The Gaeta Clinic for Chinese and Functional Medicine
Dr Michael Gaeta, Director
Andrea Smith, Clinic Manager
www.gaetaclinic.com
[email protected]
Phone 303-442-2525
Fax 970-237-3062
Mailing address: 3980 Broadway St, Suite 103-129, Boulder, CO 80304
Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education: www.michaelgaeta.com
Practice Hours:
- Tuesdays, 930am – 6pm Mountain Time
- In-Person visits in the Boulder office: 930am, 1030am, 4pm, 5pm
- Virtual visits by video or phone: 12pm, 1230pm, 130pm, 2pm, 230pm, 330pm
- All times are in Mountain Time
Nature First, Drugs Last in Patient Care
Healing can have a powerful positive impact on your life and those around you. It’s bigger than just ‘feeling better.’ It’s becoming more ‘you’ – a you that is empowered to be present in the world more resilient, vital, whole – making your positive contribution in the world.
Perhaps you suffer from chronic illness or pain. Maybe you’re somewhat managing your symptoms with drugs and would like to go beyond that to resolving the root cause or source of your condition. You want to feel like yourself again! Or you may wish to focus on wellness care, prevention, and healthy aging.
Dr Michael Gaeta began seeing patients in 1990 to provide effective, natural therapies in a positive atmosphere conducive to healing. We use complementary health-increasing approaches to increase life quality, wellness and vitality, address a wide range of health problems, and prevent illness. We address the causes, as well as symptoms, of illness and health.
Our Purpose
The reason I do this work is to co-create with you a culture of “nature first, drugs last” – vital, resilient people who make their unique positive contribution in the world, who are able to minimize their interactions with the medical system. My goal is not just to treat you. It is also to treat THROUGH you, because as you become healthier and stronger, with more radiance and vitality, you become a greater blessing or positive presence to those around you. I never see most of the effects of the work I do with patients, because it’s in the lives of those they touch, most of whom I will never meet (though I encourage referrals!)
Since 1990, The Gaeta Clinic has been providing natural family healthcare and works to increase people’s vitality, well-being and resilience with natural therapies and natural medicine.
Practice Philosophy: Nature First, Drugs Last
Pharmaceutical drugs are not bad, and in some cases are life-saving. The problem is that they are massively overused, especially in the United States, the only country in the world with almost unrestricted direct-to-consumer drug advertising. In the US, we have 4.2% of the world’s population, yet we consume more than 50% of all the world’s pharmaceuticals, with the worst health outcomes of any advanced nation (around 37th), and at the highest cost (over $4T per year). With the right guidance, there is a natural solution to anything a person might consider taking a pharmaceutical drug for, at least 95% of the time. Pharma drugs are essential to have available as a last resort, in those rare instances where a natural approach is insufficient.
The Three Phases of Care
Healing typically happens in a three-step creative process of both clearing / releasing and building /
strengthening:
- Acute: address immediate, often urgent concerns (typically 2-8 weeks)
- Corrective: address underlying causes of health and illness, and walk together through Dr
- Gaeta’s Master Sequence: 12 cycles of restorative support for major body systems to create
About Michael
DAc, MS, CDN, Dipl Ac & ABT (NCCAOM), CNFMP, LAc, LMT, CAT, BCNFM
Dr Michael Gaeta’s purpose is to co-create a world of vital, resilient people who choose a lifestyle of “nature first, drugs last.” To accomplish this, he treats patients with Chinese and functional medicine, and helps natural health professionals upgrade their patient care and practice success. His teaching is informed by 35 years of successful clinical practice, helping many thousands of patients.
Michael holds licenses in acupuncture, dietetics-nutrition, and massage therapy. He is also an herbalist, and a doctor of acupuncture in Rhode Island. He earned his Master of Science degree in acupuncture from the New York College of Health Professions, where he was a faculty member for ten years. He holds additional degrees in massage therapy, Asian bodywork therapy, and health sciences.
Over his 32 years of teaching, Dr Gaeta has trained over 20,000 practitioners. Over 24 years, he was a faculty member at the New York College of Health Professions, Tri-State College of Acupuncture, New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, New York Chiropractic College, Eastern School of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine, and Southwest Acupuncture College. He has taught hundreds of professional continuing education seminars, and spoken at dozens of natural healthcare colleges and conferences internationally. Michael taught healthcare ethics nationally over 26 years, and was part of the team that drafted the US model code of ethics for the acupuncture profession.
Michael co-founded Acupuncture for Veterans, which provided free treatments in New York City. He is past president of the Acupuncture Society of New York, earning awards for State Association and State Association President of the Year. Dr Gaeta appeared on the CBS Early Show and NBC News, and over five years his wellness radio show attracted over 100,000 subscribers. Michael is also a pianist and composer. This was his first career over the course of ten years in New York, along with being a church organist, choir director and piano teacher.
Through the accredited Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education, Dr Gaeta gives live and online trainings in wholistic health, and natural functional medicine for practitioners. These include the Clinician’s Mastermind Circle, a one-year certification program in natural functional medicine, the Autoimmune Mastery Program; Cancer Support & Prevention; the Cardiovascular Mastery Program, and the Herbal Schools. Since 2020, he has hosted the Mondays with Michael live weekly podcast on natural health and health freedom. Dr Gaeta is also active nationally in promoting health choice and informed consent. Courses, patient health consultations and treatment, writings and other resources at michaelgaeta.com.
Michael is the father of two children, and enjoys playing the piano, practicing martial arts, hosting house parties, and working on his first book, on the herb Chinese Wormwood.
Clinic History
Michael began his healthcare career as a massage therapist and nutrition practitioner in 1990, midway through his 10-year career as a professional musician, when he opened the Hands-On Health Wholistic Healthcare Center in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City, down the hall from his brother’s health club. He grew the practice from a 352 square-foot space consisting of one treatment room and a hallway with a few chairs in it, to a 1,500 square-foot space with four treatment rooms, natural pharmacy, classroom, six practitioners, support staff, and two additional locations in Manhattan and Huntington, Long Island. In 2001, he began his 25 years of teaching hundreds of weekend seminars, study groups and webinars for Standard Process. After a 2008 health scare, he sold the practice and moved his family to northern Colorado in 2009. He then simplified to a part-time solo practice, Gaeta Acupuncture and Nutrition, to focus on teaching and writing through what is now a thriving school, the Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education. Today he works with patients worldwide through his latest practice iteration, a teaching clinic known as the Gaeta Clinic for Chinese and Functional Medicine, in his Boulder, CO office and through video and phone consultations. Through his clinic and school, Dr Gaeta seeks to spread the philosophy and co-create a culture of “nature first, drugs last.”
Degrees, Licenses & Certifications
Degrees
The New York College of Health Professions, Syosset, New York
- Master of Science (MS), Acupuncture
- Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS), Health Sciences
- Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS), Amma Therapy (Asian Bodywork Therapy)
- Associate of Occupational Studies (AOS), Massage Therapy
- Diploma in Acupuncture
- Diploma & Certification in Advanced Amma Therapy (CAT)
- Diploma in Massage Therapy
Additional Education
Certificate of Completion, Clinical Integration, a two-year postgraduate course in advanced Chinese medicine, with Lonny Jarrett, MS, LAc
Hofstra University, Uniondale, New York. Music major (Piano Performance, Jazz & Commercial Music), Psychology minor
Licenses & Certifications
Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc), State of Colorado #1590
Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM), Rhode Island Department of Health #DA00318
Certified Amma Therapist, New York College of Health Professions
Diplomate in Asian Bodywork Therapy (Dipl ABT), National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine #007372
Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc), State of New York #000785
Diplomate in Acupuncture (Dipl Ac), National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine #007372
Certified Dietician-Nutritionist (CDN), State of New York, License #003782
Certified Natural Functional Medicine Practitioner, Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education
Certified Instructor of Asian Bodywork Therapy (CI ABT), American Association for the Bodywork Therapies of Asia
Certified Practitioner of Asian Bodywork Therapy (CP ABT), American Association for the Bodywork Therapies of Asia
New York State License in Massage Therapy (LMT) #005652
Professional Memberships & Awards
Acupuncture Society of New York
- President, 2000-2004; Vice-President, 1999-2000; Board of Directors, 1998-1999; Lifetime Professional Member 1996-present
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance
- Award: State Association of the Year, 2003
American Association of Oriental Medicine
- Award: State Acupuncture Organization President of the Year, 2002
American Botanical Council
- Professional Member