Today we’d like to introduce you to Willow Liu.
Hi Willow, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My dream as a little girl was to become a doctor wearing a white coat to treat patients. I received my degrees of Bachelor (1985), Master (1991), and Ph.D (1994) in China. I was an associate professor in Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine when I left China for Germany in 1996 as a research fellow, invited by Prof. Rudolf Bauer and supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, where we were invited to meet the German president. My research there focused on studying anti-inflammatory activity of Chinese herbs and quality control, the results were published in several journals including Planta Medica, Phytochemistry, Pharmaceutical Biology, and Journal of Natural Products. In 1998, to extend the research field, I went to Prof. Koji Nakanashi’s lab in Columbia University in New York, one of my research project was to confirm the hypothesis that lipofuscin accumulation contributes to the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The result was published on Journal of Biological Chemistry. In 2000, I moved to Chicago and worked as a visiting research assistant professor at UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplement Research in Women’s Health in College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago. I was assigned to be responsible for functional mechanism study on herbal medicines for menopause symptoms using cells, proteins (enzymes and receptors) and genes. Soon after, red clover and chaste-berry were screened out as the two most estrogenic herbal medicines among the 10 studied herbs and published the results. Sadly, I was diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at that time. My fingers were red and swelling, and my wrists were too weak to do experiments.
For health, I moved to Los Angelos, a place full of sunshine. I found a job at the research group of SJC Water Quality Control Laboratory, Los Angeles County Sanitation District. As a research scientist, my project was to develop the analytical method to trace pharmaceutical discharges in wastewater. Although it was a very stable job with very good retirement benefit, I did not like the inefficient and bureaucratic work environment. During my four years there, I was the only person published a paper in an academic journal in the lab, no challenge at all. So, in 2006, I took a test and got an acupuncture license. I quit the job and opened my own clinic of Chinese medicine, treating patients with acupuncture and Chinese herbs.
Now it is my 20th year of practice in Diamond Bar. I have helped nearly 10000 patients relive all kinds of sufferings, including many COVID-19 patients. I saved the lives that physicians had given up, examples including an old lady three times with acupuncture and a desperate asthma lady came with oxygen tank, extended the life of cancer patients, help infertility women became mom. Some of the patients called me “a miracle doctor” after their symptoms or diseases disappeared.
In addition to treating patients, I also attended meetings or conferences to introduce research and application of Chinese medicine. I was invited to UCLA and many TCM or acupuncture organizations or churches to give presentations. After I gave a presentation about research of Chinese medicine in the annual meeting of American Chemical Society, a guy from the world-famous academic publisher John Wiley emailed and invited me to write and edit a book about research methods of Chines medicine. This book was published in 2010 and collected by libraries of many famous universities, like Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge. This is the only book so far to comprehensively introduce research methods from different disciplines. As a well-known expert of Chinese herbal medicine, she was also invited by journals to write articles as a key author about Chinese herbal medicine.
Many scientists and people think Chinese herbs are toxic, and most of Western doctors prohibit their patients to use Chinese herbs. To educate people to safely and effectively use Chinese herbal medicine, she founded the non-profit organization – TCM Health Education & Research Center (DBA: American Association of Chinese Herbs). She advocated through television, broadcast, blogs, and journals.
Invited by an investor from China, she built up a manufacturer of dietary supplements with cGMP certificate from NSF in 1998. She developed a series of products based on the research and clinic application. When the COVID-19 broke up in March 2000, She immediately formulated a product of Chinese herbs to help patients in the Chinese community. Meanwhile, she organized a WeChat meeting, invited few clinic experts of Chinese herbal medicine to educate licensed acupuncturist in different states how to use Chinese herbs fighting COVID-19. Unfortunately, because of the investor’s financial crisis in China, the manufacture was sold out. She decided to come back to the clinic and treat patients in person.
Due to lack of basic knowledge of Chinese herbs, few scientists or patients have prejudice to Chinese herbs. They blamed toxic incidences were caused by Chinese herbs. As a defender and promoter of traditional Chinese medicine, I worked with other TCM experts worldwide to write articles to give rebuttal and question with scientific evidences. Our queries with evidence support on the article “Maternal traditional Chinese medicine exposure and risk of congenital malformations” forced the publisher to withdraw the published article from the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica with a strong impact factor. I also joined the team to defense for a Chinese doctor in Belgium who was innocently sentenced to jail because of her patient’s false accusation and helper her won the case.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No. Study on chemical compound in Chinese herbs need to use organic solvents for isolation. Back to 1990’s in China, the experiment condition was poor. To isolate the compound from the herbs, we have to use toxic organic solvents like methanol, chloroform, even benzine. And there was no ventilation system and air conditioner. During the hot summer, these solvents low boiling point like chloroform were evaporated into the air, so I breathed in a lot of toxic solvents. So, with the degrees I earned, my white cell counts dropped, 7000 when I received BS, 5000 when I received MS. I was too busy to do the blood test after got my Ph.D. But when I did the blood test in Germany required to enter the radioactive lab, the blood counts dropped to 3000, below the normal range. Even when I first enter the chemistry building in Columbia University that was built 100 years ago, I smelled strong chemicals. Because long stay within the environment filled with the toxic solvents, my immune function was slowly damaged. My toes felt pain when I was in New York, but I did not pay attention. A few months after I worked in Chicago, my fingers became red, pain and swelling. I was diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis. The specialty suggested me move to the south with warm weather. This was the reason I moved to LA.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a licensed acupuncturist with a diplomate of Oriental Medicine by NCCAOM in Diamond Bar. Before opened my clinic in 2006, I was a scientist doing research on Chinese herbal medicine in China, Germany, and the USA published more than 30 research papers.
I practice traditional Chinese medicine in my own clinic, treat patients using acupuncture, Chinese herbs, cupping, moxibustion, etc.
I was called “a miracle doctor” by many of my patients.
I am proud that I have helped nearly 10000 patients relieve their sufferings from all kinds of diseases, many of them are problems that their physicians failed to help, including cardiovascular diseases, neuro- or endocrine disorders, respiratory diseases, urinary system diseases, immune disorders, skin problems, female and male disorders and infertility, pain., etc. (please see samples of testimony on webpage https://www.herbsandhealth21.com/Testimony.html).
I have helped many patients who have tried several other acupuncturists without success. I am able to do so because of my extensive research background. When diagnosing and treating patients, I combined my knowledge of modern anatomy, pathology, and pharmacology with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I was lucky to have been trained or worked with several world-famous natural product experts. They are Prof. Xinsheng Yao (academician, my Ph.D mentor in China, world known expert of phytochemistry), Rudolf Bauer (world known Natutal product chemist who invited me to do collaborated study on Chinese herbs in Germany), Koji Nakanishi (world known pioneer of Nature product chemistry in Columbia University where I was a postdoctoral scientist in his lab, died in 2019 ), Norman Farnsworth (a towering figure in pharmacognosy in University of Illinois at Chicago, director of UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplement Research in Women’s Health in College of Pharmacy, where I worked as a research scientist, died in 2011).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.herbsandhealth21.com, willowliu.com
Image Credits
1. Dr. Liu with German President in 1996
2. Dr. Liu with Mrs. Gao (died at age 100), her patients with coronary heart disease that Dr. Liu saved her life three times with acupuncture
3. Dr. Liu gave presentation in annual meeting of American Chemical Society
4. Dr. Liu gave a lecture to the licensed acupuncturists in San Diego.
5. The book “Traditional Herbal Medicine Research Methods” by Dr. Liu published in 2010.
