Five Branches University has announced a new clinical training partnership with the San Francisco VA Medical Center, creating a new hospital-based learning opportunity for advanced acupuncture students.

Under the partnership, Five Branches University will become the first and only Traditional Chinese Medicine university invited to participate in the San Francisco VA Medical Center’s Acupuncture Health Professional Training (HPT) Program.

Beginning in Spring 2027, up to four Five Branches University students who have reached the advanced clinical internship level will be selected to train at the medical center’s Integrative Medicine Center.

The program will give participating students direct experience providing acupuncture care within a multidisciplinary hospital setting. Students will have opportunities to work with patients from different departments while learning how acupuncture is incorporated into a broader integrative healthcare model.

As part of the training, students will:

• Provide acupuncture treatments to patients within the VA Medical Center.
• Gain firsthand experience in a hospital-based integrative medicine environment.
• Work alongside physicians and other healthcare professionals.
• Strengthen their skills in clinical documentation and interdisciplinary patient care.
• Apply their acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine training in a real-world healthcare setting.

The partnership represents an important expansion of Five Branches University’s clinical education opportunities and gives advanced students exposure to the professional standards, communication practices, and collaborative care models used within a major medical institution.

For students preparing to enter the profession, the experience offers more than additional clinical hours. It provides an opportunity to understand how acupuncture practitioners can contribute as members of an interdisciplinary healthcare team and how integrative medicine is evolving within institutional healthcare settings.

Five Branches University continues to expand clinical training opportunities that prepare future acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners for an increasingly collaborative and integrated healthcare environment.