Faculty
Core Faculty
Dr. Sara J. Bayer
DAOM, MA, LAc, LMP, Certified Advanced Rolfer
Sara is an acupuncturist, licensed in California (1987) and Washington (1991), a Certified Advanced Rolfer® as well, and a Washington State licensed massage therapist. Certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by the National Commission for Certification in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Sara has taught continuously in acupuncture schools since 1987 and at MWAI since 2008. Before studying acupuncture, she completed massage coursework while obtaining her Master’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature from the University of Michigan, graduating in 1982. A Certified Rolfer™ since 2004, in 2010, she completed the Advanced Training in Rolfing® Structural Integration. Over the last decade, her year-long course in musculoskeletal pain has become recognized by students as a vital component of basic acupuncture training. In August 2014, she graduated from the Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine program at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. She translated the Expanded Treatise on Warm Epidemics written by Dai Tian-zhang circa 1695 for her capstone project. She became the Director of Clinical Education and Associate Professor at Bastyr University, Kenmore Washington campus, in July 2018. In the DAOM program at Bastyr, she teaches an acupuncture course on fascia and pain and supervises doctoral students treating patients as part of the Anesthesia and Pain Medicine group at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Dr. Catherine Follis
DC
Catherine received her Doctor of Chiropractic, cum laude from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician (CCSP) from the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians. She also received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Augustana College in Rock Island, Iowa. Dr. Follis is a College Accreditation Evaluator for the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET), an Anatomy & Physiology instructor and team lead for Everest College, a First Aid/CPR instructor for the Red Cross, and provides Anatomy & Physiology tutoring
Linda Munson
PhD (ABD), MTCM, LAc
Linda is a licensed acupuncturist (2002) and massage practitioner (1997). Board-certified in acupuncture by the NCCAOM, she has taught at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute since 2008. Before studying Chinese Medicine and massage, Linda worked in Arctic Alaska for 16 years as a Native teacher trainer with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and as an elementary school teacher with the North Slope Borough School District. Before that, she spent 5 years in highland Guatemala with the Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin, writing a grammar and teaching literacy in Mam, a Mayan language. She has extensive experience working with Southwest Native tribes and developing bilingual curricula through the University of California, San Diego. Linda holds a B.A. in French Language and Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles (1970) and an M.A. and ABD in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego (1983). Linda maintains a small private practice and works part-time in a physician’s office.
Helen Sanders
MAc, AEMP, LAc
At the age of 17, while walking across FSU’s college campus in Tallahassee, Florida, Helen was attacked by an itinerant male who tried unsuccessfully to choke her in a bent arm hold. After the campus police expressed no interest in pursuing her attacker as she had escaped of her own volition, she determined that martial arts might be a prudent course of study. She spent 1.5 years practicing Tae Kwon Do, a Korean hardstyle art. Then she gravitated to Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts, where she thrived for 10 years, eventually earning her first-degree black belt and running her own school, The Rainbow Dojo, in Tallahassee, Florida. During training to advance to a second-degree black belt, she realized that her next step would be this: having learned to harm another human physically, would it not make sense to be able to help them heal? Devoted to practicing martial arts encompassing medicine, she interviewed several schools of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She found a home at the Northwest Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Seattle, Washington. She was accepted there and earned her Master’s degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 1996. At the same time, Microsoft offered her a position. She spent 10 years there as the Corporate Records Manager for the Company within the Legal Department, overseeing 12-14 employees and running a corporate-wide records and information program for Microsoft’s key documents and information. Highlights included being deposed for the FTC/Dept. of Justice investigation (along with a hundred other employees) and winning a senior management award for outstanding achievement during her 10-year tenure there. Helen now has a thriving acupuncture practice in the San Juan Islands and works as the Clinic Director for Middle Way Acupuncture Institute in Mt. Vernon, Washington.
Matt Van Dyke
MTCM, AEMP, Dipl OM
Matt is an Acupuncturist, Herbalist, and Qi Gong practitioner who is clinically focused on maximizing quality of life and longevity. Areas of expertise include EENT pathology and pain management. Matt is especially interested in helping train patients and students to tap into their innate potential and facilitate new landscapes of healing. Matt graduated from Five Branches University in 2006. Advanced studies took him to Shenyang, China, to study with respected acupuncturist and physician Dr. Ma Laoshi at Liaoning University Hospital. Many things in life bring Matt joy. These include his family with two young children, qi gong, which he has been practicing for almost 2 decades, and being in nature, which feeds his soul. He has been on the faculty at Middle Way since 2009.
Additional Faculty
Daniel Altschuler
PhD (China), LAc
Daniel studied and taught Chinese medicine in Taiwan for nearly 15 years, apprenticing under Dr. Lee Chen-Yu. He has an MA (1992) in Asian religions from UCLA and a Ph.D. (2005) in Chinese medicine from Guangzhou Chinese Medical College. His specialties include neuropathy and chronically stubborn diseases. He has authored the translation entitled Neuropathy: Traditional Chinese Herbal Treatment in a Modern Medical Environment.
Robert B. Bates
DC, MMQ
Robert is a healer and teacher of healing based in Bellingham, Washington. A 1990 graduate from Southern California College of Chiropractic, he has practiced in Washington State since 1992. He has taught Qigong since 1997. He earned his Master of Medical Qigong certificate in 2001 from Jerry Alan Johnson at the International Institute of Medical Qigong. In addition he teaches workshops in Lymph Drainage Therapy and Fluid Articular Release for the Chikly Health Institute, an international teaching organization based in Arizona. He has extensive training in many healing and movement arts including Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Self Healing Qigong (many types), Taiji Quan, and Xin Yi Liu He Quan. Robert has enjoyed a daily practice of Qigong since 1992.
Dr Howard Chen
MD
Howard is a Family and Integrative Biomedicine physician, the founder and director of The Chen Center for Integrative Medicine, and the founding Medical Director of Renown Health’s Medical Acupuncture Clinic in Reno, NV, as well as their subsequent Integrative Primary Care Clinic. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture, and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno. He currently also teaches for the Academy of Acupuncture and the Tan Academy of Balance. His introduction to acupuncture was in Taipei during an elective rotation in Medical School where he certified in Medical Acupuncture in 2006 through the Helms Medical Institute physician pathway, which taught him French Energetics. He then went on to study Worsley 5e with Drs. Moss and Puhky, Muscle Channel Technique with Frank He, and Medical Qi Gong with Stephen Aung. His personal greatest achievement, however, was being Dr. Richard Tan’s only physician apprentice and in his first graduating class of BaZi consultants. In Howard’s current practice, he utilizes a combination of BaZi Birth Chart Analysis, Yi Jing, Balance Method, and his own invention of Chen’s Distance Acupuncture Technique (C-DAT) to treat patients remotely.
Dani Compain
AEMP LAc
Dani has been studying nutrition for over three decades. She studied in the fields of an organic farm in rural Alabama; in restaurant kitchens; and in restaurant management. Dani attended both the Living Foods Institute and the Living Light Culinary Institute. Dani has studied a variety of dietary approaches with some of the finest masters of nutritional therapy. As a classically trained artist, Dani sees the human body with an architectural complexity, beauty, and perfection-viewing its capability co susrain life and heal itself, with the same reverence as a fine masterpiece. This brought her co the study of Eastern Medicine at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute. During her studies there, she continued co pursue her passion for nutrition with a deep dive into Chinese Dietary Therapy. Dani graduated from and began teaching at Middle Way in 2020.
Dr Catherine Dayhoff
DAOM, Dipl Ac, LAc
Catherine received her Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM) in Portland, Oregon. She received her master degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Catherine served on the Washington Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine Association (WAEMA) board for 2 years as the secretary and treasurer from December 2017 to November 2019. Catherine specializes in orthopedic acupuncture and musculoskeletal pain conditions. Her two main mentors are Whitfield Reaves and Dr. Anthony Lombardi. Catherine enjoys her private practice, Dayhoff Acupuncture, located downtown Mount Vernon, Washington.
Dr Serena Emerson
DAOM, LAc
Serena is an acupuncturist and massage therapist, licensed in Washington State since 2016 and 2013, respectively. She has taught tuina at MWAI since 2015. Her background includes over a decade of study and apprenticeship in Jin Shou Tuina, as well as internal martial arts, through the North American Tang Shou Tao Association. She currently practices in Vancouver and Bellingham and is enrolled in the Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine program at Bastyr University.
Dr Alethea Fleming
ND
Alethea is a passionate advocate for naturopathic geriatric medicine. She is a Bastyr University graduate and earned a certificate in Gerontology from the University of Washington. Dr. Fleming is the owner and lead physician of the Vital Aging Clinic in Anacortes, Washington where she provides primary care to all adults as well as specific geriatric care. Dr. Fleming is adjunct faculty at Bastyr University and is an engaging public speaker who strives to make naturopathic geriatric care accessible to all providers. In her off hours, Dr. Fleming can be found hiking the beautiful trails of Fidalgo Island, spending time with her wonderful husband and son, or with her nose firmly in a good book.
Dr Brenda Loew
DAOM, AEMP/LAc, Dipl Ac
Brenda is a teaching associate in the Department of Family Medicine, Osher Center for Integrative Health at the University of Washington, Seattle and provides acupuncture services at the UW Northgate Clinic. She also serves on the Planetary Health, Research, and Acupuncture Committees of the Osher Collaborative. Board certified through the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) since 1991, she has over thirty years of acupuncture clinical and teaching experience. In her private practice, she specializes in Japanese-style acupuncture for the whole family including children and adolescents. She is interested in whole systems thinking and exploring complex, regenerative, living systems integration into allopathic medicine.
Clare Lynam, AEMP, LAc
AEMP/LAc
Clare fell in love with health and healing while studying Medical Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, where she graduated in 1988. She went on to live at a healing center as staff in the late 90’s in northern California, where she learned how to brew soy sauce and ferment miso, daikon pickles, and umeboshi plums the traditional Japanese way. She was also introduced to acupressure there, which led her to get a massage license after graduating from the Brian Utting School of Massage. She also studied Thai massage at the Golden Temple in Bangkok while teaching ESL for a year. Her massage practice grew to include employees and morphed into a medical billing service serving clinics from Bellingham, WA, to Eugene, OR, with 7 employees. Clare studied acupuncture at MWAI and graduated in 2023. Qi Gong was a surprise gem of the curriculum for her, and she is currently enrolled in a 200 hr Qi Gong teacher certification training with the Yoga Farm Ithaca.
Neeshee Pandit
AHP, Menpa
Neeshee Pandit is a Tibetan medical doctor, Ayurvedic practitioner, astrologer, and writer based in Boulder, Colorado. He graduated from the California College of Ayurveda in 2015 and continued his studies under the tutelage of Vaidya R.K. Mishra who initiated him into the Shaka Vansya Ayurveda lineage. Neeshee’s long-time interest in Tibetan culture led him to complete a traditional four-year education in Tibetan Medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo. After graduating in 2020, Neeshee pursued his childhood interest in Chinese Medicine by training in Worsley Classical Five-Element Acupuncture at the Worsley Institute in 2021 and completing a Master’s diploma at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute in 2024. His graduate work, “Spirits of the Unconscious”, explores the relationship between psychology, acupuncture, and alchemy. Neeshee specializes in the Worsley tradition of Five-Element Acupuncture and continues to apprentice with Judy Worsley. In addition to his clinical practice, Neeshee teaches at The School of Ayurveda and serves on the Worsley Institute Board of Trustees.
Joseph Rothstein
D.A.C.M., Dipl. O.M.
Joseph is an Acupuncturist, Herbalist, Healer, Facilitator and Teacher. He received his Master Level Diploma and his Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts in Asheville, NC. He has studied Energy Medicine at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. He has studied Transpersonal Facilitation at The Psychoenergetics Training program and the Hero’s Journey Apprenticeship. He is happily married to his college sweetheart, has 3 homeschooled children, and is currently a Digital Nomad on Sabbatical in various places around the world.
Guest Lecturers
Bob Quinn
DAOM
Bob Quinn earned his masters and doctoral degrees from OCOM in 1998 and 2008 respectively. His capstone title was Wholeness in Traditional East Asian Medicine. It was in fact this long held interest in what David Bohm called “the question of wholeness” that initially brought him to Chinese Medicine. He is a retired Assistant Professor in the School of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, Oregon. He taught classes at NUNM in Japanese acupuncture styles and Sotai. He now teaches at conferences and in four doctoral programs, and he goes every year to teach in Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. Additionally, he has hosted over 80 seminars for Japanese style teachers from Japan and North America in the last 16 years. This has afforded him the opportunity to study closely with many talented practitioners. Since 1999 he has been studying various gentle Japanese treatment styles with masters in the field, most notably in recent years with the late Iwashina Anryu Sensei (aka Dr.Bear). Dr. Bear was famous for using only teishin and moxa in his treatments. Bob is fascinated by the question as to how gentle our treatments can be while still delivering good clinical results. Bob has just published an introductory book on the use of the teishin and enshin in Chinese Medicine: A User’s Guide to the Teishin and Enshin: A Quiet Revolution in Traditional East Asian Medicine. Additionally, starting in 1993 Bob has studied Projective Dreamwork with the late Jeremy Taylor, a noted scholar in the field. In the last ten years Bob has been pioneering the reintroduction into Chinese Medicine of the use of dream imagery, which in our ancient texts clearly played a diagnostic role. He has a certificate program available in Classical Chinese Medicine Dreamwork at Net of Knowledge. In his private practice Bob focuses on the treatment of chronic Lyme disease and children. Through his treatment of many chronic Lyme disease patients, he has become interested in the role of past trauma as a hurdle to deeper healing.
Jason Robertson
MS, LAc
Jason Robertson, M.S., L.Ac., is a graduate of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2000). He is involved in ongoing post-graduate studies in Beijing with acupuncture specialist, Dr. Wang. In collaboration, they wrote and published Applied Channel Theory in Chinese Medicine (Eastland Press, 2008). Jason maintains a private practice in Seattle. He has taught at Middle Way since 2011.
