About the Columnist

Skya Abbate began her career as a medical sociologist serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil before teaching at the University of Rhode Island's department of sociology. She graduated summa cum laude from Salve Regina College in 1973 as class valedictorian, earning a bachelor's degree in sociology, then earned a master's degree in sociology at the University of Rhode Island in 1981.

In 1983, she graduated from the acupuncture program at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has since undertaken two advance clinical training programs with the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China. In addition to her duties as executive director of Southwest Acupuncture College, she is a licensed doctor of Oriental medicine in the state of New Mexico; a former president of the New Mexico Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine; and has served more than six years as an educational expert and commissioner for the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.