Speaker

Sara Ptasnik

Speaker Bio

Sara Ptasnik, MD is a Community Track Fellow and clinical instructor at UCLA Center for East-West Medicine (CEWM). She completed her medical studies at Keck School of Medicine of USC and went on to LAC+USC Medical Center for her internship and residency. She is now double board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Throughout training, Dr. Ptasnik developed a growing interest in how psychosocial and socioeconomic factors impact health and disease at all ages, as well as the importance of maintaining one’s own health and balance as a healthcare provider. She completed the Integrative Medicine in Pediatrics Curriculum through the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and also studied the benefits of guided imagery and group council on lifestyle changes in adolescents with obesity.

After residency, she delved into her passion for Ayurveda and is now a certified Ayurvedic Lifestyle Instructor through the Chopra Center. She has been working at Optum Care in urgent care and outpatient pediatrics with a focus on holistic health and lifestyle medicine. Outside of medicine, Sara enjoys yoga, painting, climbing, skiing, hiking, and spending time in nature. She looks forward to learning acupuncture and a deeper understanding of East-West approaches at UCLA CEWM with the goal of bringing these modalities to underserved communities.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a holistic model of healthcare that has been practiced for thousands of years and is based on the idea that the mind, body, spirit, and universe are all connected. TCM uses different techniques such as acupuncture, qigong, massage, herbs, and dietary and lifestyle recommendations to restore balance, promoting health and treating disease. This webinar with pediatrician and internist Dr. Sara Ptasnik will discuss how we can apply concepts from Traditional Chinese Medicine to support youth in distress, emotionally and physically. She will discuss basic principles of TCM and integration into our healthcare model to better understand and treat different imbalances and how they manifest such as pain, anxiety, digestion issues, headaches, menstrual cramps and more.

Time: 10-11am PT, 1-2pm ET