Sina Smith, LAc, MD

Speaker, Author, Educator, Medical Doctor, Acupuncturist at Chicago Healing Center

Health, Wellness and Fitness

Education: BA: UNC Asheville; AA: Univ Maryland, Munich Germany - MD: UIC Chicago; LAc: YoSan Univ in LA & MCOM Chicago; MA: UIS Springfield; MS: UIC Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
INVITE TO SPEAK

Biography

Dr. Sina Leslie Smith is an international speaker, medical doctor and licensed acupuncturist who is trained in homeopathic, integrative, culinary, and functional medicine and has advanced degrees in physiology & biophysics, medical education, and acupuncture. Dr. Smith has given over 100 lectures and grand rounds at hospitals, medical systems, schools, and healthcare agencies throughout the US and internationally. She has been an invited speaker for many years at Walter Reed Medical Center's Integrative Medicine conferences (broadcast worldwide) and will be returning this fall as an invited presenter for the Department of Defense's Annual Pain Skills Training. This year (2024) she is delivering the keynote address at Northwestern Health Science University's annual symposium and the Holistic Dental Association's annual conference, where she will also be giving a 4-hour workshop.

Dr. Smith has appeared on podcasts, radio, and TV shows as a professional guest. She is author of multiple academic articles and book chapters. Dr. Smith recently (Feb 2024) released her first book, "Demystifying Acupuncture: Modern Answers About Ancient Medicine."

Dr. Smith is a fellow and former board member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, served on the Executive Board and as Chair of the Communications Committee for the Integrative Health Policy Consortium, and is Chair of the Illinois Dept of Professional Regulation Board of Acupuncture. She was the the founding Director of Integrative and Culinary Medicine at SIU School of Medicine before returning to private practice as the Medical Director and Founder of Chicago Healing Center. She lives in Chicago, IL and is passionate about dancing, changing her hair color, and coming up with new recipes in the kitchen.

Passion

I am a natural educator. Nothing brightens my day more than seeing understanding break over a patient's or learner's face as I'm explaining something. When people understand the "why" behind changing their health choices, they find it easier to make changes--and to want to make changes. I bring that passion for creating understanding each time I get up to speak--people say that it's like I'm talking just to them.

Origin Story

I was an older student in medical school, so by the time I was in my next-to-last year of training to be a general surgeon, I was 39 years old. I developed a repetitive stress injury in my arm that made me paralyzed. It's hard to operate with an arm that won't move! Steroid shots, immobilization, PT and and all kinds of other modalities didn't work for me...but acupuncture did. Even more shocking than the pain relief it provided was the emotional release it provoked. I was fascinated. I chose to leave surgery and studied traditional Chinese medicine, becoming a licensed acupuncturist and integrative medicine provider with a strong focus on food as medicine. After years of being in private practice, I was asked to come to a medical school and be the Director of Integrative and Culinary Medicine. I am now pivoting my years of teaching classes, explaining complicated concepts to patients, and walking the line between integrative and conventional medicine into authoring books, professional speaking, national advocacy work, and teaching classes online. I love sharing the science behind acupuncture and other non-conventional forms of medicine and talking about how food can be used for so much more than just fuel. My practice is geared towards people feeling so good and feeling so empowered that they don't need me anymore. I want the same for my audiences.

Example talks

In Search of Healing

I had physical and emotional wounds that required alternative, integrative, and conventional modes of healing. This talk explains I transformed my wounds into scars using these approaches together in a wholistic, empowered, and informed way.

Why quitting is braver than resilience: lessons in reinvention.

Some of the scariest things I ever did for myself was to quit (being a surgeon, taking unnecessary certification exams, on my "dream job" that was actually a nightmare). This talk discusses the fine line between pushing ourselves to be better and allowing ourselves to chose something else by walking away.

Medicine Meals

Each time you eat, you chose to make yourself sicker or to make yourself healthier. What will you pick?

Featured Video

I am willing to travel

More than 100 miles

When it comes to payments

I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions

Topics

food food as medicine understanding food as medicine acupuncture healing natural healing healing from trauma holistic healing emotional healing resilience quitting a job scars health wellness inspirational story inspirational speaker inspire leaders overcoming adversity life after adversity empowered patients managing transitions career change career alignment managing change alternative medicine alternative health integrative health integrative therapies integrative medicine alternative and integrative medicine integrative nutrition integrative lifestyle or culinary medicine culinary nutrition culinary cooking cooking demo culinary skills and development functional medicine functional health functional wellness functional practitioner functional nutrition functional foods medicine health food is medicine medical organic food food allergies health diet diet culture dietary supplements nutritional supplements food and nutritional science women women's health self care founder female entrepreneurship

Origin Story

I was an older student in medical school, so by the time I was in my next-to-last year of training to be a general surgeon, I was 39 years old. I developed a repetitive stress injury in my arm that made me paralyzed. It's hard to operate with an arm that won't move! Steroid shots, immobilization, PT and and all kinds of other modalities didn't work for me...but acupuncture did. Even more shocking than the pain relief it provided was the emotional release it provoked. I was fascinated. I chose to leave surgery and studied traditional Chinese medicine, becoming a licensed acupuncturist and integrative medicine provider with a strong focus on food as medicine. After years of being in private practice, I was asked to come to a medical school and be the Director of Integrative and Culinary Medicine. I am now pivoting my years of teaching classes, explaining complicated concepts to patients, and walking the line between integrative and conventional medicine into authoring books, professional speaking, national advocacy work, and teaching classes online. I love sharing the science behind acupuncture and other non-conventional forms of medicine and talking about how food can be used for so much more than just fuel. My practice is geared towards people feeling so good and feeling so empowered that they don't need me anymore. I want the same for my audiences.

Example talks

In Search of Healing

I had physical and emotional wounds that required alternative, integrative, and conventional modes of healing. This talk explains I transformed my wounds into scars using these approaches together in a wholistic, empowered, and informed way.

Why quitting is braver than resilience: lessons in reinvention.

Some of the scariest things I ever did for myself was to quit (being a surgeon, taking unnecessary certification exams, on my "dream job" that was actually a nightmare). This talk discusses the fine line between pushing ourselves to be better and allowing ourselves to chose something else by walking away.

Medicine Meals

Each time you eat, you chose to make yourself sicker or to make yourself healthier. What will you pick?