WU PROJECT - Key Persons
Daniel J. Atchison-Nevel has been an innovator in the fields of holistic health and acupuncture since 1982.
That year, he and his wife Jane Atchison-Nevel co-founded one of the country's first comprehensive collaborative health centers, the South Florida Healing Arts Center in Miami Beach, Florida.
In 1987 Daniel & Jane organized what was to be called "one of the pioneering events in American acupuncture history", the International Acupuncture Symposium held in San Francisco, California. In 1989, Dan served as the founding academic dean for the Community School of Traditional Chinese Healthcare, an acupuncture college in North Miami, Florida. In 1999, Daniel and colleagues conducted research in conjunction with Florida International University on the effect of acupuncture's extraordinary vessels on depression.
Dan founded and co-chaired Acufest: A Festival of Healthy Living, an innovative, community wellness celebration held Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida. The inaugural event was attended by more than a thousand people and brought together every Florida acupuncture college, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and local and national educators .
Daniel currently serves as Clinical Director of the NSEV Healing & Acupuncture Clinic in his hometown of Miami Beach, Florida.
Doctor Maria Romero is a Diplomate in Oriental Medicine and an Acupuncture Physician licensed by the State of Florida. She is certified in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology by the NCCAOM (the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine).
Her private practice, located in South Miami Beach, bases its work on the belief that medicine needs both the integration of cutting-edge modern knowledge with the wisdom of ancient healing modalities; and in the belief that the way to achieve total health and wellbeing is to adjust both to meet the diversity and uniqueness of individuals. Maria graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine, the ISCAH, in Havana, Cuba.
She also took part of the TNT (Teacher In Training) program at the Department of Physiology and Pathology. Upon her arrival to the U.S. in 1991, she worked at the Knowles Animal Clinic, a veterinary hospital specializing in trauma and surgery for the Miami area. Her colleagues called her an “animal whisperer”.
In 2004 she obtained her Master of Oriental Medicine and Bachelor Degree of Health Sciences at the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The following year Dr. Romero was prized with the full scholarship to continue her post-graduate clinical training at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Tianjin TCM University, China.
After returning from China, Dr. Romero dedicated herself to the enhancement of neurological awareness, integrating universal principles of spirituality and holistic health as part as her practice, as well as her own personal self-development. Maria has always been drawn to explore both scientific and mystical traditions, always questioned the meaning of existence and the relationship between spiritual evolution, health and wellbeing. In the course of her exploration and teaching, Dr. Romero obtained several other certifications including the Senior NSEV Acupuncturist, Acutonics Practitioner, Laughter Yoga Leader, Master Reiki, Akashic Records Consultant and TD Facilitator.
Dr. Romero's earnest sense for universal responsibility prompted her healing others as a volunteer in Afghanistan in 2007-8, in India in 2011, and in Nepal, every year since 2010. Treating and training in the different communities led to realize the need for formalizing this project, so, in 2014, Maria Romero became the co-founder, along with Alicia Villamarin, of “The Wu Project”, a nonprofit organization dedicated to train health care workers in the barefoot chinese medical model in remote rural areas around the world. In the summer of the same year, they gathered an excellent team of volunteers, and traveled to a remote area in Upper Mustang, Nepal, in their first mission.
Doctor Maria Romero is a Diplomate in Oriental Medicine and an licensed Acupuncture Physician . She is certified in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology by the NCCAOM .....
Dr. Alicia Villamarin has a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at New York University, In 2002 graduated with a Master in Oriental Medicine and a Bachelor in Health Sciences...
Dr. Alicia Villamarin obtained her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at New York University Medical Center, the Sackler Institute in 1996. In 2002 she graduated with a Master in Oriental Medicine and a Bachelor in Health Sciences from ATOM -Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine- (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida). Dr Villamarin is a Nationally Board Certified Acupuncture Physician. Continuing her education, she obtained her certification as Acutonics Practitioner and later, as Acutonics Teacher, she became a Master Reiki, a Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, a Pranic Healer practitioner and a Certified Yoga Teacher. She is a Senior NSEV Acupuncturist and Sound Healer. Dr. Villamarin has practiced Acupuncture and related modalities in her private clinic, Full Moon Acupuncture & Healing Arts Center, since 2002.
In addition to her work in health care, she received her Teacher Certification in her home country of Spain in 1984.
Job Titles:
- Director
- CEO of the Acutonics Institute of Integrative Medicine
- Director / CEO of the Acutonics Institute of Integrative Medicine. Involved in the Development & Dissemination of Educational Programs in Vibrational Sound Therapy.
Dr. Ellen F. Franklin is CEO of the Acutonics Institute of Integrative Medicine. For more than 15 years she has been involved in the development and dissemination of educational programs in vibrational sound therapy rooted in Oriental Medicine and psychology. This work embraces both ancient wisdom traditions and modern scientific practices, and offers an in-depth certification program in the applied use of sound vibration to the body.
Dr. Franklin is a co-author of Acutonics from Galaxies to Cells, Planetary Science, Harmony and Medicine, a 2012 gold medal recipient in the Independent Publishing Awards. She is the author of numerous articles, a frequent and a frequent contributor to Oriental Medicine Journal. Dr. Franklin received a Certificate in Jungian Studies and her PhD in psychology from Saybrook University.
Her research focuses on the use of sound based strategies for self-care to reduce severe stress and compassion fatigue in health care providers. Prior to joining the Acutonics Institute Dr. Franklin spent twenty-years in senior leadership positions working with both Fortune 100 companies and start-up organizations. She has also served on numerous advisory boards and boards of directors including the Sound and Music Alliance, An Income of Her Own, Fifer Incorporated, and the Intiman Theatre.
Andrew Newman has worked in the financial services industry since 1986. He started his career at Merrill Lynch International, New York, where he advised clients from Mexico and Colombia.
Noted artist, author and healer, Ernesto Ortiz has devoted his life to exploring and communicating the language of the heart, primal movement and deep inner spaces.
Katherine has worked in the nonprofit field for 25+ years. She has been involved with every aspect of nonprofit management and fundraising ..
Susan graduated from Nova Law Center and upon graduation began working as an assistant public defender at the Broward Public Defenders Office..