Dr. Catherine Sy Luib has always gone the extra mile. As a student at Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU), she completed both the Doctor of Chiropractic and the Masters of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine programs while simultaneously pursuing a wide range of extracurricular programs and leadership activities. “My specialty was being in two places at one time,” she jokes. Dr. Luib has been in practice since 2012, and currently offers chiropractic, acupuncture, other Traditional Chinese Medicine services and nutritional/herbal consultations at her San Diego wellness location (Luib Health Center).

Dr. Luib’s achievements were recently recognized by the Filipina Women’s Network, a global organization, who named her as one of the “100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World.” She traveled to London for the award ceremony, where she was able to meet and network with such high caliber Filipina women from around the globe.

A community builder and organizer, Dr. Luib sees her healthcare practice as part of her larger purpose. “I am always teaching and sharing chiropractic, acupuncture, and nutrition,” she says. “It’s one way to be closer to the communities around me—to share my message of hope and healing with them. It’s all connected.”

“I am a Filipina-Chinese-American and I work very closely with the Filipino-American community in San Diego,” she continues. “Our community, like many other Asian, Latino, and Black ethnic groups, suffer from a lot of nutrition-based diseases. Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular diseases—all based on improper diets and nutritional deficiencies.”

Dr. Luib’s approach to this challenge is profoundly integrative. “Many people think that chiropractic is only for when you have an accident. On the contrary, having regular chiropractic care can boost the function of organs such as the pancreas, liver, brain, intestines,” she explains. “I integrate acupuncture to further address the energetics—because, at the end of it all, everything is simply energy. Nutrition and herbal medicines are important because I could adjust someone all day long, I could acupuncture them all day long, but if we’re not educating as we should about nutrition and lifestyle, the patient will not be served fully.”

As Dr. Luib greatly developed through her then ocean practice (as an onboard acupuncturist for cruise ships) and now land practice, she has begun to feel an even deeper connection to how she practices. “In my understanding and journey… in my growth within these two professions… I feel that there is something profoundly special within my ancestry that connects me to this specific work in health/healing. Now that I’m learning more about the principles and practice of Shamanism, I can sense that there must have been an ancestor of mine who did these things, though by a different name.”

Having recently been selected as one of the top ten promising Filipino Young Professional Delegates throughout the nation by the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Ambassador to the USA for its Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) Program—Dr. Luib recently embarked on a trip to the Philippines with the goal of furthering relations between the United States and the Philippines. As a Chiropractor, Acupuncturist, Nutritionist, and Herbalist—and the first FYLPRO delegate to represent the Holistic Healthcare sector, Dr. Luib was thrilled to meet with some of the country’s traditional Filipino medicine practitioners and government officials. Extending her stay beyond what was required, she had the opportunity to host her annual philanthropic medical health missions, and visit local organic farms. Dr. Luib described the trip as “life-changing”—giving her the opportunity to understand that her she descends from a lineage of healers.

Integrating what she learned from the Hilot Academy Ng Binabaylan in the Philippines, Dr. Luib now offers Filipino traditional medicine (Hilot) to her patients in San Diego. She finds Hilot to be the perfect addition to her practice as it addresses physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. As she looks to future endeavors, Dr. Luib hopes to create a Filipino documentary film about her unique journey as a newly-attuned Babaylan (Filipino Shaman), reconnecting to her ancestral roots and indigenous medicine. “It’s going to be a massive and global undertaking,” she says cheerfully of the work ahead. But, I’m really looking forward to it and in helping to do my part in advancing the Human Collective Consciousness. Our world needs it, our world needs us.”