Dr Celia Hildebrand is a research assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona, and a contributing faculty member of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. She holds a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine where her dual focus was on the role of East Asian (EA) Medicine in public health, and its use in trauma response and recovery.
Dr. Hildebrand has worked in the field of health care and environmental services for more than 35 years, the majority of which have included Native American communities of the Southwestern United States. Involved with higher education since 2008, she has more recently served as faculty, Academic Dean and Chair of Clinical Education for accredited schools of East Asian Medicine. In these roles she has collaborated with inter-disciplinary teams of Western and Eastern Medical educators, clinicians, and researchers using Evidence-Based Practices within in-patient and out-patient hospital and community clinics. Building opportunities and performance measures for inter-disciplinary clinical education and practice is a critical focus for her academic work at UA. She maintains a private practice in Tucson, and in 2018 was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant to teach an auricular acupuncture protocol for trauma, pain, and addiction at the Uzhorod National University School of Medicine in Ukraine.
While in her 20s, Dr. Hildebrand began her studies in legacy and traditional medicine with her mother’s lineage from the Carpathian Mountains of Poland and Ukraine. For the past 35 years she has worked beside, studied under, and occasionally lived with indigenous and traditional healers from other countries and cultures. These experiences combined with studies and practice of EAM have informed and framed her clinical and academic interests in health, well-being, and resiliency through lived and historical trauma.
Dr. Hildebrand’s community work includes:
- Produced Health Services and Facility Master Plans for six Service Units within the U.S. Public Health Service / Indian Health Service Albuquerque Area, including 25 tribes, 25,000 people, and 16 facilities.
- Coordinated door-to-door Community Health Needs Assessments and produced Community Health Improvement Plans for large tribal nations in southwestern U.S.;
- Produced Public Health Emergency Preparedness Plans, Public Health Codes, Disease Investigation, and Infection Control Protocols for public health department accreditation of large southwestern Tribe, including
- Helped create, launch, and then led the Clean Hawaii Center within the Hawaii Department of Economic Development to provide financial and technical support to emerging small recycling and composting businesses.