Hello
My name is Jennifer Black (she/her) and I am a licensed acupuncturist and board certified clinical herbalist living and working in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, historically Tongva land. I consider myself a general practitioner. I am very comfortable treating things like pain conditions, digestive issues, nervous system dysregulation and insomnia, however I have done specialized training in herbal dermatology (eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, perioral dermatitis, acne, etc) and microneedling (also known as collagen induction therapy) for the treatment of thinning hair, acne scarring and/or to promote radiant skin.
If you'd like to find out more about me as both a person and as a practitioner, you can continue reading the section below.
Thanks for your interest!
My Story
I get asked all the time what led me to studying acupuncture and herbal medicine. And I don't have an easy answer to this question. My first love was painting. Oil painting, portraits and still life. In college I was trained in a unique way that taught me the importance of seeing your subject clearly. To not skew your artistic interpretation with your own ego, but instead to pay respect to your subject and the life within it by using the act of painting as an opportunity to study what it is about that person or object that makes it unique. I was also taught early on how to use meditation as a grounding tool to inform my process, both artistically and as a person in the world.
Sue, ©2002 Jennifer Black
While living in Brooklyn in my late twenties I was lucky enough to get an apartment with a garden, and I fell in love with plants. I still feel like a day spent gardening is among the best of my days, and I learn so much from my successes and failures there.
Traditional East Asian Medicine is rooted in many of the same principles that I hold dear: looking at your patient as a whole person not just a sum of their ills, and gaining insight through observing the subtleties of what makes them unique both in their sickness and their health. It also stresses the importance of self-cultivation for both patient and practitioner, and things like meditation, tai ji and qi gong are integral. And my connection to plants is satisfied through the study of Chinese herbology, a complex, powerful system of healing that has earned my utmost gratitude and respect.
I started my education in Traditional East Asian Medicine living in NYC at Pacific College in 2008. After 3 years of study, my husband and I moved to Los Angeles to be closer to family, where I then enrolled in my alma mater, Emperor's College in Santa Monica, CA. It was through Emperor's that I had the opportunity to practice as an acupuncture intern for 6 months at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Hospital in Burbank, and also for 3 months at the Being Alive HIV Clinic in West Hollywood. I was also awarded the Dean's Scholarship and graduated summa cum laude.
I began studying traditional Chinese medicine herbal dermatology with Mazin Al-Khafaji. In 2018 I was accepted into the International Registry of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dermatology and Inflammatory Disease. I have had dedicated study in the herbal treatment of acne, eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, rosacea, urticaria, herpes zoster, herpes simples, warts, impetigo, lichen planus, lichen simplex, vitiligo and alopecia. The possibilities are immense and I get better as a practitioner every day. While the herbal way does not mean the easy way, the results can mean long term stability. I also recently introduced Microneedling into my practice which builds on my understanding of skin health, and can help reduce the effects of age on the skin, as well as helping to re-grow hair from various forms of alopecia or male pattern baldness.
I live on a half acre of land here at my home in Los Angeles that I put a lot of love and energy into. I also volunteer weekly at THE HUNTINGTON Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens as part of the Chinese garden (Liu Fang Yuan 流芳園, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance)'s Chinese medicinal herb garden team. The bulk of the medicinal plant collection was procured from Peg Schafer, a farmer in Petaluma, CA who specialized in growing Chinese medicinal plants and who authored the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm: A Cultivator’s Guide to Small-Scale Organic Herb Production. A few plants in the Huntington's collection were additionally donated by Ingrid Schneider of the TCM Learning Garden in Venice who is our team's plant guru, having cultivated many years of knowledge on how to grow Chinese medicinals on US soil (which is rare). Together our team works diligently every week to transplant, trim, weed, seed save, feed, and generally care for the plants in whatever capacity they require. The garden is a unique opportunity to spend time with the medicinals so many of use in our clinical work in plant form, when much of our administration is in pill, capsule or powder, far removed from the spirit and vitality of the living plants.
photo credit Ingrid Schneider
My creative energy is poured into a project called HOLISM PRINTS, for which I design prints depicting the theory of Chinese medicine. I try and make designs that are informative enough to be used as clinical reference tools, but also attractive enough to be enjoyed purely as wall art. My clinic HIGHLAND HOLISTIC is filled with them.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a keeper of this medicine. I am reminded every day of this immense responsibility and privilege. It is the honor of my life and I bow deeply to the people and cultures of East Asia for so graciously sharing their wisdom.
I truly believe that the future of an intelligent health care system is in between Eastern and Western medicine. Both have their strengths and should be utilized as such, together. And while my training is in East Asian medicine, I feel it is my job to work in a way that can be compatible with Western medicine so that my patients never feel they must choose one modality over another.
Thanks for reading!
If you are a new patient and would like in inquire about scheduling an initial 90 minute appointment, please email Jennifer at jen@highlandholistic.com with a short blurb about what you'd like to be treated for so she can make sure she is the most appropriate practitioner for you.
If you are an established patient (meaning you have seen Jennifer before), then please feel free to use her online booking option to find a time that works for your schedule: