
College of Eastern Medicine
Eastern Medicine Department
Welcome to the Eastern Medicine Department (EMD) formerly known as the College of Eastern Medicine (CEM), at the Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU). SCU is a private, not-for-profit, and WASC/WSCUC accredited healthcare university. We are committed to excellence in teaching, research, and patient care in the field of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. EMD at SCU is pioneering a fundamentally new and integrated way of educating Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine practitioners for the 21st century. In addition to receiving a state-of-the-art education in traditional Eastern medicine, our students take interprofessional bioscience and Western clinical medicine courses together with students of other SCU professional healthcare programs. Their current classmates will be their future partners in delivering interprofessional, integrative, and collaborative healthcare to patients.
EMD Mission, Vision & Goals
The Department is committed to providing students with an excellent education in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, and evidence-based, patient-focused, integrative healthcare.
Vision
The Department will be recognized as the premier institution in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine education and integrative healthcare.
EMD Goals
- Provide outstanding education in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.
- Train students to become knowledgeable, competent, conscientious, and committed health care providers emphasizing holistic and integrative approaches.
- Promote and encourage Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine research activities among faculty and students.
- Foster evidence-based practices and life-long learning skills.
Our curriculum integrates the classical theory, diagnosis, and clinical modalities of Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine (ACM) with those of modern Western medicine, and enables our students to view their patients through both lenses. Our clinical education develops the essential knowledge, skills and competencies in our students to become excellent ACM practitioners. This includes the ability to interpret Western medical diagnoses and to translate ACM diagnoses into Western medical terms. Students enter the clinical phase of their education as early as their second term, which enables them to see how what they learn in the classroom is applied in a modern clinical setting.
Our integrative clinic, the University Health Center, sets and maintains the highest quality assurance standards, utilizes and trains students in the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR), and provides a broad spectrum of treatment options for patients including Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Sports Medicine, and Ayurvedic Medicine. Our students complete their clerkship side-by-side with students and clinicians of other health care professions. The EMD clinical clerkship equips them with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to empower them as leaders in the modern integrative and collaborative healthcare environment.
The Eastern Medicine Department maintains strong and innovative partnerships with Traditional Chinese Medicine universities and hospitals in China and Taiwan. These include short and long-term study-abroad options.
We are confident that the Eastern Medicine Department (EMD) is uniquely positioned to produce the highest quality and most qualified ACM practitioners who will bring traditional Eastern medicine into modern integrative healthcare settings.