Dayna Kowata, ND, LAc. – Dr. Kowata graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a BSc in
Biology. She spent time as a domestic violence counselor before learning about naturopathic medical school. In 2000, she graduated with a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Southwest College of
Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences. After graduation, she moved to San Diego, started a private practice and in 2003, completed a Master’s of Science Degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine at Pacific
College of Oriental Medicine. Dr. Kowata has been in private practice for over 10 years. She has completed internships in pediatrics, women’s medicine including natural childbirth, and volunteered at several clinics serving the homeless, HIV/AIDS patients, and recovering substance abusers. She is a certified Level I Bach Flower practitioner and a Master-level Reiki practitioner. Dr. Kowata has special interest in women’s health, pediatrics, chronic illnesses, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, thyroid imbalances, autoimmune disease, ADD/ADHD and autism, and mental/emotional imbalances.
Heather Rice, LAc – Heather Rice, Licensed Acupuncturist, Diplomat in Acupuncture. Heather rice is board certified in Acupuncture by both the State and National boards. Traditional Chinese Medicine allows Heather to create a healing environment where the mind, body and spirit are integrated. Her approach provides individualized treatments in balance with the laws of nature. She incorporates various healing therapies like Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Massage Therapy, Cupping and Aromatherapy to assist her patient in achieving optimal health. Heather encourages her patients to live healthy lifestyles to promote their own wellness.
Heather has special interest in pain Management, sport injuries, women’s health issues including obstetrics, allergies, stress reduction, weight management, and sleeping difficulties.
Melissa Ricker, MT - Melissa Ricker is a graduate of the Western Institute of Neuromuscular Therapy and a certified yoga instructor. She is passionate about the body's natural ability to heal. Her personal experience of connecting to the body's incredible resources within drives her to practice, teach and share her gift of healing through yoga and therapeutic massage.
David Kilgore, MD - Dr. Kilgore joined the University of California, Irvine in 2008 after spending 20 years in academic medicine and caring for the underserved. Dr. Kilgore has an extensive background as a
Medical Director and clinical leader. He completed his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, medical school at USC and residency at the Glendale Adventist Residency Program. He also completed a Faculty
Development Fellowship at the University of Washington and an Integrative Medicine fellowship with the
University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine. One of his main responsibilities since joining the Department of Family Medicine as clinical teaching faculty has been to develop the PRIME-LC (Program in Medical Education for Latino Communities) family medicine residency track and the Integrative Medicine residency track. Dr. Kilgore’s work in doing this has involved several areas of inquiry including identifying the optimal curricular methods for residency tracks emphasizing underserved care, identifying effective ways for primary care residency programs to partner and interact with local community organizations, and development of primary care office systems of care that are effective and culturally appropriate for Latino patients.
Shin Lin, Ph.D.
- Dr. Lin is a Professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology and
Department of Engineering, and a member of the faculty of the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative
Medicine at UC Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at UCLA, followed by postdoctoral training in Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. Following two dozen years as faculty and then
Chairman of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University, he was recruited to UCI in 1997 to serve as Dean of the School of Biological Sciences and subsequently Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Initiatives.
A senior “In-House” student of Grandmaster CHEN Zheng-Lei, the 19 th Generation Family Heir of Chen
Style Tai Chi, Dr. Lin is also intern ationally known for his teaching of “Science-Based Tai Chi and Qigong for MindBody Health”. In the past decade, Dr. Lin’s research interests are in the application of hi-tech approaches to study the physiological and bioenergetic changes associated with the mind-body practices

and Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies, focusing on the relationship between blood flow and bioenergy measured as heat, light, and electricity. In 2008, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of
Health and Human Services to a 4-year term on the National Advisory Council for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lin is currently Co-Director of the Integrative
Medicine Elective at the UCI School of Medicine, Visiting Professor at the Shanghai University of
Traditional Chinese Medicine, permanent Co-Chair of the World Congress on Qigong and Traditional
Chinese Medicine, and a member of the editorial boards of Chinese Medicine and Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
Shahla Rah, MD - Dr Rah graduated with honors form Dow Medical College Karachi, she completed a surgical post graduate training in England. She then moved to US and finished her Internal Medicine internship and residency training at Loyola Medical Center Chicago, followed by a fellowship training in
Gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. She is also a fellow American College of Gastroenterology. Member of various organizations including American Gastroenterological Association, American Medical Association, Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, International Foundation of Functional Bowel Disease, and American
Medical Association. She has a special interest in women's digestive health issues, from nutrition and weight loss to ulcers and colitis. A huge advocate of colon cancer screening, she started a campaign
"Pound the polyps and cure the cancer" by running marathons and raising funds for the American Cancer
Society. She believes in providing the quality care by keeping herself abreast with the latest technology.
Besides performing colonoscopy and endoscopic procedures she also performs capsule endoscopy, smart pill study, the newest technology to assess the functioning of bowel transit as well as PH of the gut, and non-surgical hemorrhoidal removal. Dr Rah is up to date and experienced, in private practice in Irvine and Newport Beach California.
Dayna Kowata, ND, LA. (see bio from Opening Session)
Afshan Hameed, MD – Dr. Hameed holds a unique background and training as an internist, cardiologist and maternal fetal medicine specialist. She is an Associate Clinical Professor of the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCI and directs the maternity services at UCI.
She also staffs the women’s cardiology clinic at UCI with particular emphasis on womens cardiovascular health, pregnancy related cardiac complications, and is currently working to establish a comprehensive women’s cardiovascular program at UCI. Dr. Hameed serves on the California Maternal Quality Care
Collaborative (CMQCC,) Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review Advisory Committee (PAMR) and recently reported cardiac disease being the leading cause of maternal mortality. Dr. Hameed received her MD from King Edward Medical College in Pakistan. Her residency was completed in Internal
Medicine and OB/GYN, fellowship in Cardiology at LAC-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles followed by fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at UCI
Beth Mulligan, PA-C – Beth Mulligan is a Board Certified Physician Assistant who received her
Bachelors degree from Tufts University and her medical education at Duke University. She has practiced medicine in a variety of settings for 28 years.
She also has an extensive background in, meditation, Yoga and Martial Arts. In 2003 she attended a training with Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn in his world renowned Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program,
(MBSR) and has also completed advanced training in this curriculum, and is one of the few fully certified teachers in the world. She currently teaches MBSR at UC Irvine, Susan Samueli Center for Integrative
Medicine, Loma Linda University Medical Center, and Eisenhower Medical Center and for corporations and non-profit organizations. She trains physicians, nurses and therapists in stress reduction, and lectures widely on the subject of Stress Physiology and Stress Reduction. The Mindfulness Curriculum she teaches had become the perfect vehicle to combine her knowledge and experience of Western medicine with the Mind-Body Practices that are of great interest to her personally and professionally.
Mahtab Jafari, PhD - Dr. Jafari is a professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California,
Irvine. The focus of her research is on the impact of botanicals on lifespan and health span. She is the

recipient of many teaching and mentoring awards including the 2008 UCI Teaching Award, the 2008 UCI
Chancellor’s Award for Fostering Undergraduate Research, and the 2011 UCI Pharmaceutical Sciences
Overall Outstanding Professor award. She received the UCI Susan Samueli Center for Integrative
Medicine Discovery Award in 2012 and was selected among “20 Women to Watch in Orange County” by
OC Metro Business Magazine.
Terry Hawkins – A recent newcomer to the U SA, Hawkins is Australia’s most booked female speaker and a best selling author. She is a pioneer in helping people to convert pain and past into fuel and focus for a powerful future. Hawkins is an educator in attitudinal and mind-set change, leadership development, temperament theories and relationship connectors.
She founded People in Progress Global in 1989. The company continues to be a leader in high impact, results based learning. Her goal is to empower both women and businesses to utilise their most undiscovered resource available to them – their true self.
John Longhurst, MD, PhD - Dr. Longhurst is a professor in the Department of Medicine, with joint appointments in the Departments of Physiology & Biophysics and Pharmacology at the University of
California, Irvine. He holds two endowed chairs. In 2003 he became the director of the Susan Samueli
Center for Integrative Medicine.
Dr. Longhurst was the first student to receive his MD and his PhD at the University of California at Davis in 1973 and 1974, respectively. He then completed his internship and residency at the Peter Bent
Brigham Hospital in Boston and subsequently his cardiology fellowship at the University of Texas,
Southwestern, Medical School in Dallas. He has been on the faculty at the University of California since
1982, including time spent at UC San Diego, UC Davis and most recently at UC Irvine. His research interest is in integrative physiology, particularly focusing on peripheral and autonomic regulation of the cardiovascular system.
His early career was in the areas of exercise physiology and mechanisms of activation of sensory nerve systems important in cardiovascular reflex regulation, for example during myocardial ischemia. For the last decade he has studied the central autonomic regulation by electroacupuncture. He has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1978 and currently has three R01 grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, two of which are focused on acupuncture regulation of cardiovascular function. His third grant is on mechanisms of activation of cardiac sensory nerves and central neural processing during myocardial ischemia. He holds an additional grant from the Adolph
Coors Foundation to study the role of electroacupuncture in treatment of patients with hypertension. He has published over 180 original communications and 50 review articles and chapters.
Heather Rice, LAc (see bio from morning session)