Parallel to the phenomenal growth of the complementary and alternative medicine movement, botanical agents have found their way into all kinds of nutritional supplements and herbal formulae, many of which are derived from traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCM). More importantly, patients who take multiple herbs do not always share this information with their healthcare providers, who may at the same time find their formal medical education in this area to be lacking. Potential toxicities, drug-herb interactions, and the therapeutic efficacy of herbal agents are of prime concern to many physicians. Although piecemeal information may be available from books, news media, and journal publications, there has been no formal educational forum to convey such vital information to the medical profession, let alone an effective educational program to enable healthcare professionals to acquire the knowledge necessary to properly incorporate herbal medicine into their practices, or to pursue research in this field. This course is specifically created to fill that void. Currently, this course is in its twenty-first successful year, and it is the only course of its kind.

The combination of a multimedia home-study program, seminars, hands-on workshops and laboratories, herbal tour, clinical runs with actual case analyses, etc. allows the participants to obtain up to 280 hours of intensive training in the span of about 6 months, encompassing key areas essential in acquiring a sound knowledge base of Chinese herbal medicine.

Throughout the course, many practical skills and knowhow will be taught. Preparation from raw herbs, hands-on TCM diagnostic techniques, economical aspects of herbal medicine, clinical runs, herbal lab, herbal tour, herbal formulae design, and TCM therapeutic approach to common medical problems will be covered.

Herbal medicine will be examined not only in terms of the tenets and principles of the time-tested discipline of traditional Chinese medicine, but also on the basis of modern medical science. Important topics in modern scientific research and evidence-based practice will also be presented.

This educational program is unique in many ways. TCM, the venerated science of healing, is approached with a modern theoretical framework. Special teaching tools are employed to facilitate learning. Much of the information contained in this course is not available from other sources.