#445
January 27, 2026

History Series- From Mitzvah Corps to Quan Yin
Misha Cohen, DOM, L.Ac

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The path that connects can’t be seen when you’re looking forward, but there are values, hunches—and maybe even whispers from the future—that nudge us onto the path that matches our spirit and heart.

In this History Series conversation on Qiological, we take a trip in the Wayback Machine with Misha Cohen to the early days, when her interest in health and wellbeing crisscrossed paths with Chinese medicine—an unconventional grandmother, a sudden onset of back pain, and the goings-on at Lincoln Hospital quietly setting the stage for her later work with AIDS and cancer patients on the other side of the country.

Misha’s curiosity has kept her at the leading edge of weaving Chinese medicine and biomedicine together—without flattening either one. In practice, that means clearer thinking, better collaboration, and a steady reminder that acupuncture and herbs often fill a hole in the modern medical system.

Listen into this conversation for a glimpse of what integrative medicine can look like when it’s practiced with an eye toward honoring the value—and the real clinical power—of Chinese medicine.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Before Misha Knew About Acupuncture, She Knew About Caring for Others
    Her time in Mitzvah Corps and attraction to herbs and nourishing foods
  • An Unconventional Grandmother and Her Attention to Health
    Weekend time with a yoga-teaching, health-food-loving grandmother early on gave her a sense for “other ways” of health.
  • Oberlin, Organic Farming, and the Co-op Kitchen
    Learning organic farming and cooking for a co-op shaped her hands-on relationship with food as medicine.
  • Western Herbalism and “Shen-nonging it” in the Arboretum
    She learned about Western herbs by biking to the arboretum, identifying plants, tincturing, and experimenting carefully.
  • 1970s Political Turbulence and Community Care
    Kent State, anti-war organizing, women’s movement, and Black liberation work braided together with her sense of social responsibility.
  • Women’s Newspaper + Critique of Pharma Culture
    She started a women’s newspaper and wrote about pharmaceutical misuse/overuse (and the corporate forces behind it).
  • Cuba, Pulse Diagnosis, and a Predicted Back Pain
    On a trip to Cuba Walter Bosque read her pulse, asked about back pain, which later manifested and took her down the road of shiatsu.
  • Master Nakamura: Channel Theory, Moxa, and Pulse
    Training in “shiatsu” included channel theory, moxibustion, and pulse work—acupuncture training hidden in plain sight.
  • Lincoln Detox: Ear Acupuncture and Revolutionary Medicine
    At Lincoln Hospital she saw ear acupuncture rapidly calm a room, and was introduced to acupucnture as people’s medicine and liberation work.
  • From New York to California: Building Training from Scratch
    Licensing barriers pushed her into early SF-area schools, night classes, mimeographed notes, and eclectic teachers.
  • AIDS, Community Clinics, and Making Care Accessible
    She founded Kwan Yin (1983) and the AIDS Alternative Healing Project (1985), training practitioners, integrating food/herbs/acupuncture, and later partnering with UCSF on research.

Trust yourself, listen to your patients, come from the heart.

Misha Cohen, DOM, L.Ac

I am a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist. I have practiced Asian medicine and Integrated Chinese Medicine for 50 years. I am the Clinic Director of Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine, Executive Director of the Misha Ruth Cohen Education Foundation, and past UCSF Research Specialist of Integrative Medicine. I am active in the Society for Integrative Oncology.

I have authored eight books, for professionals and consumers, plus published numerous professional and consumer articles.

As a teacher and mentor, my team and I train Chinese medicine practitioners, Western practitioners and students in cancer support, gynecology, liver disease and HIV. I attended and presented at international AIDS, hepatitis and cancer symposiums, along with Chinese medicine and lay conferences.

I have been a researcher with Western university and community-based research teams in Chinese herbal medicine, acupressure and acupuncture for ovarian and breast cancer, endometriosis, HIV/AIDS, and HPV-related cancer.

I created Integrated Chinese Medicine protocols for cancer support, fertility, liver disease, HIV, endometriosis, HPV-related diseases and menopausal syndromes used by Asian medicine practitioners. My formulas are popular among people with HIV, HCV, chronic viruses, cancer, fibromyalgia, and the common cold.

My great passion has been to bring Asian Medicine into the Western world.

Links and Resources

Visit Misha on her website.
Misha is also involved with the Society for Integrative Oncology.

Listen to the conversation with Rachel Pagonis and Beth Sommers on Acupuncture as Revolution.

Misha is the author or co-author of:
The New Chinese Medicine Handbook: An Innovative Guide to Integrating Eastern Wisdom with Western Practice for Modern Healing
The Chinese Way to Healing: Many Paths to Wholeness
The Chinese Medicine Companion: A Modern Guide to Ancient Healing
The HIV Wellness Sourcebook: An East/West Guide to Living with HIV/AIDS and Related Conditions
The Hepatitis C Help Book: A Groundbreaking Treatment Program Combining Western and Eastern Medicine for Maximum Wellness and Healing
TCM Case Studies: Gynecology

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