About Melinda
MelindaA practitioner shaped by deep study, mentorship, and a genuine love of this medicine.
When I found Classical Chinese Medicine, I found the answer to everything I had been searching for: a new way to engage with my own existence, and with the struggles we all share as human beings. That discovery set the course of my life. After years in clinical practice, I founded Malachite Medicine, a home where the living current of my lineages can flourish, and where I can devote myself fully to the task I hold most sacred: engendering the spark of life in every patient who walks through the door.
I founded Malachite Medicine with a larger intention as well: to help transform the way this medicine is practiced and shared. I believe those who need care should be able to receive it, and that devoted practitioners deserve to thrive in their work. Building a collaborative clinic - one grounded in continuing education, community, and practitioner autonomy - is my way of living into that belief. In truth, nothing other than my sweet little family gives me as much joy as supporting the practitioners of Malachite and having the honor of promoting their incredible work.
philosophy Every symptom is a message, pointing toward what the body was first trying to do to help itself. My work is not to silence symptoms but to understand them, to see through pathology into physiology and meet each patient exactly where they are. It is not my job to fix anything, but to allow the healing capacity that is already inherently there to come to the fore.
Life is rife with complexity. One of my greatest gifts is walking alongside other human beings as they live through it, holding the truth that we can experience something deeply painful while at the very same time, knowing real joy and deep contentment. That is my duty and my charge, and so often it is the road to healing itself. I am so grateful to walk it here with you at Malachite.
At the heart of my practice is a simple conviction: the body is always working on its own behalf.
Training and MentorshipWithin the Shen-Hammer lineage, one of the most clinically precise pulse diagnosis traditions in East Asian Medicine. That mentorship taught me to listen deeply to the pulse, to the body's patterning, to what a patient carries into the room beyond what words can hold. As Dr. Shen taught, the medicine is in the life. Every movement, every gesture, every symptom is significant, and each one deserves to be met with curiosity and care.
I was first introduced to the incredible teachings of Ann Cecil-Sterman in my final year of school through my teacher Ken Glowacki, and I fell deeply in love with the Complement Channels. So often in our medicine we are reading texts and canons from long ago; it had not dawned on me that I could study in person with the author of the text until Gwen LoVetere - my teacher in Shen-Hammer pulse diagnosis for years, and now a dear friend - invited me to study pulse diagnosis with Ann. I eagerly accepted, and now after her a decade on this journey, the joy that the continued study of the entire Complement is unmatched - all of the classes of acupuncture channels, and how they shape our experience of human existence.
Lineage, to me, is a living, reciprocal inquiry, a current that student and teacher enter together. I continue my own learning and supervision to this day, because I believe a practitioner who keeps studying brings something different into the room: humility, precision, and a living relationship with the medicine itself.
When I am not in clinic, I am with my husband, Mark, and our two children, Javier and Lucia.
My formation as a practitioner was shaped not only by rigorous academic training but by years of mentorship…
“I trust in the body's innate healing power. My work. . . all of it is to ally with that power and help people find their way to living their lives more fully.”
— MelindaCREDENTIALS
Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac (http://l.ac/).), State of Oregon
Doctor of Science in Oriental Medicine (DSOM)
Master of Science in Oriental Medicine (MSOM)
Board Certified — NCBAHM
Certified Instructor, Shen-Hammer Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis
2023 Graduate of The Mentorship Program by Ann Cecil-Sterman
IN-OFFICE + REMOTE
Melinda sees patients in-office at Malachite Medicine in Portland. Remote consultations are available for classical acupuncture and herbal medicine for patients throughout Oregon and the World.
New patients are warmly welcomed. Initial consultations are 75–90 minutes and include a full intake, pulse and tongue diagnosis, and a personalized care plan. In-office and remote options available.