All instructors are licensed healthcare providers and experienced teachers
TCM Review Seminars instructors are both licensed healthcare providers and teachers at Chinese medicine schools in the San Francisco Bay area. The current TCM Review Seminars instructors passed their board exams on their first try, making them uniquely qualified to create and teach classes that are essential for preparing you to pass your exam.
Meet Your Instructors
Bina is a licensed and practicing acupuncturist in Berkeley, CA and the president of TCM Review Seminars, Inc. She started with TCM Review in 2008 as an instructor and took over ownership in 2010 when she launched it as an online learning platform. She is the author of The Clinical Handbook of Oriental Medicine, a complete reference guide for Chinese medicine. In 2010 she helped start the Acupuncture Project at Highland Hospital in Oakland. This project is the first acupuncture hospital residency program in the US. She is currently the Vice President and co-founder of the American Society of Chinese Medicine.
Bina’s passion is in TCM education. She loves teaching and is constantly researching and developing new ways to help students study for and pass their board exams.
Laura is an LAc in California and completed her Master’s of Science in Oriental Medicine at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College, Berkeley. Additionally, Laura is certified as a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Raised by a public health nurse, Laura transformed her lifelong passion for ensuring access to quality healthcare into her profession. Laura draws on her background in the mental health field to specialize in the treatment of mental and emotional conditions. She particularly enjoys working with children.
Laura was born and raised in Colorado, and is currently transitioning to Denver, where she will set up her new practice.
Jared received his Masters degree from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and additionally a degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Vermont. Jared is an LAc. in the state of California and serves on both the California Acupuncture Board and the National Acupuncture Board. Jared conducts a private practice in San Francisco called Physiopuncture, where he combines the modalities of Physical Therapy and Acupuncture. Having also earned a certification in Integrative Manual Therapy, he has taught nationally and internationally for over 10 years, developing a seminar company called Coastal Seminar where he teaches Manual Therapy Essentials. Jared has been teaching for TCM Review Seminars since 2010.
Robert grew up learning traditional Native American herbalism as well as physical treatment methods, which were passed down to him by his grandparents. These forms of traditional Native American medicine have helped him understand that there is much more to health than what conventional wisdom provides. On the other side of his youth, Robert grew up with western medicine as a primary structure in his upbringing, which required learning human anatomy and physiology in a manner to be groomed as a future doctor. Once Robert was old enough to go to college, he became a student of clinical nursing which allowed him to work in various clinics with many phenomenal physicians of various specialties for over twenty years. Although Robert had studied western medicine in a conservative manner, he realized that his skills and abilities would be more useful in alternative health. While a student of acupuncture, Robert has taught full time for several nursing schools in San Diego, with a concentration in anatomy and physiology classes. He is currently Adjunct Medical Assistant Instructor at Southwestern College and is a Medical Assistant Instructor at San Diego College. He previously taught at Newbridge College of San Diego, Intercoast College of El Cajon, and Kaplan College of Chula Vista. As of 2014, he is licensed as an acupuncturist in California and recently opened an integrative medical clinic: Hozho Health and Wellness in Sorrento Valley. Robert is delighted to be joining the TCM Review Seminars team, where he hopes to help fellow future acupuncturists acquire the knowledge needed to understand western terminology, anatomy and physiology.
Cat Calhoun earned an MSAcOM from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in 2011 and was licensed to practice later the same year. Cat was the recipient of the Herbal Excellence Award in 2010, which is awarded to an outstanding student each year in recognition for contribution to herbal education. Cat also taught as an adjunct professor at AOMA, teaching Practice Management and Single Herbs. Cat has been a guest lecturer at AOMA several times, presenting on Herbal Formulas, practice building, and Esoteric Acupuncture.
Cat has been practicing as a licensed acupuncturist, certified advanced Esoteric Acupuncture practitioner, and USUI Reiki Master for six years. She specializes in pain management and mental/emotional health. She is also the owner and operator of CatsTCMNotes.com, a website dedicated to basic and continuing education in the field of Chinese medicine.