Celia Hildebrand, DAOM, LAc, a contributing faculty member of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, is among the honorees of the Rosalind Franklin Society’s 2023 Awards in Science. This annual award acknowledges outstanding peer-reviewed research by women and underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

In collaboration with Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., the Rosalind Franklin Society developed the award to recognize outstanding papers across more than 100 of the publisher’s peer-reviewed journals.

The anthology of award winners, available both online and in print, features a biography of each honoree and an abstract of their chosen work, making it an impressive compilation of research in science, engineering, and medicine.

Hildebrand is recognized for her 2023 editorial, “Auricular Acupuncture in Combat Medic Trainings,” published in the Journal of Medical Acupuncture, Volume 35, Number 4.

In this article, Hildebrand, a second-generation Ukrainian-American, shares how a trip to seek out family connections led to a journey of medical service in the Eastern European country and a Fulbright grant award to develop an auricular acupuncture curriculum for the Uzhhorod National University College of Medicine.

Hildebrand further details a “Train the Trainer” approach to sustain and expand her efforts. She trains doctors, medics, and physical therapists over two days in the purpose, science, and techniques of healing trauma and pain using a five-needle auricular AcuDetox protocol and the six-needle Auricular Trauma Protocol, the same protocols Hildebrand demonstrates in Auricular Acupuncture sessions offered here at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. In Ukraine, Hildebrand also works in hospitals and rehab centers to train practitioners in the use of Battlefield Acupuncture with ASP needles, as well as body therapies including needles with electrical stimulation, guasha, tuina, and scalp acupuncture for soldiers recovering from complex combat injuries.

With five co-trainers now in place, two additional trainings have since occurred in 2024, with Dr. Hildebrand supporting Lviv co-trainers during online synchronous events. With over 140 providers trained since 2019 and a well-established co-training team, Dr. Hildebrand plans to return to Ukraine in September of this year to focus on advanced trauma-informed mind-body acupuncture.

Dr. Hildebrand continues to support co-trainers in Lviv through online sessions and plans to return to Ukraine to conduct additional advanced trauma-informed mind-body acupuncture training.

Dr. Hildebrand’s award-winning editorial can be found on liebertpub.com. To learn more about the Rosalind Franklin Society’s 2023 Awards in Science, please visit the Rosalind Franklin Society website.