• Meet Our Practitioners

    Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture | The Alternative Clinic

Experienced Practitioners

In China, old doctors are revered because it is only through a lifetime of practice that one gains wisdom and experience.

In the west, most practitioners of Chinese medicine begin private practice directly after graduation without the benefit of residency under a skilled clinician. This fundamentally affects the reputation and application of Chinese medicine and is a disservice to practitioner and patient.

Our clinic aims to prove there is a difference when an experienced hand applies acupuncture and Chinese medicine theory with common sense and clarity. As a teaching clinic, it is our mission to treat patients, and teach our colleagues to achieve our same tangible results.  We aim to prove to the public how effective and tangible acupuncture and herbal medicines can be.

Andrew and JulieAnn Nugent-Head spent a combined 36 years in China studying directly under the last old doctors of Beijing.  Through this rare mentor – disciple training, doctoral studies in the Chinese University system, and residency in the hospitals of Beijing and Hangzhou, JulieAnn and Andrew have seen more patients, treatments and Chinese herbal prescriptions than most western practitioners will see in their lifetime. This unparalleled experience does make a difference in how they treat, and the results they achieve. The Nugent-Heads chose to live right here in beautiful Western North Carolina for the quality of life it offers, and they offer world class medicine to the local population. With fluency in written and spoken Chinese, and a dedication to teach everyone at the Alternative Clinic a common sense and tangible approach to treatment, there is no better choice for your care than this dedicated team of professionals.

Andrew Nugent-Head Alternative Clinic

Andrew Nugent-Head, Chief Practitioner of Oriental Medicine, MSOM

In 1986, Andrew travelled to Taiwan to study Chinese for a year post high school. Soon after arriving, however, a car accident led him to discover the incredible healing powers of Chinese medicine. Andrew’s broken bones were healed so quickly that he was hiking with ease within weeks, which changed his path to stay in Asia to understand the incredible medicine he had just experienced.

In 1989, Andrew moved to Beijing, seeking traditional practitioners to learn from. However, he found that communism had nearly extinguished traditional culture, classic books had been revised with within the western medicine framework, and it was nearly impossible to find traditional practitioners that were willing to teach their knowledge for fear of reprisal.  Andrew thus founded a not for profit organization to seek out and encourage traditional practitioners to document their wisdom for preservation.

Over three decades working with and documenting the last old doctors, Andrew’s work has resulted in one of the largest online libraries of Chinese medicine material available in English. Being the documentarian and ‘closing door disciple’ of Dr Li Hongxiang, Andrew developed an incredible clarity and medical skill he is dedicated to sharing with the field. Today, Andrew and wife JulieAnn teach around the world and run a teaching clinic in Asheville, NC.  Andrew is a renowned Chinese medicine practitioner, teacher and martial artist.

Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture | The Alternative Clinic

Chief Practitioner JulieAnn Nugent-Head, MD (China)

JulieAnn’s journey into alternative medicine began in 1996 when she witnessed pediatric pneumonia resolved with an herbal formula based on ginger and cinnamon. This experience revealed the medicinal power of culinary ingredients, and sparked a passion to understand how illness develops, and how one can influence and change its course.

After earning a master’s degree in Chinese medicine in the United States, JulieAnn completed internships at KuanJie Hospital in Beijing in 2003 and 2004. Realizing the medicine that was practiced in China was worlds away from what she had learned in TCM school in the west, JulieAnn decided to move to China full time in 2006.

During her eight and a half years in China, JulieAnn worked for the Association for Traditional Studies project to document and preserve the knowledge of the last generation of practitioners who were born and in practice prior to the changes of socialism and communism in 1949.  Documenting famous octogenarian doctors Li Hong Xiang and Chen Tongyun,  JulieAnn and husband Andrew filmed the doctors’ clinical practices and thought-provoking discussions—creating archives of case studies, lectures on the classic books, and informal discussions in their homes.

In 2010, JulieAnn received a scholarship to attend the Chinese language medical doctorate program at the Zhejiang University of Chinese Medicine. During this time, JulieAnn and husband Andrew  lived in the tea hills of Hangzhou with their three children, becoming a local attraction as the ‘pet foreigners’ and ‘village doctors’ of the Dragon Well Tea Village.

After the passing of their teachers, JulieAnn and Andrew returned to the United States  to share traditionally practiced Chinese medicine with Western practitioners in the hopes of raising the bar of medicine in the west. The Nugent-Heads offer short term training and clinical residency programs at the Alternative Clinic in Asheville, North Carolina, as well as continuing education courses online through traditionalstudies.org.

Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture | The Alternative Clinic

David Trevino, Chief Practitioner of Oriental Medicine, LAc

David is a native Spanish speaker, born and raised in Mexico City. With 16 years of clinical practice and 9 years teaching students, David’s extensive experience also includes working with Houston’s Brain Injury Rehab Center, Harvard’s Mind Body Medical Institute’s Cardiac Rehab program, and Anderson’s Cancer Center’s Integrative Medicine program.

Despite being in practice for many years, David found his clinical results dramatically improved after taking a series of courses from Andrew Nugent-Head.  David is delighted to be working at the Alternative Clinic providing authentic and tangible Chinese medicine alongside Andrew and JulieAnn.

Tonia Scharpantgen, Resident

Tonia was a long-time taekwondo competition athlete before coming to medicine. With her experience as an athlete, Tonia was soon in charge of the Austrian National Women’s Field Hockey and Taekwondo teams and has traveled the world with them, most recently the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Always trying to learn more ways to support her athletes, Tonia began training with Andrew and JulieAnn Nugent-Head in 2018. Working through their training programs in acupuncture for external injuries, acupuncture for internal medicine, Chinese masso-therapies and herbs, Tonia has been one of the bright stars of their teaching efforts in Europe. Tonia was selected to be a resident at the Alternative Clinic for a year of in depth clinical training.

When not traveling with her athletes to international competitions or training at our clinic in the USA, Tonia maintains a practice in Vienna specialized in treating athletes.

Loren Stiteler, Resident

Professor of Chinese Medicine at Yo San University in Los Angeles, Loren Stiteler is a second generation acupuncturist and herbalist. Having lived in China and fluent in Mandarin, and Spanish Loren teaches medicine and cultural studies as part of his mission to bring authentic Chinese medicine to the West.

Loren’s passion for Chinese medicine led him to study with Andrew and JulieAnn Nugent-Head in 2017. Taking a sabbatical from his practice and lecturing, he is excited to be part of the clinic team as a resident-in-training.  Loren will bring the skills learned through in-depth clinical training back to LA to share with students and colleagues, and help our organization raise the bar of medicine in the field.

Please call us at 828-424-7415 if you have questions