Rich grew up in North County surrounded by farm fields. He fled for the rivers and the trees of Northern California to earn his bachelor’s degree and a greater sense of possibility. 

After traveling in Mexico for a period of time he returned to the City of San Diego where he fell in love and made a home here. 

In 2009 he graduated from Pacific College of Health and Science, where he trained as a general practitioner of Traditional East Asian Medicine. As an acupuncture intern he worked in a wide variety of settings including the UCSD Downtown Free Clinic, Rady Children’s Hospital, and the Integrative Health Night clinic. At Pacific College he worked under diabetes and internal medicine specialists and managed the herbal pharmacy.

At the time of graduation Rich was heavily involved with community organizing work in his neighborhood of City Heights. His friends had recently helped start New Roots urban farm led by predominantly refugee and immigrant families. A farmers market soon followed. Next to the market a new space was opened where he helped found a community medicine garden. This hub of activity led to broader collaborations and a program of community health workshops with emerging leaders. Coming out of his education and several years of collaborations in Zapatista communities in Mexico, the intent was to grow and celebrate traditional knowledge alongside modern advances.

He also created a similar program at a neighborhood school where his wife was a teacher. It was from this network of community ties that he first built his acupuncture practice from a basement room in their home. It was an idyllic start as a healer but when his son was born it soon became clear that his practice needed to evolve. Crying babies, barking dogs, and a practice that served very low-income patients was not sustainable in this way. At this time Richard transitioned his practice to Samahan Health Centers where he worked for 8 years as the Coordinator of Integrative Medicine and Clinical Acupuncturist. Samahan gave him the opportunity to serve a similar population of folks in the South Bay. He and his practice grew and he had the chance to treat a large number of complex chronic pain conditions. 

In 2020 he completed the highly esteemed Sports Medicine Acupuncture Certificate  (SMAC) program. SMAC is a 2-year advanced program in orthopedic and sports medicine that transformed his practice. The program gave him a chance to study with the leaders in the field; folks who are ambitious and active and fascinated by the wonders of the human body. It gave him a solid framework for quickly diagnosing structural imbalances and injuries while integrating advanced sports medicine with traditional chinese medicine. 

Now in his 14th year of practice he is very excited about the future and his return to private practice. Welcome to the newly remodeled City Heights clinic.