421 Global Acupuncture Project • Richard Mandell

Sometimes a few needles and a willingness to help—that’s enough to start a quiet revolution.

In this conversation with Richard Mandell, we trace the roots of the Global Acupuncture Project, a training-based initiative that brings simple, effective acupuncture protocols to underserved communities around the world. What started as a gut feeling and an internet search has become a decades-long effort to empower local practitioners across Uganda, Mexico, and Guatemala.

Listen into this conversation as we explore the early days of the AIDS Care Project in Boston, how addiction treatment shaped a community-style model, the decision to train midwives and laypeople instead of doctors, and what it means to offer acupuncture as a “people’s medicine.”

Richard’s story is a reminder that healing doesn’t need to be complicated to be profound—and that with commitment, collaboration, and a bit of boldness, even a modest idea can ripple across the globe.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Richard’s entry into acupuncture through activism, injury, and career change.
• Founding a free AIDS acupuncture clinic in Boston.
• Early use of group acupuncture before the community model gained traction.
• Work in addiction treatment and involvement with NADA.
• Launching the Global Acupuncture Project in Uganda.
• Focus on training local healthcare workers over providing direct treatment.
• Development of a simple, protocol-based training manual.
• Reports of strong clinical outcomes from basic treatments.
• Emphasis on safety and clean needle technique in training.
• Pushback from professionals over training non-licensed practitioners.
• Challenges of funding and sustaining the project.
• Framing acupuncture as accessible, community-based medicine.

Acupuncture is the people’s medicine and, in its simplicity, can change people’s lives.

Richard Mandell

I received a diploma in Acupuncture from The New England School of Acupuncture in 1990 and am licensed by the Committee on Acupuncture/Board of Medicine in Massachusetts. I am also certified by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) and a Certified Registered NADA Trainer. I have been in private practice since 1990 and have provided acupuncture treatments at Wellspace (Cambridge, MA), Winchester Hospital, The North End Community Health Center, and Project New Life (Boston). For thirteen years, I was the Senior Acupuncturist and Program Coordinator or the Acupuncture Detoxification Program at Dimock Community Health Center. I served on the faculty of The New England School of Acupuncture for 17 years, during which time, in addition to teaching a course on the use of acupuncture in the treatment of substance abuse, I supervised students during their internships at various treatment sites. Currently, I am the owner of and provide acupuncture at Brookline Community Acupuncture.

I am a Co-Founder and was one of the first Board Members of the AIDS Care Project (ACP) in Boston. I am also the founder and executive director of the Global Acupuncture Project (formerly the PanAfrican Acupuncture Project), a program that trains practitioners in Uganda, Mexico, and Guatemala how to use simple acupuncture protocols to address the needs of those with limited to no access to conventional medical care.

Links and Resources

Visit the Global Acupuncture Project to learn more about what they are doing and how you can help as well.

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