Suzanne Edmunds, MD

Founder, Acupuncture Energetics, PLLC ~ Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Dr. Suzanne M. Edmunds was born and raised in Worcester, MA.  Her love of exploration and the outdoors fueled a progressive move west, first to Boulder, Colorado, where she attended the University of Colorado and graduated with a degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.  Dr. Edmunds then pursued her medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.  She remained in the area for a residency in Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.  She then completed a three-year fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at the Pediatric Critical Care at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, and remained on staff as a Clinical Instructor.

Dr. Edmunds then enjoyed several years of private practice in the Los Angeles area, during which she organized and participated in frequent medical missions to Central America. These included a clinic presented in partnership with the Mayan women of San Jose Poaquil, a small town in the western highlands of Guatemala.  To foster sustainable health care practices, the visiting team provided Western medical evaluation and treatments while the indigenous particiants educated patients on traditional, locally accessible herbal remedies for their ailments.

Dr. Edmunds’ career then brought her to Baton Rouge, LA, where she worked at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, before moving to Winston Salem, NC, in 2004.  Dr. Edmunds maintained a faculty position at Wake Forest Baptist Health as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, with clinical responsibilities in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, for the next 15 years.  In addition to her hospital responsibilities, Dr. Edmunds was prominently involved in education at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  As a member of the Core Teaching Faculty, she helped shape curriculum development and delivery.  She served for many years as the Course Director for one of the first-year students’ foundational classes. She was also a member of the medical school’s Committee on Admissions.

Dr. Edmunds stepped down from her position in 2020 following a health crisis.  She developed an interest in complementary healing techniques after experiencing their benefits herself.  She trained in several forms of healing touch, including Reiki and the osteopathic technique of Craniosacral Therapy, before undertaking the formal study of acupuncture.

Dr. Edmunds began her acupuncture training with the Acumed Integrated Structural Acupuncture course, a comprehensive program offered by the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and taught by the faculty of Harvard Medical School.  In addition to completing this well-rounded program in the holistic aspects of acupuncture, Dr. Edmunds has attended multiple specialty workshops, as both a student and a Teaching Assistant, in myofascial needling techniques developed by Dr. Joseph Audette.  She also remains involved with the Acumed course as a Teaching Assistant, helping other medical providers learn how to incorporate acupuncture treatments into their own clinical practices.

With a strong foundation in treatment principles grounded in classical acupuncture, Dr. Edmunds has gone on to complete the McMaster McMaster University Neurofunctional Acupuncture Program in Toronto, Canada.  This course teaches acupuncture from a purely Western Medical perspective, using concepts based in anatomy, physiology, and neurophysiology.  Acupuncture, treatments are targeted at modulating the environment and behavior of peripheral nerves, connectivity through the spinal cord, and central processing of signals to optimize adaptive potential in painful movement disorders.  Often coupled with electrostimulation, these techniques can provide a powerful complement to conventional therapies for joint and muscle problems due to injury or degenerative changes.

To better help her patients meet their health goals, Dr. Edmunds is a Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.  This medical specialty promotes lifestyle modification as a therapeutic  intervention to treat chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.  This training informs discussions with patients on health benefits available through simple lifestyle adaptations.

Throughout her transition to a holistic practice, Dr. Edmunds has maintained Board Certification in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.  She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.  While not at her clinic, Dr. Edmunds is active as a volunteer physician at the Community Care Center in Winston-Salem.

With a lengthy career in academic medicine, coupled with her recent, extensive study of acupuncture from both Eastern and Western medical perspectives, Dr. Edmunds brings a unique set of skills to her practice.  She believes that her own personal experience with chronic pain and functional disability, coupled with her advanced training in both traditional acupuncture and modern, needle-based musculoskeletal treatments, position her to bring a powerful blend of insight, compassion, and hope to her patients.  She is proud to serve the community in this new role.