Visit the Acupuncture Clinic

Welcome to the UNC Family Medicine Center

Acupuncture Clinic

Chapel Hill, NC

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Insurance    Meet the Providers   Conditions Typically Treated

Quick Facts About Acupuncture    What to Expect During Your Visit  Learn More

Clinic Hours/Location

• Monday-Friday 8am-12pm; 1pm-5pm
• The Acupuncture Clinic is now accepting same day patients.  Call to schedule an appointment at 919-966-0210.
• We are located at 590 Manning Drive in Chapel Hill at the UNC Family Medicine Center.

Fees

• Initial Visit: $100
• Follow-up Visit: $75/visit

Package Pricing

• With a Repeat Customer card, your 6th acupuncture visit is free!  Please speak to a receptionist for details.

Insurance

• Patients are required to pay the full cost of the acupuncture treatment at check-in and may seek reimbursement from their insurer independently. 
• For general billing questions or concerns at UNC Family Medicine Center, please contact our Financial Counselors:

• Rodney Mangum 919-966-2943
• Note: The following health plans do not cover acupuncture services:
  • Medicare, Medicaid, State Health Plan 

Meet The Providers

  Wunian Chen, LAc              Gary Asher, MD, MPH

Our providers are credentialed to practice acupuncture at UNC Hospitals and in the state of North Carolina.  In addition, they are Clinical Instructors in the Department of Family Medicine in Chapel Hill.

Wunian Chen trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Medicine at Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China. He practiced Internal Medicine as a kidney specialist and acupuncturist at the Wuhan First Hospital in Hubei from 1983-1990. Wunian was a visiting scholar and then a research specialist at UNC during the 1990s. Wunian later obtained his Acupuncture Diploma in the U.S. through the NCCAOM. In 2002, he helped establish the UNC Family Medicine Center Acupuncture Clinic and has been practicing there ever since.  Likewise, Wunian has been involved in a variety of research projects throughout his career, including the use of acupuncture for kidney disease, chronic headaches, hot flashes, and labor stimulation.

Gary Asher grew up in suburban New Jersey and graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a BA in Literature and included additional studies at Columbia and Oxford Universities. Dr. Asher has studied, practiced, and taught in a variety of alternative medicine disciplines including: Ayurveda, Botanical Medicine, Massage Therapy, T’ai Chi Ch’uan, and Vipassana meditation. He is currently working on a clinical trial of ear acupuncture for pain relief in elders after hip fracture, and he is designing a study of clinical predictors for response to acupuncture for treatment of pain.

Conditions Typically Treated:

Quick Facts About Acupuncture:

The term "acupuncture" describes a family of procedures involving the stimulation of points on the body using a variety of techniques.  The acupuncture technique that has been most often studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by hand or by electrical stimulation.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that acupuncture needles are sterile, nontoxic, and labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only. Though it is very rare, acupuncture-when not delivered properly- can cause serious adverse effects.

What To Expect During Your Visit:

• During the first session, an initial evaluation will be conducted and treatment options will be discussed. 
• We will ask you about your health condition, lifestyle, and behavior in order to obtain a complete picture of your treatment needs and behaviors that may contribute to your medical condition.
• Please let us know about all medications you are taking and medical conditions you may have.
• The number of sessions that are needed vary from person to person.
• Some people feel energized after treatment, while others feel relaxed.

Learn More:

UNC Family Medicine's newly renovated Acupuncture Clinic article.

UNC Program on Integrative Medicine website.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website.

National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine website.

Acupuncture Professor website.

American Academy of Medical Acupuncture website.

Disclaimer: Through these links, users may gain access to other sites which are not a part of the UNC Department of Family Medicine web pages. The UNC Family Medicine Center assumes no responsibility for any material outside of the Department's pages which may be accessed through such a link.  Medical information obtained from the Web should not substitute for the advice of your family physician.  The enormity of the Web insures that many excellent pages were invariably left out.  The choices represent those of the authors and may not represent those of every member of the Department.