AAMA
Newsletter
Serving the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture
May 2001

MAAC Update
By William D. Rutenberg, MD, Chair
Medical Acupuncture Advisory Committee

Regional Chapter Liaison Sub-committee
    Having completed requirements for ratification, the Indiana Chapter and the Texas Chapter have been approved by the Board. Interested members from these states should contact Chapter Presidents Drs. William L. Driehorst of Carmel, IN (wldmd@aol.com) and Rey Ximenes, MD, of Austin, TX (qigongdoc@aol.com). For the Indiana Chapter, Mark Knopp, MD, will be vice president and Kevin Logan, MD, secretary.

Target Outreach Liaison Sub-committee
    A round of applause goes to member John Wood, MD, of Roy, Utah, whose prompt action derailed a potentially damaging piece of legislation in his state. A bill was proposed that would have required all physicians and surgeons to be NCCAOM certified to practice acupuncture in Utah. Thanks to Dr. Wood's intervention, the bill was withdrawn. He is now planning to form an AAMA Utah Chapter. E-mail him at: hfjwood@ihc.com.
Dr. Rutenberg said the Utah incident is just one example of why it's important for AAMA to be organized at the state as well as national level. To form a state chapter, contact him (wdrutenber@aol.com).

ABMA plans are gaining momentum
By Hiroshi Nakazawa, MD, DABMA
Chair, DABMA

    Being the new chair of this Board, I am privileged to address highlights of ABMA activities. Ten months ago, the long-awaited ABMA was established under the leadership of former Chair Marshall H. Sager, DO, new AAMA president.
    The mission of the Board is to promote safe, ethical, efficacious medical acupuncture to the public by maintaining high standards for the examination and certification of physician acupuncturists as medical acupuncturists. You will find all requirements to be certified in a booklet available from AAMA headquarters or on the Academy's website: www.medicalacupuncture.org.
    It is my sincere wish that all AAMA members become Board certified. I wholeheartedly congratulate the 83 physicians who were certified and granted their certifications as Board members in recent months. These physicians are now entitled to use the designation of Diplomate of American Board of Medical Acupuncture (DABMA) after their professional name.
    In addition, there are 160 physicians who will soon be certified as their applications are at various stages of processing. As soon as the review is completed and approved by the Board of Trustees, the congratulatory letters will be on their way. Otherwise, for some candidates, more review, documentation and intereviews will be mandated.
    In addition to UCLA, the ABMA Board has approved the following educational programs: Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute (416/752-3988), New York Medical College (914/594-4253) and Tristate College of Acupuncture in NYC (212/242-2255). Watch for an announcement of other programs that are currently being reviewed for approval.
    For many years, we have worked to attain two major goals: establish ABMA and create a CME accrediting organization. We have achieved these dreams due to the diligence and hard work of our great leaders in past years.
    Now it's up to us to keep the original goals by maintaining the highest standards in medical acupuncture. Lastly, I want to thank the current members of the Board of Trustees for their relentless efforts.

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