30/08/2026
A first for the UK: oncology acupuncture training taught by the people who do this work every day.
NCIO’s new CPD programme, Acupuncture in Breast Cancer Support, opens for Cohort 1 this September. It is built for UK-registered TCM acupuncturists who want to work safely and confidently with people affected by breast cancer, whether they are stepping into this work for the first time or already seeing these patients and wanting a firmer clinical foundation.
People affected by breast cancer are living longer, and living longer with what treatment leaves behind: joint pain from aromatase inhibitors, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, hot flushes, fatigue, post-surgical pain, disrupted sleep. Acupuncture has a real evidence base in several of these areas. What the UK is missing is a trained workforce that works effectively within the extended multidisciplinary team.
Course faculty
Dr Angela Lorbeck (DACM, MSTOM, MPH, LAc, FMCHC), Lead Faculty. Oncology Acupuncturist at RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Rush Medical College, Rush University. She built the first hospital-based oncology acupuncture programme in Rush’s history, now spanning more than 20,000 treatments, and created its clinical training programme, now in its fifteenth cohort.
Mr Damian Allegretti, UK Faculty and Clinical Lead, Acupuncture Clinical Supervisor at the Northern College of Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine Practitioner at Synthesis Clinic.
Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel and Dr Lauren Watts, integrative oncology physicians, delivering the Western medical foundation.
What is included
Three pre-recorded postgraduate modules, three live Q&A sessions with the faculty, and three days of small-group supervised clinical practice at Synthesis Clinic near Reading on 15 to 17 September. Assessed by a case-based written assignment with written feedback, with certificates issued at the end of January 2027.
Head to the website to learn more. Bursaries and questions: [email protected]
TCM