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Global Opportunity

At Five Branches, you have the opportunity to study, live and work in an international community. The Bay Area is a cosmopolitan region overflowing with the perspectives, ideas and cultural traditions of countries from across the globe.

Our faculty, staff, students and graduates have come from around the world, and our Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) programs are offered in English and Chinese. Many of our alumni have established practices in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America, helping to affect real-world change in the evolving field of integrative medicine.

Study Abroad

The Study Abroad program offers Five Branches students and alumni international experiential learning in China, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. Participants receive specialized TCM and integrative medicine training in affiliated hospitals and out-patient centers.

International Lecturers

Renowned TCM practitioners and Western Medicine doctors from China and Europe are regularly invited to teach in the Postgraduate DAOM program.

International Partnerships

Five Branches has long had international relationships with institutions from around the world. The University recognizes the value these exchanges have in broadening the global experience of students and fostering goodwill between Five Branches and the international community.

International Events

In 2004, we co-hosted the first International Integrated Medicine Conference with Zhejiang Chinese Medical University.  Five Branches specialists in both TCM and Western medicine, eminent doctors from Stanford and the University of California San Francisco, along with medical professionals from Europe traveled to Hangzhou, China for this ground-breaking event. 

Also in 2004, we partnered with the Director of the Center for Education in Family and Community Medicine at Stanford University to organize a series of seminars on modern hospital administration. The seminars were presented to leading hospital administrators in Foshan, Chongqing and Shantou, China.

Five Branches created two specialized medical centers in 2008: a Diabetes Center with Dr. Gan Ma of the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, and a Head Acupuncture Institute with Dr. Shunfa Jiao, the developer of Head Acupuncture in China. In 2012, in partnership with Dr. Shi Xuemin, we inaugurated a Stroke and Rehabilitation Center at both of our campuses in Santa Cruz and San Jose, California.

In 2018, we co-hosted our second international event, The 10th World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies Conference in Santa Clara, California, with 800 participants from around the world.