Our Instructors

Atsuki Maeda, DAOM 

Atsuki Maeda was born in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Goto College of Arts & Sciences in 1988. He holds National licenses in Japan for Acupuncture, Moxibustion, and Anma/Massage/Shiatsu.  From 1987-1992 he worked in the Oriental Medicine Department of Kuroda General Hospital.

In 1992, he moved to California, where he obtained his acupuncture license and graduated from Emperor’s College of Traditional Oriental Medicine in 1993 with a Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine (MTOM) degree. In 2013, he earned a Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM).

Maeda has been actively teaching and supervising at various acupuncture colleges and universities and is a recognized California CEU and NCCAOM PDA provider, offering postgraduate educational seminars worldwide. His expertise lies in Japanese Acupuncture, utilizing gentle and painless needling techniques, Palpation, as well as non-invasive methods such as Tei Shin, Shoni Shin, and Da Shin.

He is the owner of Golden Ratio Acupuncture Clinic, with locations in Santa Monica and Torrance, California. With over 38 years of practical and 20 years of teaching experience, Maeda Sensei enjoys inspiring and engaging individuals with the spirit of acupuncture. 

Hideo Takahashi L.Ac., BA. Born in Osaka, Japan in 1961. Growing up Hideo was influenced by his mother who was a professional Kyo Yuzen artist, a traditional Kyoto-style dyeing technique on silk. Hideo has always been drawn to anything traditional that requires mastery. During his time as an acupuncture student at the Kansai College of Acupuncture and Bone-setting, Hideo saw for the first time the Fujimoto style of dashin technique, the classic method of Japanese acupuncture that requires a precise balance of tools and technique. Ever since that time, he has been fascinated by this classic acupuncture method and has been producing and experimenting with many dashin tools. Later, Hideo moved to Vancouver, BC in 1992 where he established his acupuncture practice. From 1992 to 2007, he volunteered for the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine (NAJOM) founded by Junji Mizutani sensei. He has contributed numerous articles to NAJOM as well as to Shinkyu Osaka, an Osaka based acupuncture journal. Hideo has presented seminars on the dashin techniques in New York, Paris and Vancouver.

MARK PETRUZZI MS, LAC, LMT

Mark Petruzzi MS, LAc, LMT is the Director of the Traditional Japanese Acupuncture Institute and the developer of the Traditional Japanese Acupuncture certification program. He runs a private practice in Port Jefferson Station, NY.  Mark is the appointed acupuncturist at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and Stony Brook Cancer Center. Mark was a presenter at the 3rd International Oncology Acupuncture Symposium in 2024, hosted by TCM Academy of Integrative Medicine, as well as Stony Brook University Hospital’s Palliative Care Conference for Pediatric Oncology in 2016 and 2017. He was adjunct faculty at the New York College of Health Professions from 2005-2022, teaching courses in their Acupuncture and Massage Therapy programs as well as supervising student interns in the Japanese Acupuncture clinic. He was a lead instructor for the Traditional Japanese Acupuncture team at Tristate College of Acupuncture in Manhattan from 2009-2018.  . Mark was the acupuncturist and massage therapist for the Adelphi University Dance Program from 2004-2020.

from Junji Mizutani, L.Ac.

Director & Founding Member of the north american journal of oriental Medicine

Internationally RENOWNED moxibustion master

“I began teaching moxibustion in the USA over 20 years ago. I’ve taught in New York 7-8 times and Mark Petruzzi was one of my students. He stood out as an outstanding student and has continued on to teach moxibustion for many years at the NY College of Health Professions and at Tristate College of Acupuncture. I’m excited that he is now taking on the position to teach moxibustion for the post graduate TJA certificate program. I’m thrilled that a young and talented person like Mark is working in the USA. I entrust that he will be successful in teaching and spreading the benefits of Japanese moxa. I wish him all the best and look forward to his future work.”

Junji Mizutani LAC

born and raised in Japan, he graduated from Japan Central Acupuncture College in Tokyo in 1983 and obtained his license to practice shiatsu, acupuncture, and moxibustion in Japan. In 1983 he continued his study at Kikkawa College, Toronto, Canada, going on to join their teaching faculty. He moved to Vancouver B.C. in 1992 where he is in private practice. He is a practitioner and teacher of shiatsu and served three years as the president of the Shiatsu Therapy Association of Ontario. Junji travels widely teaching, mostly on moxibustion. He is a well-known and popular teacher in North America lecturing regularly at acupuncture colleges throughout the country. He is a founding member, and director of the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine; a journal devoted to traditional Japanese medicine. Mizutani sensei is world-renouned for his integration of the Sawada and Fukaya styles of direct moxibustion and is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on moxibustion.

Jeffrey Dann PhD, LAc

Jeffrey has been an educator and community health practitioner for over 40 years.

Graduating Dartmouth College in 1964 majoring in anthropology and pre-med, he went on to do medical anthropology work at the University of Washington in Seattle. His master’s thesis was on Native American   culture of urban drinking and off reservation inter-ethnic relations  (1967). He then switched focus to body-mind wellness in the Japanese martial arts and spent 3 years doing fieldwork in Japan. During this time he achieved the ranks of yondan (4thdegree(black belt in kendo, nidan (2nd degree) in iaido, and shodan (1st degree) in naginata.  He also studied Seitai ho shiatsu with Miyata Tomei, 7th degree kendo black belt in Mito, Ibaraki prefecture, and eclectic shiatsu with KamijoHideyaki of the Kyoto Tenrikyo Church. He completed his doctorate in 1978 and returned to his home in Hawaii where he was an adjunct faculty professor in Anthropology at the University of Hawaii Hilo Campus (UHHC) until 1985.

In the early 1980’s Jeffrey, made a midlife career change and went to formally study acupuncture. He studied with RhadaThamburajah in Colombo Sri Lanka, Gary Butt in Hong Kong, and Wang Ju-Yi in Beijing China. He also travelled through Japan as a ronin acupuncture – body worker explorer, studying from whoever he could gain access to their clinics. He graduated from the AmerAsian School of Oriental Medicine in Honolulu in 1984. Since 1997 he has been a certified shiatsu instructor for the American Oriental Body Worker Therapy Association (AOBTA).

Based on his schooling in Hawaii, he found  the level of licensed acupuncturists in Hawaii to be disappointing.Despite the lack of mandated continuing education credits, he joined forces with Dr. Chieko Maekawa and for 15 years was the president of the Traditional Japanese Acupuncture Foundation (Hawaii). Under this banner, Jeffrey helped bring the leading Japanese acupuncturists to the United States, including Shudo Denmei, Masakatsu Ikeda, Mizutani Junji, Matsumoto Kiiko, and Sorimachi Dai-itchi. During these years in Hawaii he was a co-owner of the Hilo School of Massage, chief instructor in the Pahoa Kendo Kai, and originator of Hilo Natural Foods, and medical director of the East-West Clinic in Keaau Hawaii.

During the last 15 years Jeffrey has been living and practicing in Boulder Colorado, where he is director of the Aloha Wellness Associates clinic. For 5 seasons he has been group facilitator with Stephen Brown to bring international acupuncturists to Japan for advanced training in Japanese styles of Acupuncture and moxibustion.

Jeffrey has maintained an active teaching schedule. For the past 10 years he has taught courses on Japanese acupuncture to the Istanbul Turkish Medical Acupuncture Association. He has taught his unique style of  structural acupuncture based on his years of studying a variety of Japanese manual medicine and acupuncture styles.  This has been deepened by his continued study of Osteopathic manual medicine, particularly John Pierre Barrall’s Visceral Manipulation. Jeffrey’s courses have been in demand and he has done 60-hour programs for the Santa Fe High Desert Hari Society and the Portland TJM seminars. Jeffrey has been the editor and frequent author of the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine.

On a personal level, Jeffrey has been interested in movement therapy and somatic psychology and has been an active participant in contact Improv, Authentic Movement, as well as Gabriel Roth’s 5 Rhythm work.

Stephen Brown LAc

Stephen Brown, L Ac. graduated from Japan Central Acupuncture College in Tokyo in 1983.  He is licensed to practice shiatsu, acupuncture, and moxibustion in Japan. He studied qigong and acupuncture in Beijing, PRC for three months early in 1984. He returned to Japan afterward and continued his studies in Sotai and Zen Shiatsu. In this period Stephen co-authored Chigong for Health with Masaru Takahashi and also translated the texts Sotai: Balance and Health Through Natural Movement, by Hashimoto Keizo MD and Meridian Exercises, by Masunaga Shizuto.

Stephen began his teaching career in 1985 as an instructor for the International Acupuncture Training Program of Kuretake Institute in Tokyo. He moved to the Seattle area in 1986, where he joined the faculty of the Northwest Institute of Oriental Medicine, and has been teaching and practicing shiatsu and acupuncture around Seattle ever since.  Stephen is currently a core faculty member of Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine, where he teaches shiatsu, Sotai, Japanese styles of acupuncture and moxibustion and supervises these clinics.

His first translation of a Japanese acupuncture text was Introduction to Meridian Therapy by Shudo Denmei, which was published in 1990. Shudo Denmei has comes to teach in the US ten times since 1992, and Stephen has served as his interpreter every time. He translated Shudo Denmei’s second book, Finding Effective Acupuncture Points, and it was published in 2003. In addition to assisting his teacher, Shudo Denmei, Stephen has interpreted for many prominent acupuncture teachers visiting from Japan. Stephen is a also the founding member of the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine, a journal devoted to traditional Japanese medicine, and serves its assistant editor.

In addition to his expertise in Japanese acupuncture and moxibusion, Stephen is a practitioner and teacher of traditional exercises for health including yoga, taichi, sotai, and qigong. Stephen encourages all his students and patients to practice some form of qi exercises because he believes methods of qi cultivation are as important as any healing touch, acupuncture, herbs or other medical intervention. Being a native speaker of Japanese Stephen continues to serve as a conduit for information on healing and self-transformation between Japan and the US.

Takayuki Koei Kuwahara, LAc. has been practicing Acupuncture and Ki therapy for forty years in Boston and Japan, employing both Japanese styles classical Acupuncture and Medical Ki therapy.  Afte graduating from Tokyo Therapeutic Institute in 1979, he went on to complete an intensive five-year live in Deshi(apprenticeship) with Fukushima Kodo, renowned master and developer of the Toyo Hari systems of acupuncture.

Having taught for the Toyo Hari Association for 15 years, Mr. Kuwahara now teaches his own unique (Hari / Kototama) style of acupuncture that draws from the various systems practiced by his teachers: practitioners such as Sensei Masamichi Shimada (Kototama) Tetsuo Shiomi, Masakazu Ikeda, Denmei Shudo (Meridian therapy), Kunsei Kudo (Bloodletting), Masanori Tanioka (Pediatrics), and Masato Nakagawa (Shinkiko/ Ki-therapy). Since visiting to New England School Acupuncture as guest instructor in 1989, He has been teaching several JAS courses, advanced continuing education programs at NESA in Boston, in many part of the world. He is the editor of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture –Fundamentals and Clinical Guide of Meridian Therapy, and of numerous acupuncture articles. Also he has practiced Aikido and Iaido for 45 years. He lives in Watertown, MA USA and maintains a private practice. 

Takahiro Funamizu is Departmental Chairman at the Tokyo Traditional Medical College.  He is the director at the Japanese Traditional Oriental Medical Society; Councilor at the society of Meridian Therapy and member of the Transcultural Psychiatric Society.  Funamizu Sensei has publications and contributions in Japanese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Dictionary of Acupuncture and Moxibusiton Medicine, An Introduction to Meridian Acupuncture Points (textbook) and the DVD Gentle Japanese Acupuncture for depression. 

He is a long time student of Meridian Therapy and studies particularly the Tanba Style taught by Meridian Therapy Society Chairman, Okada Akizo Sensei. Funamizu Sensei treats primarily people with depression, insomnia, anxiety and mental health associated conditions. Funamizu-sensei is considered one of a new wave of dynamic Japanese teachers and one of the leading young master teachers of Japan’s Meridian Therapy Association.

Bob Quinn, DAOM earned both his master’s and doctoral degrees from OCOM in 1998 and 2008 respectively.  He began his studies of Traditional Japanese Medicine in the winter of 1999 in the form of a post-graduate certificate program in Seattle. Included in that program were Shudo-style Meridian Therapy, Manaka’s Yin-Yang Channel Balancing, Sotai, and shonishin. Since then he has continued his studies in various styles, including Kuma-style with Iwashina Anryu Sensei (Dr. Bear), Koshi Balancing with Jeffrey Dann, Shudo-style Meridian Therapy (MT) with Stephen Brown, Sotai with Peter Thompson, Stephen Brown and Jeffrey Dann, shonishin and Toyohari with Brenda Loew and Dan Zizza, Shakuju with Kobayashi Shoji Sensei, Mizutani-style moxibustion with Mizutani Junji Sensei, and MT with Funemizu Takahiro Sensei. He practices a fusion style that shows the influence of all these teachers. In the bodywork field Bob has trained in shiatsu, traditional Thai massage, qigong tuina (a gentle system of yin-yang pulsing) and Trager. Bob teaches full-time at the National University of Natural Medicine’s School of Classical Chinese Medicine in Portland, OR. There he offers courses in MT, Koshi Balancing, Shonishin, and Sotai. Additionally he supervises interns in the student clinic. With a partner Bob hosts CE seminars in Japanese acupuncture, bodywork and moxibustion through their business, Portland Traditional Japanese Medicine Seminars. In Bob’s private practice he treats diverse complaints but has a special focus on shonishin-pediatric care and severe, longstanding conditions, particularly chronic Lyme disease. In his private time Bob practices qigong, studies Jungian dreamwork, does trail running, and sits Zen.