Acupuncture Then and Now: Alumni Reflect on 50 Years of NESA

Fast forward five decades and the landscape has transformed: Hundreds of credentialed acupuncturists now work openly in U.S. hospitals, and Sommers is a leading expert in the field, with a PhD, MPH, and LicAC to her name.

Since NESA’s founding in 1975 by the late Dr. James Tin Yau So, acupuncture has steadily gained its rightful place in American healthcare. Even Sommers is amazed by its outsized progress, citing a recent paper on which she collaborated.

“What we found blew me away,” she says. “Eighty-five percent of the VA medical facilities around the country now have acupuncture, and almost 50 percent of U.S. hospitals have some kind of program. That’s night and day from when I graduated.”

As NESA marks its 50th anniversary in 2025, Sommers and her partner of 40 years, Loocie Brown ’93, are celebrating not just the profession’s evolution, but the personal fulfillment it has brought them both.

Sommers operates a private practice in Cambridge, Mass., and serves in the Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities Program in the Family Medicine Department at Boston Medical Center. Brown, who holds DAc, LicAc, and MEd credentials, has her own practice in Lexington, Mass., and enjoyed a long tenure as NESA professor and trustee.

Brown recalls her time at NESA fondly: “It was a family. We were a great small school that provided an excellent environment for the students to learn and we had exceptional teachers. It was exciting.”

She came to acupuncture from a different path, working as a fourth-grade Montessori teacher when a pool accident left her in chronic pain. Acupuncture gave her significant relief, and soon she found herself on a new professional journey.

“I help people move forward; that’s really my goal. I guide patients to better health,” she says. “People ask me about retiring, but this isn’t work. It’s a rewarding adventure in seeking balance.”

Brown also played a key role in NESA’s 2016 transition from an independent institution to a part of MCPHS. Nearly a decade later, both she and Sommers hope the 50th anniversary will rally Alumni across the country.

“This celebration is a real opportunity,” says Sommers. “It’s a reminder about the values of interconnection and mentorship in our community.”

Brown remains a mentor, regularly welcoming acupuncture students into her practice. She also keeps close ties with former students Fung-Tsuey Lin ’01 and Yi-Jen Aaron Tseng ’00, whose practice, Ancient Path Acupuncture and Herbs, is in the same building.

Sommers, too, nurtures her NESA connections, including with Wai-Man Woo ‘79, a classmate now based in Billings, Montana. She invited him to return for the MCPHS Bicentennial, but he couldn’t attend. They caught up over the phone instead.

“It was really great to connect with him,” she says. “It was a different time in the evolution of acupuncture for us, and it’s great to have both survived this long. This is a profession where you actually get better as you get older.”

Adds Brown: “I can’t wait to see what this next chapter looks like.”

For more on NESA’s anniversary:

• Visit Celebrating 50 Years of Healing
• Read NESA Turns 50: A Legacy of Leadership, a Future of Innovation
• Join us at the 50th Anniversary Celebration on November 8.