Thomas Avery Garran, MTOM, L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist with a master’s degree in Oriental medicine. He has practiced and taught herbal medicine since 1992. He has been chair of the Department of Herbal Medicine at the Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, and has served on the faculty of the John A. Burns School of Medicine in the Department of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He is currently on leave of absence from teaching while pursuing a degree in Chinese language and ethnobotany at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in Honolulu, where he maintains a private practice in Oriental medicine.