East-West Medicine Fellowship

The UCLA Center for East-West Medicine (CEWM) offers Fellowship Training in Integrative Medicine to physicians who have recently completed a US ACGME-accredited residency program in internal medicine, internal medicine-pediatrics or family medicine. 

The East-West Subspecialty Consultative  fellowship is designed to train physicians to become outstanding academic leaders, clinicians and educators in the field of integrative medicine. The program offers intensive training in the foundational theory and practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and other Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) disciplines and provides extensive clinical training using evidence-informed therapies. The fellowship is approved by the American Board of Integrative Medicine and the American Board of Medical Acupuncture.

Graduates will be equipped to integrate their prior western biomedical training with TCM care and integrative health principles to evaluate and care for a wide range of patient conditions regardless of illness severity or comorbidities. This expertise will be applied across both settings of primary care and subspecialty practice and will help broaden the available toolkit of the practicing physician and evolving healer.

Our Center’s Mission is to improve health, well-being and the quality of life of all people by blending the best of Modern Western medicine with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and providing healthcare that is safe, effective, affordable and accessible, we are dedicated to training the next generation of physicians who will become experts in Integrative East-West Medicine.

Under the Department of Medicine at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, CEWM has both outpatient and inpatient consultative practices. The outpatient clinics receive referrals from the entire UCLA primary care and subspecialty network and see an average of 30,000 patient visits annually across four clinical sites.  The inpatient consultative service sees patients in one UCLA hospital, often seeing 15-20 patients per day. 

Specific areas of clinical focus include:

• Acute and chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, neuropathy, myofascial strains, radiculopathies, and failed back syndromes
• Autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease and inflammatory bowel diseases
• Gastrointestinal conditions such as IBS, IBD and functional abdominal disorders
• Head and neck disorders such as chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis 
• Neurologic conditions such as headache/migraine, tremors, and neuropathic pain
• Women’s health such as infertility, dysmenorrhea, menopausal symptoms, endometriosis
• Integrative Oncology including mitigating chemotherapy side effects

Fellowship training includes the following key components:

• Extensive clinical training in the CEWM consultative clinics and inpatient consultative service
• Formal training in TCM theory and acupuncture
• Participation in teaching of trainees rotating through CEWM as well as undergraduate/medical student courses at UCLA
• Regular academic conferences on a broad range of relevant topics as well as unique case discussions and journal clubs.
• Involvement in research, education and quality improvement projects in collaboration with faculty and staff at CEWM and the UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine
• Participation in lectures, academic conferences and hands-on workshops conducted by experts found locally, nationally and internationally

Core Curriculum and Clinical Training:

Foundations of East-West and Integrative Medicine

• Clinical precepting with East-West expert faculty in our consultative clinics
• Participation in our UCLA Summer Course - Introduction to Integrative East-West Medicine
• Training in the theory and practice of TCM and integration with western biomedical care.
  • Weekly didactic and experiential learning sessions with TCM experts
  • These sessions, in addition to a robust clinical experience, allow MD and DO fellowship graduates to combine Western Medicine and TCM principles effectively and independently without any prior knowledge of TCM.

Differentiation as an East-West expert and development as a physician healer.

• Continued clinical precepting and building a patient panel and advancement to junior attending
• Opportunity to rotate in the inpatient East-West consultative service and with affiliated programs
• Completion of a capstone academic project with longitudinal mentorship, leading to a poster/publication
• Support to prepare for the American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABoIM) and American Board of Medical Acupuncture (ABMA) certification exams

Training logistics:

The fellowship is a junior faculty-level position within the Department of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Compensation includes a competitive benefits package, an educational enrichment fund for conferences and travel, and paid vacation and holidays.

Successful applicants are US-trained MDs and DOs with a strong interest in Integrative Medicine who have completed an ACGME-accredited residency program in internal medicine, internal medicine-pediatrics or family medicine. Because of the educational nature of the program and its close relationship to the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, ideal applicants should also have an interest in teaching and developing training programs for residents and medical students.

Training Locations:

Clinical training is primarily outpatient, with three clinical sites: Santa Monica, Westlake Village and Torrance. Inpatient clinical opportunities are also available.

Benefits of the Fellowship:

• Training from the CEWM integrative East-West medicine faculty and clinicians
• Opportunity to learn from UCLA Integrative Medicine Collaborative specialist faculty
• Involvement in research, education, and publishing projects
• Upon completion, you will be qualified and eligible to take two different board examinations:
  • American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABoIM) certification exam(Link is external)
  • American Board of Medical Acupuncture (ABMA) certification exam(Link is external)
• Clinical Instructor level junior faculty position at UCLA
• Fellows will be given priority consideration for a UCLA faculty appointment after completion of the fellowship program

Application Process:

Fellowship applications are accepted one year prior to the start date. For instance, for the fellowship cycle beginning in July 2025, the application window is open from July 1 to November 1, 2024. To submit an application, please click on the fellowship program track for further information. 

Integrative Medicine Fellowship Programs:
East-West Subspecialty Consultative Track