Richard Teh-Fu Tan 譚特夫, O.M.D., L.Ac.
It is with great sadness that I post that Dr. Tan has passed, he was a wonderful and brilliant teacher of acupuncture who was well loved, he will be greatly missed by many of us. Thank you Dr Tan for all of your contributions to the field of acupuncture.
Dr. Richard Tan was a leading authority in our profession. His skills represent the culmination of years of study. At age seven, he began his studies in Chinese Medicine in his family in Taiwan, and apprenticed with numerous masters in herbal medicine, five elements, acupuncture channel theory, zang fu energetics, feng shui, and qi cultivation. Early in his career, he treated hundreds of patients who were also receiving western medical care, in an army hospital. In addition, Dr. Tan studied engineering for ten years, moving to the U.S. in the latter half of those studies. Hearing colleagues here complain about lack of clinical results and how long it took for patients to feel better, Dr. Tan was concerned: classical texts state that the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments should be seen immediately, just as the shadow appears instantly when a pole is placed under the sun. This motivated him to begin teaching and sharing his knowledge and experience as widely as possible, as well as seeing thousands of patients in his twenty years of practice in San Diego. Dr. Tan has written Twelve and Twelve in Acupuncture, Twenty-Four More in Acupuncture, Shower of Jewels, Dr. Tan’s Strategy of Twelve Magical Points, and Acupuncture 1,2,3.