnetic environment, We also thoroughly assess the host terrain (nutrient status, inflammation, oxidation, methylation, etc.) as well as the individual characteristics making a pathology unique other than location (advanced tumor genomics).
We take all this Pt, Env., & pathology info account and collaborate with the Pt, their GP’s, oncologists, PT’s, dentists, acupuncturists, and other health & palliative care providers to come up with strategies to track progress of the Pt using leading indicators as well as leading indicators of any potential disease progression/digression.
We also collaborate in dialing in targeted interventions across 6 toolboxes: botanical, nutraceutical, diet, lifestyle, other therapies (ie acupuncture, massage, etc.), and even pharmaceutical options that work best for the stated goals of the Pt.

We make sure that the strategy is built, the right data is gathered to track & achieve success, and that Pt’s can move forward with full awareness and maximum Joy.
It truly is an eclectic, all-hands-on-deck collaborative process. We might employ fresh local herbal medicine growing in someone’s ATL backyard with ancient TCM pulse diagnosis, with a traditional Ayurvedic topical herbal & mineral application, with some Cajun zydeco dancing, bulk frankincense from the Middle East for their oral microbiome, and some hi tech wearable devices to measure & improve HRV.
We also do a lot of compounding here. Anything from clean custom decoctions using bulk organic herbs, to infusion mixes for teas, to custom tinctures, eyewashes, mouthwashes, nebulizer mixes, etc. Custom compounding is a personal passion which also keeps our staff VERY busy, but allows us to personalize interventions that are just right for our unique Pt’s.
Oh, and we usually have music playing out of pretty decent (wired & non EMF emitting) speakers everywhere in the clinic. We sometimes invite musical guests to play for us too while we compound fun herbal mocktails & infusions for our guests.
That’s us in a nutshell.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The Chinese Med. folks know me for being proficient in western herbs and modern functional Med. Each of those things is rare in the Chinese Med. community, let alone both. The Func. Med folks know me for being an acupuncturist & herbalist–which is pretty rare in those circles.
The Herbal Med. people seem to think I know a lot about medicinal mushrooms and oral health.
The mycophile geeks know me for being an herb guy.
The wholistic dentistry, oral health, & airway clinicians know me for being an herbalist, which really stands out in those circles.
The wholistic health conference people know me for being a good musician.
The real musician people know me for being a mediocre musician and a plant nerd.

I suppose I’m kind of an oddball in all of the communities. That’s how I built my reputation.

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

yes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sierracollaborativemed.com/
• Instagram: @SierraCollaborativeMed
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=sierra%20botanica%20%26%20collaborative%20medicine
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-sierra-l-ac-ch-6964a13
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sierrabotanicacollaborativ165
• Other: www.MojoHealth.org