Program Director

Jeff Millison, M.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)


Jeff Millison is the director of the Master of Acupuncture program at Tai Sophia. A graduate of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in 1991, he also earned his B.A. in English from the University of Maryland in 1985, and in 1988 completed course work for the master’s degree in holistic psychology from Boulder College. In 1996 he completed a two-year program in Chinese herbal medicine. A faculty member of Tai Sophia since 1992, he currently serves as a clinical supervisor and teaches multiple courses. Jeff served on the board of the Maryland Acupuncture Society from 1992 to 1996.


Division Chairs

Jane Grissmer, M. Ac. (UK), Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

  Jane Grissmer serves the Acupuncture program as chair of the Theory Division. A graduate of the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in England in 1980, Jane has a long history of practicing, teaching and studying acupuncture as a healing art. She also holds a certification in Chinese herbal medicine and brings a wealth of experience in the development of the healing traditions in America. Jane has served as dean of faculty at Tai Sophia; has authored articles on the emotions and the seasons; and continues in her private practice as founding director of an Integrative Wellness Center.
 

Tatyana Maltseva, M.D. (Ukraine), M.Ac.

A graduate of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, Tatyana Maltseva has been a teacher in the Institute’s Acupuncture program since 1998. She received her M.D. in neurology from the Kiev Medical Institute in the Ukraine, and has practiced acupuncture for over 15 years, including several years in Russia, where, as a physician specializing in neurology, she incorporated acupuncture into her work. She currently holds a private practice at the Greenspring Valley Healing Arts Center in Owings Mills. Tatyana is chair of the Touching Energy and Structure division.
 

Marla Rosenthal Peoples, L.Ac., M.Ac.

A graduate of Tai Sophia Institute, Marla currently serves as division chair for the Clinical Practices Division in the M.Ac program. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Utah, Marla continued her graduate education at Loyola College in Counseling Psychology. As healthcare policies shifted, she utilitized
her background in psychology and moved towards a role in human resources. Her eight-year journey in the corporate world included extensive executive recruiting and training and development. Marla brings her organizational experience and passion for building a successful acupuncture practice to students’ clinical phase of study at Tai Sophia. She maintains a private practice in Ellicott City.

 

 

 Core Faculty

David M. Blaiwas, M.A., M.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

Division chair for the Theory Division of the Master of Acupuncture program at Tai Sophia Institute from 2002 to 2007, David has been a primary instructor for Institute students over the past ten years. A graduate of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, he also holds a certificate in Chinese herbology and received an M.A. in English literature from the University of Leeds. For seven years David served as president of the Maryland Acupuncture Society. He maintains
private clinical practices in Takoma Park and Columbia, Maryland.
 

Wendy Childs, M.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)

Wendy received her M.Ac. degree from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in 1998. She continued her education with The Academy of Five Element Acupuncture in Hallandale, Florida, for her Chinese herb certificate. In addition to practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbs in Baltimore, she has served as a faculty member at Tai Sophia for the past five years. Currently one of our core faculty members, Wendy teaches Chinese Medical History and Literature, and Partnership with Nature in the Acupuncture program. Wendy Childs also is a clinic supervisor.
 

Dianne M. Connelly, Ph.D., M.Ac. (UK), Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

A practitioner of traditional acupuncture since 1973 and cofounder and chancellor of the Institute, Dianne Connelly received her master’s qualification from the College of Traditional Acupuncture (UK) in 1979. She obtained a Ph.D. in cross-cultural medicine from Union Graduate School in 1975, an M.A. from New York University School of Education in 1970, and her B.A. from Le Moyne College in 1967. Chancellor of the Institute and an international lecturer (she lectures regularly in Italy and Germany), she is the author of Traditional Acupuncture: The Law of the Five Elements, All Sickness is Homesickness, Medicine Words: Language of Love for the Treatment Room of Life,  and with Katharine Hancock Porter, Alive and Awake: Wisdom for Kids. She is the mother of Blaize, Jade, and Caeli, as well as grandmother to Tamar, Lennox, Rianna, Maxim, and Roman.
 

Robert M. Duggan, M.A., M.Ac. (UK), Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

Robert (Bob) Duggan, president and co-founder of Tai Sophia Institute, has practiced traditional acupuncture since 1972. He holds a master’s degree in human relations and community studies from New York University, as well as a master’s in moral theology from St. Joseph’s Seminary, and received his master’s certification in acupuncture from the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (UK). A national leader in the development of the acupuncture profession and the emerging healing arts community, he has served as a commissioner of the Accreditation Commission for
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, on the board of trustees of the Horizon Foundation (a community wellness foundation in Howard County, Maryland, which, in 2008, honored him with its annual Leadership Award), and a panelist at meetings sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Bob lectures throughout the United States and abroad, and is author of Common Sense for the Healing Arts.
 

Hope Finn Gilbert, M.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)

  Hope Finn Gilbert is a licensed, nationally certified acupuncturist, certified herbalist, and for 15 years, managing partner of Acupuncture Associates of Columbia. She received her M.Ac. degree from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute. A teacher in the Institute’s Acupuncture program since 1989, currently a core faculty member and formerly chair of the program’s Touching Energy and Structure Division, she was instrumental in developing the Point Location department and authored or co-authored many of its teaching and administrative materials, including the students’ manual and Supporting Mountain: Guide for the Point Location Student. She brings 20 years’ experience in Eastern Indian meditative practices and a commitment to create a supportive environment that accepts and challenges the learner.
 

Tyme Gigliotti, M.Ac.

A graduate of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute’s class of 1994, Tyme Gigliotti is a core faculty member and a clinic supervisor in the Acupuncture program. Formerly chair of the program’s Clinical Foundations Division, he serves as chair of the Maryland State Board of Acupuncture. A former board member of the Maryland Acupuncture Society, and an acupuncture detoxification specialist, he also enjoys his role as a teacher at the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism. Tyme’s purpose, as an acupuncturist and Sufi master teacher, is empowering students to unveil the gifts and mastery that lie within.
 

Kaiya Larson, M.Ac.

A graduate of Tai Sophia Institute’s class of 1997, Kaiya Larson has served the students as a faculty member for over five years. Prior to studying acupuncture, she graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked with underprivileged children and nonprofit institutions, teaching them to make videos to air on cable access channels. A core faculty member, Kaiya brings a deep commitment and passion for teaching to the students as a core group supervisor and teacher for several courses, including Sensory Skills, Spirit of the Points, and Diagnostic Interaction. Kaiya also practices acupuncture at Tai Sophia’s clinic in Laurel, Maryland.

 

Heidi Most, M.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

Heidi Most enjoyed a rewarding 20-year career in urban planning before realizing her life-long desire to work with body, mind, and spirit in the healing arts. She received her master’s degree from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, class of 1999, and now is a core faculty member in Tai Sophia’s Acupuncture program, currently teaching Point Location courses. Heidi holds a Diplomate in Acupuncture from the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), and teaches the preparatory course for the NCCAOM national examination.
 

David Paton, M.Ac.

  Formally the chair of the Theory Division of the Acupuncture program, David has been practicing acupuncture for over 15 years and has been a faculty member at Tai Sophia since 1994. He served as CHI site supervisor at Bon Secours New Hope Center from 1994-96, and as a primary supervisor in the faculty-student clinic from 1995 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2006, when he assumed the role of full-time dean of students. In addition to David’s clinical practice, he has worked locally and nationally on regulatory and licensing issues in the acupuncture profession. In 2001 he was appointed by then-Governor Glendening to the Maryland Acupuncture Board, and was elected chairman of the Board in 2004, serving in that capacity until January 2008. In 2002, he became the Maryland Acupuncture Board representative to FAOMRA (Federation of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Regulatory Agencies) and became president of the organization in spring 2004. He also served as the FAOMRA representative on the ACAOM doctoral task force from 2004-
2005. David teaches several courses at Tai Sophia and maintains a private acupuncture practice.
 

Sharon M. Smith, M.Ac., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM)

Sharon (Sherry) Smith holds a Master of Acupuncture degree and a certificate of Chinese herbology from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute (Tai Sophia Institute) in Columbia, Maryland, and is recognized as a Diplomate of Acupuncture by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She served as the director of the Faculty Supervised Student Clinic at Tai Sophia Institute. Presently, she teaches theory and is a clinical supervisor. Sherry has pursued further studies extensively with prominent practitioners. She trained with J. R. Worsley in Royal Leamington Spa, England, and completed the Clinical Integration course with John and Angela Hicks. She has attended workshops and seminars covering a wide variety of topics, such as Gynecological Acupuncture, Pulse Diagnosis, the Extraordinary Meridians, and Total Body Assessment. Sherry is a member of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) and the Maryland Acupuncture Society (MAS); and she has served as the treasurer of MAS. She has a private practice in Columbia, Maryland.
 

Deanna Slate Stennett, Adv. L.Ac (U.K. and FL)

Deanna received her Licentiate in Acupuncture from the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture and her Advanced Licentiate in Acupuncture from the College of Traditional Acupuncture in the United Kingdom. In clinical practice since 1992, she has served as chair of the Clinical Foundations Division of the Acupuncture program and holds a private practice in Crofton, Maryland. From 1993 to 1995, she taught at the Worsley Institute in Florida and has been teaching at Tai Sophia since 1999. Deanna views teaching and treating as different facets of the same inspiring work.
 

 


Contact the Admissions Office at ext. 6647 or email to admissions@tai.edu for additional information.


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