About me
President: World Ethnomedicine Foundation (WEF)
Editorial Advisor: World Health Organization (WHO)
Registered Practitioner of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine - Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Australia. Accredited practitioner Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
Accredited Tuina Practitioner - Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association
Education
Bachelor of Health Sciences (Chinese Herbal Medicine) - Victoria University, Victoria (2000)
Master of Arts in Health Studies - Latrobe University, Victoria (1996) Coursework subjects: Medical Anthropology and Social History of Medicine
Bachelor of Arts (Honors Degree) in Sociology of Health and Illness - Latrobe University (1992)
Post-Graduate Diploma of Clinical Nutrition - International Academy of Nutrition, Australia (1984)
Bachelor of Arts (Sociology and Philosophy) - Latrobe University (1982)
Graduate Chinese Doctor's Training Acupuncture Program (5 years) The Chinese Acupuncture Hospital, Taiwan (1976 - 81)
Chinese Language Studies (Mandarin) - Taiwan University, Taiwan (1976 - 81)
Experience and research into Traditional Cupping
Bruce first learnt cupping as part of his Chinese medicine internships at hospitals and clinics in Taiwan from 1976 - 1981. This was followed by his Masters degree thesis in Health Studies titled Cupping as Therapeutic Technology, and his first research trip to Vietnam. In 1996, he was invited to China, where a special course on cupping was presented to him by chief physicians at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. To investigate other cupping practices in China, Bruce also studied at the Tibetan Medicine Hospital in Lhasa, Tibet, and at the Uighur Traditional Medicine Hospital in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province. The following year, he visited the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for 3 days to exchange ideas and observe how the massage therapists and physiotherapists there employed cupping to treat sports injuries and enhance performance.
In 2016, after teaching cupping and gua sha, to doctors and nurses at the Tenguru Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania (by invitation), Bruce then went bush and obtained many fascinating interviews and experiences with local cupping healers in remote areas.
Bruce has also taught cupping (and gua sha) at Victoria University and most recently in the Chinese medicine Masters degree programme in the School of Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney. He has also been an invited speaker at many conferences, including the big Rothenburg TCM Kongress in Germany in 2017.
Towards the end of 2017, Bruce taught the Advanced Certificate in Integrated Cupping Therapy to a 'full house' in Vancouver Canada. The entire Programme was filmed and will soon be available online.
