A Yorba Linda Native, Dr. DeStefano is thrilled to be back in his hometown providing acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine services to his family and friends in the “Land of Gracious Living” and the local environs.
His passion for the East Asian healing arts had its roots while a sophomore at Esperanza High School in the mid-1980’s, emerging from a lifetime of training in the martial arts of Japan and China. He “rediscovered” his love of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the mid-’90s, while attending weekend workshops at the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, CA. After a successful career in environmental management, he decided to return to school to formally study TCM in 2005. By that time, he had accrued almost two decades of training and experience in Asian bodywork, and the use of external herbal therapies, with a distinctive style incorporating techniques from both Eastern and Western massage therapy traditions.
Dr. DeStefano earned a Bachelor of Health Science, with honors, from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, specializing in Tui Na Manual Therapy, and was privileged to study under Sifu Bill Helm, TS. Thanks to arrangements made by Sifu Helm, he traveled to Shanghai in 2008, where he was fortunate enough to participate in an externship at the Tui Na Center of Yue-Yang Integrative Medicine Hospital, completing additional studies in Tui Na at Shanghai University of TCM.
In 2010, he was accepted into the four year Master’s program at Emperor’s College, the number 1 ranked acupuncture school in California, and one of the top schools in the country. There, he earned a Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine degree, with highest honors, and gained extensive experience in the treatment of behavioral health issues such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and addiction, while building on earlier orthopedics and pain management training. A strong interest in integrative healthcare, especially pain management, led to three integrative medicine residencies working with chronic pain, cancer patients, and the HIV+ community.
Subsequently, he completed a clinical doctorate in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine at Pacific College, with a focus on integrative medicine and the treatment of neurological disorders, especially movement disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP).
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. DeStefano currently serves as an Attending Acupuncturist/Clinical Supervisor for Emperor’s College Acupuncture Clinic in Santa Monica, where he provides treatment oversight to senior interns at the school’s busy community clinic, and treats patients in the Observation Theater. Observation Theater takes place in the clinical setting and is structured as a small group learning experience for second year students have an opportunity to observe and consult Dr. DeStefano while he treats patients. Lastly, Dr. DeStefano has privileges with UCLA Health, and supervises acupuncture interns at the UCLA Venice Family Clinic’s Simms/Mann Wellness Center in West LA.
In addition to training in East Asian medicine, he is a proud alumnus of Loyola Marymount University, where he earned his B.A. in Political Science and Theology, and a M.Sc. in Environmental Science, and is currently completing graduate work in Pastoral Theology at St. Joseph’s College of Maine, and coursework in Jewish-Christian Dialogue through Gratz College in Pennsylvania. He has been lovingly accused of being able to bend time, and in his “spare” time, he actively volunteers in his parish, is an avid family historian/genealogist, an artisanal bread baker, as well as a professional opera singer and voice-over artist. But of all the titles he holds, none makes me prouder than that of “Daddy” to his little girl, Gigi.
