The path of becoming a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM) in the State of New Mexico was a long and challenging journey. Chinese Medicine is Dr. Moser's second career. He originally went to UNM for his business degrees and did business development for about 10 years.
When he decided to make a career change, he wanted to have the Pre-Med education completed before attending acupuncture school. So he did two years of Pre-Med at CNM and then was accepted to Southwest Acupuncture College (SWAC) in Santa Fe.
Acupuncture school is traditionally four years. To be fully licensed in NM, both the Acupuncture and Herbal degrees need to be completed, along with 900 clinical hours.
Fortunately, Dr. Moser and his classmates were given the opportunity to be a part of the final graduating class from SWAC in Aug. of 2023.
Once graduated, there are four national board exams that need to be passed: Chinese Medical Theory, Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, and Western Bio-Medicine. After these exams are passed, then the NM State board exam is administered. It is a practical exam where the applicant is put in front of a live patient with two judges observing. Numerous benchmarks need to be met in a set time period.
The whole journey took Dr. Moser about seven years to become fully licensed. To maintain his license, 15 hours of CEUs need to be completed each year.
This represents another year of meeting New Mexico's high standards of professionalism and all the passion that goes into the continued health and wellness of his patients.
-Dr. Andrew Moser, DOM, MBA
Sacred Patterns Acupuncture - DrMoser.org
