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Dr. Huisheng Xie (pronounced “Shay”) founded the Chi Institute in 1998, to train veterinarians in Chinese acupuncture, herbal medicine, food therapy, and Tui-na. He’s an experienced professional with extensive academic accomplishments. Before coming to America, Dr. Xie received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Veterinary Medicine (equivalent to DVM), from the Sichuan College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine in 1983. He then received a Master of Science in Veterinary Acupuncture from Beijing Agricultural University in 1988, where he also served as an associate professor until July 1994. He went on to receive advanced training in human acupuncture at the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the National Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In August 1994, he moved to America to pursue his doctoral studies, and in 1999, he received his PhD from the University of Florida for his investigation of the mechanisms of pain control in horses using acupuncture.

Dr. Xie has received achievement awards from several major institutions including the China Ministry of Agriculture, the National Science and Technology Committee, the Beijing Agricultural University, the Chinese Veterinary Medicine Association, Chinese Association of Traditional Veterinary Science, World Association of TCVM, and the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. He has lectured around the world, speaking in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and South Africa. These teaching activities at 14 different international veterinary organizations and 20 universities have helped veterinary students, clinicians, and faculty not only learn and practice TCVM but also to start research within the field. In addition, he’s been interviewed by CBS News, the Discovery Channel and PBS. In 2005, CBS News referred to him as “a leading authority in animal acupuncture.” Dr. Xie has authored more than 26 books and has had over 200 papers published in peer-reviewed veterinary medical journals. His textbooks, including Xie’s Veterinary Herbology, Xie’s Veterinary Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine: Fundamental Principles, have been used for TCVM training courses around the world.

Currently, Dr. Xie continues to teach and develop educational courses at the Chi Institute in Reddick, Florida. He also serves as a clinical professor at UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Not to mention, he’s an honorary professor and director of the International Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of South China Agricultural University and China Southwest University. Dr. Xie has trained over 10,000 veterinarians to practice TCVM worldwide.

A Message from Dr. Xie

Dear friends, colleagues, and visitors,

Since I was a young boy, my grandfather often told me: “Every man has his own path, and so long as you are diligent, you will find yours.” I firmly believe that teaching and fostering Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) through the Chi Institute is my path and my life’s destination. However, it is not a destination that I arrived at immediately on my own. Rather, it is a course that has emerged gradually and organically, one down which I have been urged by different people and events. I want to use this space to share with you some of these major landmarks in my path towards founding the Chi Institute.

The first time I stepped foot on US soil was in 1992, when I visited several Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) schools.  I was then a professor of TCVM at China Agricultural University, and I was baffled to find that these American institutions of Chinese Medicine classified themselves as either “Five Elements” or “Eight Principles” schools, when these two theories are simply different sides of the same coin.  Five Elements and Eight Principles Theory are inseparable from each other and are both fundamental to Chinese Medicine, and I wondered how one could assemble a comprehensive TCM curriculum by focusing on either one or the other.

Then, when I settled with my family in Florida in 1994, we became friends with local veterinarians, some of whom had trained in acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.  However, I was surprised to discover that despite their years of study, these veterinarians had yet to practice acupuncture on their patients.  They told me that their training courses had focused on theory at the exclusion of practice, and that they had barely touched acupuncture needles, much less place them in animals.  It pained me to see these bright practitioners lack the confidence to practice what they had taken so much initiative to learn, and I once again questioned the efficacy of Chinese Medicine education courses in the US.

Finally, from 1994 to 1997, I was given the privilege to give talks on TCVM at over a dozen veterinary organizations, invitations that took me around the world to not only the US, but also Ireland, Canada and Japan.   During these travels, I was heartened and inspired by the enthusiasm of the many veterinarians who were eager to learn more about this ancient healing system that was nevertheless new to the Western world.  After an acupuncture seminar in Kentucky, an equine practitioner approached me and said: “Dr. Xie, your hour-long presentation has cleared from my mind twenty years of doubt.”  A Canadian vet bemoaned that I was not given time to teach them more.  And a senior TCM faculty remarked after my talk: “this guy can really make this complicated old theory easy to grasp.”  These encouraging comments along with my previous observations about the lack of effective TCVM education in the West eventually led me to establish the Chi Institute in 1998.

Since the founding of the Chi Institute, TCVM has become a destination for thousands of veterinarians who have felt their lives enriched by its time-honored healing methods and principles.  Whether TCVM is your final destination or one of many stops along your life’s journey – I welcome you to open your heart and mind to this deep body of knowledge. 

May good Qi be with you always,

Huisheng Xie
Founder and President
Chi Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine