NESA Grand Opening
University News | 5/15/2025

NESA Turns 50: A Legacy of Leadership, a Future of Innovation

By Dana Barbuto

Mrs. Isabel So, wife of NESA's late founder, Dr. James Tin Yau So, celebrates with faculty and leadership at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 2006 Grand Opening of the school’s custom-built facility at 150 California St., Newton—a proud milestone marking a new chapter in excellence and innovation.

NESA Grand Opening
Mrs. Isabel So, wife of NESA's late founder, Dr. James Tin Yau So, celebrates with faculty and leadership at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 2006 Grand Opening of the school’s custom-built facility at 150 California St., Newton—a proud milestone marking a new chapter in excellence and innovation.

From its early days as a pioneering program to its current role within a major health sciences university, NESA’s story has always been one of both tradition and transformation.

In the archives of the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) in Worcester—now part of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS)—Dean Dennis Moseman pulls box after box from the shelves—old photos, brochures, course catalogs, and other relics of the school’s past stacked in a dusty, tucked-away room.

One box holds a typed letter from NESA’s founder, Dr. James Tin Yau So, written in 1995, days before the school’s 20th anniversary celebration. He was 84 at the time and unable to attend due to a severe kidney stone. “My four limbs are very weak,” he wrote. “I miss you all a lot.”

Shuffling through a batch of photos from that reunion, Moseman pauses. “Oh, look, there’s Amy,” he says, pointing to an image of alum Amy Hull—now a professor and NESA’s Associate Dean of Acupuncture.

“I just love this stuff,” he says. “The first thing I did when I got here five years ago was read anything I could get my hands on about NESA history.”

A framed photo of Dr. So also hangs in Moseman’s office, a daily reminder of the school’s legacy—one that resonates even more this year as NESA marks its 50th anniversary.

Founded in 1975 by Dr. So—widely considered one of the most influential figures in American acupuncture—and a small group of his students, NESA began as a one-year diploma program in a modest building on Bridge Street in Watertown. It has grown into a nationally recognized center of learning offering two master’s degrees and a doctorate, a professional treatment center, an onsite Chinese herbal dispensary, and affiliations with leading medical institutions.

Early Days

Moseman smiles when shown a photo of NESA’s first course catalog: a trifold brochure printed in a groovy retro font on mustard yellow paper—a popular hue in the ’70s. Perforated lines set off the application, which asks just eight questions and carries a $15 fee. Tuition for the one-year program was $1,200. Classes were held in the evenings.

With Dr. So at the helm and a handful of students eager to study a practice still virtually unknown in American medical circles, NESA set out to offer “a fundamental education in acupuncture therapy with a working understanding of Chinese medical philosophy and diagnosis.” The first graduating class in 1979 had 17 students.

“There were no models for this,” Moseman says. “Dr. So was doing something new in the U.S.—and doing it with such vision and courage.”

Faded photos from the early ’80s capture the school’s move to a new location in Newton—just one of six relocations over the decades. With each move came growth. By the mid-1980s, NESA’s program had expanded from one year to three, reflecting a growing push across the field toward professionalization. Accreditation for acupuncture schools had emerged in the early ’80s, and by the end of the decade, national board exams and licensure were beginning to take shape. Massachusetts began licensing acupuncturists in 1988.

Dr. So held license No. 1.

Dr. So and a Nesa application from the 1970s. 
Dr. James Tin Yau So, left, was the founder of the New England School of Acupuncture, the nation's first acupuncture school, established in 1975. NESA’s first brochure, right, was a trifold flyer printed in a groovy retro font on mustard yellow paper—a popular hue in the ’70s.

Shifting Gears in the ‘90s

In another box, Moseman finds an academic catalog from the late ’90s announcing a major update: the transition to a three-year master’s degree.

“Here’s where things really started to shift,” Moseman says, holding up a stack of historical files. “This is when acupuncture education started to formalize—longer programs, more clinical hours, standardized exams, and eventually degree-granting authority. That was a big leap forward.”

He remembers that era well. “I graduated in ’99,” he says, “and even then, there were really no opportunities like what we have today in integrative healthcare. You graduated, you hung a shingle, and you went into practice. That was really it.”

Then vs. Now

Moseman, who was already a practicing chiropractor when he became an acupuncturist, says integration into hospital settings was virtually nonexistent back then.

“We had a community clinic, we did our time, we served our patients there—and then we were released out into the wild to treat patients,” he recalls. “There was no clear path into medical systems. In between hanging a shingle and practicing in a hospital, the closest thing you might find was a multidisciplinary office with maybe a chiropractor, psychotherapist, PT, and massage therapist all under one roof.”

Today, it’s a different story.

“The VA is now the number one employer of acupuncturists in the U.S.,” he notes. “And at NESA, we have clinical affiliate sites in all the main hospital systems here in Massachusetts. Our students train in hospitals alongside other healthcare professionals and truly learn in an integrative environment. That just wasn’t the case 25 years ago.”

Even internationally, the structure differs. “In China, acupuncturists are typically trained as MDs and work in dedicated acupuncture departments within hospitals. It took much longer to get to that kind of integration here,” Moseman says.

Still, he sees the progress as remarkable. “We now have graduates running acupuncture and integrative medicine departments in hospitals—not just in Massachusetts, but across the country. It’s really come a long way.”

Students in the clinic in the 1980 sand 1990s
Hands-on training has long been central to NESA’s approach. At left, students practice techniques in the 1990s; at right, a student and instructor focus on foot acupuncture, continuing the tradition of experiential learning.

‘A Major Turning Point’

A package of photos from the mid-2000s shows students treating patients at the school’s first full-service professional treatment center. Community members came for affordable care, and students gained hands-on experience. Around the same time, NESA began forming clinical partnerships with major hospitals and healthcare systems—including Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center—laying the groundwork for what would become a robust, evidence-informed approach to acupuncture.

In 2016, NESA reached another milestone: a merger with MCPHS, joining a broader network of health professions education.

The merger expanded NESA’s capacity, opening access to university-wide research infrastructure, a custom-built 29,200-square-foot facility on Norwich Street in Worcester, and launching the Doctor of Acupuncture (DAc) program in 2017—developed to align with contemporary healthcare demands and train leaders in integrative medicine.

“That was a major turning point,” Moseman says. “It created new pathways for research, interprofessional collaboration, and academic growth.”

Today, in addition to two master’s programs and a Doctor of Acupuncture degree, NESA also offers professional certificates in Japanese Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine—continuing Dr. So’s enduring legacy of academic credibility and integration into mainstream healthcare systems.

“The partnership with MCPHS and creation of doctoral-level education would affirm his vision.”

2025 NESA faculty
NESA faculty kick off the 50th anniversary celebration at the Lunar New Year event held in Worcester in January. From left are: Collins Allen, Stephen Cina, Bing Yang, Dennis Moseman, Amy Hull, Maria Broderick, Nathaniel Mohler, and Mike Short.

A Yearlong Celebration

NESA celebrates its 50th anniversary with a series of events and initiatives.

An alumni reunion on the Boston campus is scheduled for November 8, offering graduates a chance to reconnect, revisit the school’s evolving mission, and tour the soon-to-open Boston Acupuncture Treatment Center—a significant point of pride for NESA and MCPHS alike.

The celebration also includes community wellness events on all three campuses. These “acupuncture de-stress” events—mini ear acupuncture treatments led by students under faculty supervision—are designed to support well-being and increase visibility for NESA across the University. The Worcester event, held this spring, drew faculty, staff, and deans, and featured seasonally supportive Chinese herbal tea crafted by the school’s herbal dispensary manager. Manchester is up next this summer, with Boston slated for the fall.

“We’re using this anniversary to spread awareness—not just about acupuncture, but about NESA itself,” Moseman says.

The return to the Boston area feels especially meaningful—a full-circle moment for a school that began just a few miles away in Watertown. And it’s only the beginning. As part of MCPHS’s broader strategic plan, NESA aims to offer classes in Boston by fall 2026. Plans also include expanding continuing education offerings and increasing clinical partnerships with major hospitals and integrative healthcare settings throughout Massachusetts and the East Coast.

“Dr. So would be proud of the high level of academic standards that NESA continues as his legacy,” Moseman says, “and that acupuncture is so much more accessible to so many more people, in large part because of NESA’s influence in integrating acupuncture into the healthcare system.”

Back in the archives, Moseman strikes gold: a hardbound thesis tucked among the boxes. The title—”Professionalization of an Alternative Healing Tradition: A History of the New England School of Acupuncture”—was written by a Harvard student in 1999. “I’ve never seen this before,” he says, eyes lighting up. “I know what I’ll be reading tonight.”