38th AAC Annual
Rocky Mountain Regional Conference
April 28-30, 2023
Denver Marriott Westminster
7000 Church Ranch Boulevard
Westminster, CO 80021
Direct: 720.550.4856 | Fax: 720.887.1199
13 PDAs (pending)
Join us for the 38th Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Conference at the Marriott in Westminster, Colorado where over 3 days we will hear from 5 different speakers and enjoy morning Tai Qi and Yoga. Each speaker will be sharing information about their specialties and we can take this information directly to our clinic and better serve our patients. We also want to stress the importance of community and hope you will join the AAC board for our 2 nights of mingling. We want to hear from YOU about what the AAC can do for you! Our goal is to increase Colorado acupuncturists' participation in the AAC, so talk to us and get involved! And while you’re at it, improve your practice with information about oncology, TCM nutrition, diversity training, Functional medicine, and palpation.
SCHEDULE
Friday, April 28, 2023
2pm check in
3pm-5pm: Dr Steve Shomo, Oncology
6pm opening cocktail/ mingling hour
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Breakfast 7:30-9am
8-8:45am Yoga/ Tai Qi
9am-12pm TCM Nutrition with Christina Chang
12-1pm Lunch and Annual Board Meeting
1pm-5pm Diversity training with Dameda
6pm Cocktail/ mingling hour with heavy appetizers
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Breakfast 7:30-9am
8-8:45am Yoga/ Tai Qi
9-11am Sarah Thompson Functional Medicine
Snack 11-11:30
11:30am-1:30pm “The Basics of Palpation” with Maya Suzuki
MEMBERS PRICING:
March 3 is deadline for EB pricing - EXTENDED TO MARCH 15
3 day early bird price: $379
Friday EB $125, Saturday $200, Sunday $150
Late registration all 3 days $449
Friday $150, Saturday $225, Sunday $175
Student rate full 3 days $300
Single day options and online registration are not available for students.
Online Zoom Registration all 3 days early bird $449; late registration $479
Online registration can come in person at any time. Single day options are not available via online registration.
NON-MEMBER PRICING;
March 3 is deadline for EB pricing - EXTENDED TO MARCH 15
3 day early bird price: $469
Single day registration:
Friday only, early bird $215
Saturday only, early bird $290
Sunday only, early bird $240
Late registration: full 3 days $539
Single day registration:
Friday only $240
Saturday only $315
Sunday only $265
Student rate full 3 days $390
Single day options and online registration are not available for students.
Online Zoom Registration all 3 days early bird: $539, late registration: $569
Online registrants can come in person at any time. Single day options are not available via online registration.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Steve Shomo
Steve Shomo is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, NCCAOM board certified and is licensed in multiple states. He is an international leader and educator in the field of Integrative Acupuncture and Wellness with over 30 years of clinical and academic experience. He has completed postgraduate studies in Japan and the United States with specializations in; performance and movement therapy, sports medicine, nutrition, public health, disaster mental health (traumatic stress & PTSD), Xing Nao Kai Qiao (XNKQ) Stroke protocol developed by Dr. Shi Xue Min (9000 needles), and motion induced somatic response (the Mukaino method). He has extensive experience in functional movement, auricular acupuncture, oncology, pain management, injection therapy, dry needling, laser bio-stimulation, emergency and disaster response. Dr. Shomo is a wilderness first responder and instructor, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and is an experienced registered yoga teacher and trainer. He is faculty for several DAOM and Master programs, a continuing education provider, and serves on various acupuncture and global health boards.
Dr Christina Chang
Dr. Christine Chang’s TCM medical education began in childhood in her native Taiwan where she received special training in herbal medicine, Tui Na, Feng Shui, Zen meditation, and facial diagnosis. Her godfather was the last in the prestigious line of direct students to Dr. Sun Si Miao (Tang Dynasty). One of her TCM teachers was trained by the doctor of an Emperor (Qing Dynasty). She traveled the world for a decade conducting business in international trading before settling into her true calling “bringing Traditional Chinese Medicine from the United States into the world.”
She later earned her MTOM (2001) and DAOM (2003) from Emperor’s College, joining the college's staff in 2000 and faculty in 2003.
Since 2010, Dr. Chang has represented the Traditional Chinese medicine profession in the United States as a delegate to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) the Plenary Meetings of the ISO/TC249 at Beijing 2010, the Netherlands 2011, South Korea 2012, South Africa 2013, Japan 2014 and till China 2018. She has previously served on the board of directors of American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) and represented the US as a member of working group on ICD11 in WHO (world health organization).
Dr. Chang is the herbal consultant to few major herbal companies, and was a member of the team that pioneered acupuncture in the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles (2003). Since 2004 she has served as a simultaneous Interpreter for the lectures of Dr. Wei-Chieh Young, one of the foremost authorities on the Shang Hun Lun and I-Ching, and the last living direct disciple of Master Tung Ching-Chang.
Dr. Chang’s teaching and practicing are focused on pain management, geriatric health care, women’s health and internal medicine by using diet, food nutrition and herbal formulas to maintain a healthy mind and body, in the master and doctoral programs; and by teaching continuing education classes to practitioners and giving public education awareness. She maintains a private practice in Santa Monica, CA.
The education, experience, and legacy she brings provide a formidable bridge between Traditional Chinese medical practices and the modern Western medical field in the United States and global health care system.
Dameda Finney
Dameda is the Co-Creator of the Dameda JoLynn Enterprise & The Empower Black Project that seek to uplift the spirits of Black people and inspire them to love their Black bodies from the inside out through self-discovery and healing. She is equally committed to uplifting, educating & empowering anyone in search of intimate conversations that lead to conscious action with the intention to dismantle systemic racism and reimagine & create new systems that liberate all peoples.
Dameda’s passion for right speech—using communication as a way to develop insight to further understand herself and others—is at the core of everything she is committed to and as a healer, entrepreneur, speaker, & an up and coming podcaster & writer, this truth shines through.
Dameda has been building and facilitating healing & anti-racist curriculums within corporations and on an individual level for the past two plus years and immerses herself in that work with pride & purpose with the intention to create compassionate spaces that uncloak inner truths that transform and imbue hope for change.
As a Black woman, her experience in anti-racism work is direct, as she effectively empowers & advocates for herself in white-centric spaces by bringing attention to implicit bias and the action required to move towards creating anti-racist environments.
She has also spent time in the corporate space as a mediator where she focuses on bridging cross- cultural relationships through conscious communication that is built on the foundation of honor and trust.
Dameda is a woman who finds her flow in the natural unfolding of life, understanding that acceptance, curiosity, & non-judgement are essential to this flow, and so it is how she lives— with an openness & willingness to meet people where they are while challenging them—with love and compassion—to see a world that exists beyond their indoctrinated beliefs.
Sarah Thompson
Sarah Thompson is a certified functional medicine practitioner, licensed acupuncturist, board-certified herbalist, birth doula, author, and educator with a passion for pregnancy care. She is also known as a leader in the practice and education of maternity functional medicine and published the first book on the subject, Functional Maternity - Using Functional Medicine and Nutrition to Improve Pregnancy and Childbirth Outcomes. Sarah brings together evidence-based research in prenatal and maternity nutrition with ideas of functional medicine. Sarah’s clinical experience spans nearly 20 years. When she isn’t writing, lecturing, mentoring, or seeing patients in her private practice, she can be found on her small Colorado farm with her husband, two daughters, chickens, miniature cows, dogs, cats, and gardens.
Heather “Maya” Suzuki, L.Ac.,
Heather “Maya” Suzuki lived and worked in Japan as an acupuncture and moxibustion therapist for over 10 years. There she treated patients in both Japanese and English at Acura Acupuncture Clinic. Maya became an apprentice there before entering acupuncture school at Toyo Shinkyu Senmon Gakko and continued working throughout and after her schooling. She learned how to roll moxa, remove needles, do intakes, and clean the clinic on the job. During school Maya also became a member of Iyashi No Michi Kyokai and Tanioka’s Daishiryu shonishin styles. In 2015 she attained dual licensure in Japan and the U.S. via NCCAOM and Colorado and Japan.
Maya has many hats. She owns and runs Bumblebee AcuTherapy, teaches Japanese acupuncture workshops around the US and internationally, and is the main translator and a mid-level practitioner for Iyashi No Michi. She is also a mid-level practitioner of Daishiryu-style pediatric acupuncture. Maya is the head coordinator and translator for the Annual In-Touch Japan Seminar in Japan. She also volunteers as a translator for the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine where she has published several articles about Japanese acupuncture. She is passionate about allowing acupuncturists to improve their technical skills and therefore their clinical results via Japanese-style needling and moxibustion. Maya founded and teaches the online Japanese acupuncture educational school, ShinKyu University, which aims to educate acupuncturists around the world in Japanese acupuncture and moxa techniques. To learn more, visit https://www.shinkyuuni.com/.
In her clinic, Maya utilizes Japanese acupuncture and AcuTherapy, or shonishin, as well as moxibustion. She mainly treats perinatal and pediatrics. Each treatment is as individual as each person is individual. Away from work, Maya is the mother of four incredibly active children, an equistrian, and Bumblebee 2-11.jpegan avid whitewater kayaker.
Cerise McCaston
Cerise McCaston is a Denver native who began her study of martial arts at the age of 9 while participating in the Children’s Rights of Passage (C.R.O.P.®) program facilitated by Moyo Nguvu Cultural Arts Center Inc. under the instruction of Stephen Abayomi Obadele Meeks. In 2001, she dedicated herself to training in the martial style of Kupigana Ngumi (pronounced: coop -E- Ga Na; N-goo Me). The following year, she added training in Tai Qi Chuan. Cerise received her black belt in Kupigana Ngumi in 2005. She was certified to teach Tai Qi Chuan in 2009, and then received her 2nd degree black belt in Kupigana Ngumi in 2010, from Moyo Nguvu Cultural Arts Center Inc.
During her time at Moyo Nguvu, Cerise was a peer leader, youth mentor, and served on Moyo Nguvu’s board of directors as Treasurer. In addition, she was employed as a health educator for Moyo Nguvu’s Healthy Youth Healthy Futures (H.Y.H.F) program funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) via the office of Health Disparities from 2008-2010. Cerise has also facilitated Tai Qi workshops for Colorado Acupuncure Association’s (AAC) Summer Meet and Greet in 2021, AAC 2022 Confrence, Kwanzaa Marketplacce (CO Springs) 2022 and Where the
Ancestors Gather- World Tai Chi Day 2022. December 2021, she completed her Master’s of Science in Acupuncture from Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. And is currently certified as a Tai Qi instructor by the American Sports and Fitness Association (ASFA) and Moyo Nguvu Cultural Arts Center Inc.
MARRIOTT HOTEL ROOMS AVAILABLE
Welcome to the Acupuncture Association of Colorado 2023 Annual Conference Room Block
Book your hotel room for the event at special rates, available here on an exclusive basis. (569 kB)
REFUND POLICY:
We will be offering the virtual option this year and would be happy to convert your registration to a virtual attendee if you are not able to attend. If that is not satisfactory, we can refund your funds per “The Fine Print” below.
THE FINE PRINT: All requests for cancellation must be received in writing (may be via fax or email) at the AAC office no later than March 1st, 2023 to be eligible for a refund. There will be a $25.00 processing fee deducted from your refund and all refunds will be issued after the event. Cancellation requests between March 1st, 2023 and March 31st, 2023 will receive a 50% refund or the remainder after the $25.00 processing fee. All cancellations received after April 1st, 2023 will not be eligible for a refund.
