Member since April 2023
Dr. Clasina ("Sina") Leslie Smith is an international speaker who helps audiences recognize and interpret the complex physiological patterns that shape health, communication, team dynamics, and human behavior. A physician, licensed acupuncturist, professional educator, and author, she is known for translating complex science into engaging, practical insights that audiences can immediately apply in their professional and personal lives.
Her presentations combine evidence-based science, compelling stories, and practical strategies that can be tailored for healthcare professionals, business leaders, educators, and community audiences. Whether explaining the physiology of stress, decoding human communication, demystifying acupuncture, or helping teams understand one another under pressure, audiences leave with a new framework for understanding themselves and the people around them.
Professional Highlights:
-Medical doctor (MD), licensed acupuncturist (LAc), professional educator, and author
-International speaker with >100 invited presentations for medical, dental, academic, military, corporate, and community audiences including: the U.S. Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Northwestern University, Pritzker Foundation, Heitman, Chicago Dental Society, and AMEE
-Featured on television, podcasts, and radio, including multiple appearances on WGN-TV
-Author of "Demystifying Acupuncture: Modern Answers About Ancient Medicine," multiple book chapters on medical education, numerous articles in professional journals and magazines
-Lead author of "The State of 21st Century Acupuncture in the United States" (Journal of Pain Research, 2024), commissioned by the American Society of Acupuncturists and the Society for Acupuncture Research
-Holds a Fellowship in Surgical Education and 3 Master's degrees in Physiology & Biophysics; Medical Education and Leadership; and Acupuncture
-Founding Director of Integrative and Culinary Medicine, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
-Founder and Medical Director, Chicago Healing Center
-Founder, Oris Dental Academy
Nothing is more rewarding to me than watching understanding transform someone's face. Whether I'm working with a patient, teaching a room full of professionals, or speaking from a conference stage, I love the moment when a complicated idea suddenly becomes clear, integrated, and usable.
I've found that lasting change rarely begins with willpower—it begins with understanding. When people understand why their bodies respond the way they do, why a treatment works, or why one person behaves differently than another, they become more curious, more confident, and more willing to make meaningful changes.
That is the experience I strive to create every time I speak. My goal isn't simply to share information; it's to help people see familiar problems through a new lens so they leave thinking differently than when they arrived. Audience members often tell me it feels less like a lecture and more like a conversation created just for them.
One of my earliest memories is a conversation with my mother about a school assignment. I was asked to describe my best quality, and without hesitation I answered, "I'm curious.”
“Yes, you are,” she smiled.
Not long afterward, I was outside watching a spider with my father when he asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.
"I like helping people," I told him. "And I like science and understanding things. So I think I'll be a nurse."
He looked at me and said, "Why don't you be a doctor?"
I remember my surprised response: "Oh... they let girls do that?"
"Okay," I said. "Then I'll be a doctor."
Looking back, I realize that conversation wasn't really about choosing a profession. It was about discovering the question that would shape the rest of my life: How does the body work?
That question led me to study physiology and biophysics before entering medical school because I wanted to understand the science beneath medicine, not just memorize it. During my residency in general surgery, I stepped away to earn a Master's degree in Medical Education and Leadership and a Fellowship in Surgical Education because understanding something never felt complete unless I could explain it clearly to someone else.
Then, overnight, everything changed. I woke up one morning to a mostly paralyzed right wrist and hand. I could not drive, write my name or even push the buttons on a remote control. In the midst of conventional interventions that were not working, someone suggested I try acupuncture. It helped—just a little at first, but not enough to get me back into my residency rotations. I was despondent. But I was also curious. How was this helping? I had never dissected a meridian or operated on Qi. And more importantly, how was it making me—a tough chick—cry at each appointment?
After months of deep consideration, I decided to study acupuncture, leaving the Midwest and moving to LA to do so. During my four years of acupuncture school, I also studied integrative medicine and culinary medicine. Later, I added functional medicine, homeopathy, laser therapy, and manual manipulation to my clinical toolkit. Each discipline answered some questions, raised new ones, and deepened my understanding of the extraordinary complexity of the human body.
Through the winding path of my education, I was also teaching, designing curricula, writing, and giving talks to medical, corporate, and general audiences--honing the skills I had learned in my formal training and continually refining my ability to help people recognize physiological and behavioral patterns and translate them into better health, deeper communication, and greater compassion for themselves and others.
Now, I love being a professional explainer. Whether in front of an audience, in the classroom, in the clinic, on TV or podcasts, in writing, or through my newsletters and social media accounts, I love watching understanding spread across someone’s face. Curiosity is the engine. Science is the method. Helping people is the purpose. I speak so that every audience leaves with a little more “I get it now” than they arrived with.
Every moment, our bodies are sending information—through posture, facial expression, stress responses, pain, attention, emotion, and physiology. Most of us notice these signals but don't know how to interpret them.
In this engaging presentation, physician and educator Dr. Sina Smith introduces a practical framework for understanding what the body is communicating and demonstrates how those insights can improve communication, decision-making, relationships, and performance.
This presentation can be tailored to a wide range of audiences. Healthcare professionals learn to recognize physiological and behavioral patterns that enhance patient care. Leaders and teams discover new ways to understand workplace behaviors, improve communication, and reduce (and anticipate) conflict. Community and consumer audiences gain practical tools for interpreting their own stress responses, understanding the people around them, and making healthier, more informed decisions in everyday life.
Stress isn't simply a feeling—it's a coordinated physiological response that affects nearly every system in the body. From disrupted sleep and stubborn weight gain to changes in libido, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, memory, and decision-making, chronic stress quietly reshapes our biology long before disease becomes obvious, making every aspect of life at home and at work more challenging...and stressful.
In this engaging and evidence-based presentation, physician Dr. Sina Smith explains what stress actually is from a biomedical perspective, why the body responds the way it does, and how those physiological changes influence health, relationships, and performance. Participants leave with a practical understanding of the body's stress response and science-based strategies to improve resilience, restore healthy sleep, support metabolic health, and reduce the long-term effects of chronic stress.
This presentation can be tailored for healthcare professionals, employee wellness programs, leadership audiences, and community organizations.
Strong teams aren't built simply by assembling talented individuals—they're built by understanding how people respond under pressure. When stress increases, communication changes, decision-making shifts, and even high-performing teams can begin working against one another.
In this engaging presentation, Dr. Sina Smith introduces a practical, non-diagnostic framework for understanding how individuals naturally organize effort, communicate, solve problems, and respond to stress. Participants gain new insights into team dynamics, conflict, leadership, and collaboration while learning practical strategies for creating environments where diverse working styles complement rather than compete with one another.
Ideal for executives, managers, healthcare leaders, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and teams seeking stronger communication, greater trust, and more resilient performance.
Every interaction involves two conversations: the one we hear and the one the body is having beneath the surface. Stress, uncertainty, confidence, overwhelm, pain, and engagement all influence how people communicate—often without a single word being spoken.
In this practical and engaging presentation, physician and educator Dr. Sina Smith explores the science behind nonverbal communication and teaches audiences how to recognize physiological and behavioral cues that improve understanding, build trust, and lead to more productive conversations. Rather than relying on body language myths or quick fixes, participants learn a science-informed framework for interpreting what people may be experiencing and responding with greater clarity, curiosity, and effectiveness.
Ideal for healthcare professionals, educators, customer-facing teams, sales professionals, managers, nonprofit organizations, and anyone whose success depends on understanding people.
Acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years, yet many people—patients and healthcare professionals alike—still wonder one simple question: How does it actually work? In this engaging, evidence-informed presentation, physician and licensed acupuncturist Dr. Sina Smith separates myth from science, explaining the neurophysiology, anatomy, and current research behind one of the world's most widely used medical therapies.
Rather than focusing on memorizing acupuncture points or traditional theory, audiences gain a clear understanding of the biological mechanisms that help explain acupuncture's effects on pain, stress, inflammation, nervous system regulation, and healing. Participants leave with a practical framework for evaluating when acupuncture may be an appropriate complementary treatment and how it fits within modern evidence-informed healthcare.
This presentation can be tailored to a variety of audiences. Healthcare professionals explore the current evidence, mechanisms of action, and clinical applications relevant to their practice (physicians, nurses, physical therapists, psychologists, dentists, pharmacists, and other clinicians).Corporate and community audiences discover how acupuncture is being used to support stress management, pain relief, sleep, and overall well-being (employee wellness programs, libraries, senior centers, community organizations, and health fairs).Patient and consumer audiences gain practical information that helps them make informed decisions about when acupuncture may be beneficial as part of a comprehensive healthcare plan (chronic pain organizations, arthritis groups, cancer support programs, women's health organizations, and other patient advocacy groups).
One of my earliest memories is a conversation with my mother about a school assignment. I was asked to describe my best quality, and without hesitation I answered, "I'm curious.”
“Yes, you are,” she smiled.
Not long afterward, I was outside watching a spider with my father when he asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.
"I like helping people," I told him. "And I like science and understanding things. So I think I'll be a nurse."
He looked at me and said, "Why don't you be a doctor?"
I remember my surprised response: "Oh... they let girls do that?"
"Okay," I said. "Then I'll be a doctor."
Looking back, I realize that conversation wasn't really about choosing a profession. It was about discovering the question that would shape the rest of my life: How does the body work?
That question led me to study physiology and biophysics before entering medical school because I wanted to understand the science beneath medicine, not just memorize it. During my residency in general surgery, I stepped away to earn a Master's degree in Medical Education and Leadership and a Fellowship in Surgical Education because understanding something never felt complete unless I could explain it clearly to someone else.
Then, overnight, everything changed. I woke up one morning to a mostly paralyzed right wrist and hand. I could not drive, write my name or even push the buttons on a remote control. In the midst of conventional interventions that were not working, someone suggested I try acupuncture. It helped—just a little at first, but not enough to get me back into my residency rotations. I was despondent. But I was also curious. How was this helping? I had never dissected a meridian or operated on Qi. And more importantly, how was it making me—a tough chick—cry at each appointment?
After months of deep consideration, I decided to study acupuncture, leaving the Midwest and moving to LA to do so. During my four years of acupuncture school, I also studied integrative medicine and culinary medicine. Later, I added functional medicine, homeopathy, laser therapy, and manual manipulation to my clinical toolkit. Each discipline answered some questions, raised new ones, and deepened my understanding of the extraordinary complexity of the human body.
Through the winding path of my education, I was also teaching, designing curricula, writing, and giving talks to medical, corporate, and general audiences--honing the skills I had learned in my formal training and continually refining my ability to help people recognize physiological and behavioral patterns and translate them into better health, deeper communication, and greater compassion for themselves and others.
Now, I love being a professional explainer. Whether in front of an audience, in the classroom, in the clinic, on TV or podcasts, in writing, or through my newsletters and social media accounts, I love watching understanding spread across someone’s face. Curiosity is the engine. Science is the method. Helping people is the purpose. I speak so that every audience leaves with a little more “I get it now” than they arrived with.
Every moment, our bodies are sending information—through posture, facial expression, stress responses, pain, attention, emotion, and physiology. Most of us notice these signals but don't know how to interpret them.
In this engaging presentation, physician and educator Dr. Sina Smith introduces a practical framework for understanding what the body is communicating and demonstrates how those insights can improve communication, decision-making, relationships, and performance.
This presentation can be tailored to a wide range of audiences. Healthcare professionals learn to recognize physiological and behavioral patterns that enhance patient care. Leaders and teams discover new ways to understand workplace behaviors, improve communication, and reduce (and anticipate) conflict. Community and consumer audiences gain practical tools for interpreting their own stress responses, understanding the people around them, and making healthier, more informed decisions in everyday life.
Stress isn't simply a feeling—it's a coordinated physiological response that affects nearly every system in the body. From disrupted sleep and stubborn weight gain to changes in libido, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, memory, and decision-making, chronic stress quietly reshapes our biology long before disease becomes obvious, making every aspect of life at home and at work more challenging...and stressful.
In this engaging and evidence-based presentation, physician Dr. Sina Smith explains what stress actually is from a biomedical perspective, why the body responds the way it does, and how those physiological changes influence health, relationships, and performance. Participants leave with a practical understanding of the body's stress response and science-based strategies to improve resilience, restore healthy sleep, support metabolic health, and reduce the long-term effects of chronic stress.
This presentation can be tailored for healthcare professionals, employee wellness programs, leadership audiences, and community organizations.
Strong teams aren't built simply by assembling talented individuals—they're built by understanding how people respond under pressure. When stress increases, communication changes, decision-making shifts, and even high-performing teams can begin working against one another.
In this engaging presentation, Dr. Sina Smith introduces a practical, non-diagnostic framework for understanding how individuals naturally organize effort, communicate, solve problems, and respond to stress. Participants gain new insights into team dynamics, conflict, leadership, and collaboration while learning practical strategies for creating environments where diverse working styles complement rather than compete with one another.
Ideal for executives, managers, healthcare leaders, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and teams seeking stronger communication, greater trust, and more resilient performance.
Every interaction involves two conversations: the one we hear and the one the body is having beneath the surface. Stress, uncertainty, confidence, overwhelm, pain, and engagement all influence how people communicate—often without a single word being spoken.
In this practical and engaging presentation, physician and educator Dr. Sina Smith explores the science behind nonverbal communication and teaches audiences how to recognize physiological and behavioral cues that improve understanding, build trust, and lead to more productive conversations. Rather than relying on body language myths or quick fixes, participants learn a science-informed framework for interpreting what people may be experiencing and responding with greater clarity, curiosity, and effectiveness.
Ideal for healthcare professionals, educators, customer-facing teams, sales professionals, managers, nonprofit organizations, and anyone whose success depends on understanding people.
Acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years, yet many people—patients and healthcare professionals alike—still wonder one simple question: How does it actually work? In this engaging, evidence-informed presentation, physician and licensed acupuncturist Dr. Sina Smith separates myth from science, explaining the neurophysiology, anatomy, and current research behind one of the world's most widely used medical therapies.
Rather than focusing on memorizing acupuncture points or traditional theory, audiences gain a clear understanding of the biological mechanisms that help explain acupuncture's effects on pain, stress, inflammation, nervous system regulation, and healing. Participants leave with a practical framework for evaluating when acupuncture may be an appropriate complementary treatment and how it fits within modern evidence-informed healthcare.
This presentation can be tailored to a variety of audiences. Healthcare professionals explore the current evidence, mechanisms of action, and clinical applications relevant to their practice (physicians, nurses, physical therapists, psychologists, dentists, pharmacists, and other clinicians).Corporate and community audiences discover how acupuncture is being used to support stress management, pain relief, sleep, and overall well-being (employee wellness programs, libraries, senior centers, community organizations, and health fairs).Patient and consumer audiences gain practical information that helps them make informed decisions about when acupuncture may be beneficial as part of a comprehensive healthcare plan (chronic pain organizations, arthritis groups, cancer support programs, women's health organizations, and other patient advocacy groups).