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 biology. Dr. Edmunds then studied 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. Following a three-year Pediatric Critical Care fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, she stayed on 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 joint 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 medicine and the indigenous team supplemented with education on traditional, locally accessible herbal remedies for the patients’ ailments.
Dr. Edmunds’ career brought her briefly to Baton Rouge, LA, where she worked at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, before her 2004 move to Winston Salem, NC. 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 was directly involved in curriculum development and delivery. She served for many years as the course director for one of the first-year students’ foundational classes and was a member of the medical school’s Committee on Admissions.
Dr. Edmunds stepped down from her position in 2020 following a health crisis. After experiencing significant benefit from healing techniques that treat the body on an energetic level, she undertook training in several energetically oriented disciplines, including the osteopathic technique of Craniosacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute. She also studied Reiki, which promotes healing though gentle touch, through the Master level.
Dr. Edmunds undertook the formal study of acupuncture through 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. She remains involved with the course, currently in training as a Teaching Assistant. She looks forward to joining their clinical faculty in this role.
In addition to completing a well-rounded program in the holistic practice of acupuncture, Dr. Edmunds has developed advanced skills in several styles of dry needling. Coupled with electrostimulation, these techniques can provide a powerful complement to conventional therapies for joint and muscle problems.
To better help her adult patients meet their health goals, Dr. Edmunds pursued the study of Lifestyle Medicine, a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Having recently obtained Board Certification in this area, she is now a Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She looks forward to sharing the health benefits available through basic lifestyle modifications with her patients and the community.
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 providing acupuncture to her own patients, Dr. Edmunds is active as a volunteer physician at the Community Care Center in Winston-Salem.
With her long academic medical career, Dr. Edmunds brings an extensive background in anatomy and physiology to her new practice. She believes that her personal experience with chronic pain and disability, as well as her advanced training in needle-based musculoskeletal treatments, position her to bring a unique blend of insight, compassion, and hope to her patients. She is enjoying serving the community in this new role.