Global Views Dr. Miriam Lee: a heroine for the start of acupuncture as a profession in the State of California

The first legal acupuncture center established in the United States (US) of America was on the east coast in Washington, D.C. in 1972. However, the most important state in the acupuncture profession is on the west coast — in the state of California, which has the longest history of acupuncture practice and the largest number of licensed acupuncturists in the US. While I was planning to document the history of acupuncture in the US, Dr. William Prensky, one of the pioneers in the US acupuncture profession, recommended that I should take a look at the career of Dr. Miriam Lee (Figure 1). Indeed, Dr. Lee was a very famous and influential acupuncturist, to such an extent that people call her “the George Washington of American acupuncture”. Dr. Lee was “the first acupuncturist in California”, and because of her inspirational legend, many young people in the US have become acupuncturists.