New Jersey Licensed Acupuncturist
Dr. Sharpe practices Chinese medicine and functional medicine in New Jersey. He publishes peer-reviewed research in exercise physiology, was head of Sports Nutrition at the Institute for Human Kinetics, and taught Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism at the graduate level for ten years.
The practice
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine rest on a diagnostic system built from close observation. Sleep, digestion, temperature, sweat, the pulse at both wrists, and the appearance of the tongue are read together as a pattern rather than as separate complaints. Formulas here are written from bulk herbs, which is the standard in China and the more demanding way to practice.
About Chinese medicineFunctional medicine treats the body as a network rather than a set of independent systems. History, structured questionnaires, and laboratory testing locate imbalances instead of inferring them. Dr. Sharpe taught this material at the graduate level for a decade before bringing it into clinical practice.
About functional medicineResearch
Dr. Sharpe is first author on the first published human trial of topical carnosine as an ergogenic aid, a co-author on the study that demonstrated topical carnosine delivery into skeletal muscle, and an author on the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand on ketogenic diets. That work has been cited across the sports science literature and continues to be built on by other laboratories.
Approach
Modern medicine has tended to pay closer attention to the thing causing the problem than to the person it is happening to. Chinese medicine and functional medicine both start from the other end.
Training
Acupuncture training in the United States runs three to four years at the graduate level, covering Chinese medical theory, physiology, pharmacology, laboratory interpretation, and supervised clinical practice, followed by national board examinations. Dr. Sharpe completed his doctorate at Pacific College of Health and Science and his master's in human nutrition and functional medicine at the University of Western States. He has lived and studied in China, including clinical training in Chinese hospitals.