Ta-Ya Lee joined Kimmel Cancer Center in February and provides integrative care consulting to patients through the Under Armor Breast Health Innovation Center. A licensed acupuncturist with a Ph.D. Dr. Li, who studied acupuncture at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, has been practicing patient-centered care based on Eastern and Western medical traditions for over 25 years. Most recently, she completed an integrative oncology fellowship at the University of Michigan. Her joining Kimmel Cancer Center is a homecoming of sorts for Dr. Lee. She served as an oncology research nurse in her nursing school in the mid-1990s, and received one of her three Ph.D. degrees and four Ph.D. They each earned three of their master’s degrees.
What do you like most about your job? What drives you professionally and personally?
Kimmel Cancer Center provides an excellent opportunity to practice and expand integrative medicine for patients and to utilize all of your previous training and knowledge. While working as an oncology research nurse in the 1990s, my patients inspired me to become an acupuncturist, using non-drug treatments to address the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
My training in integrative medicine has allowed me to grow professionally and provide unique, individualized care to each patient. I was trained in his Bravewell Integrative Fellowship in 2008. Not only was I inspired, but I was learning 2-3 new concepts a day, just like a young child would. Reading this made me realize the importance of integrative medicine, not alternative medicine, but true integrative, synergistic medicine. After studying five-element acupuncture in the United States, I realized that although the benefits were great, I needed to study the history, philosophy, and research. Research into acupuncture is progressing in the United States. Since I go to Japan every year, I have become completely addicted to Toyoji Japanese style acupuncture. It was incredible to work with some of the best researchers and practitioners in the world. Finally, I researched facial rejuvenation through acupuncture for two years because I had heard horror stories about plastic surgery for facial rejuvenation. Now, I can help people who want a facelift or wrinkle reduction by using acupuncture to coax the body’s own energy system to help naturally without surgery. In my case, after learning five completely different styles of acupuncture, I am able to integrate them for best practice. The sum of all styles is much greater than the parts.
What is the most difficult aspect of your job?
There are very limited resources and referrals to provide integrative care, and we are expanding that. Hopefully, we will gradually build up referral hubs where cancer patients can access acupuncture, massage therapy, music therapy, meditation, nutritional counseling, resilience training, hypnosis, tai chi, yoga, qi gong, and more. Masu.
We appreciate Under Armor’s support in providing integrated care services to breast cancer patients.
If you would like to learn more about integrative medicine and Dr. Lee, please watch the following video:
