Weidong Lu, Danielle Margalit | Integrating Acupuncture into Conventional Cancer Treatment

Weidong Lu, MB, MPH, PhD is an Oncology Acupuncturist and the Oncology Acupuncture Team Leader at Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), a U.S. top cancer hospital and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. He is a principal investigator at Dana-Farber /Harvard Cancer Center and the lead investigator of Chinese Medicine Research Initiative at DFCI. He is Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Professor of Chinese Medicine at the New England School of Acupuncture in Newton, Massachusetts. He also chairs the Committee On Acupuncture at the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. He is the past chairman of Chinese Herbal Medicine Department at the New England School of Acupuncture. He holds a M.B. from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, a MPH from Harvard School of Public Health and a PhD in Integrative Medicine from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

Dr. Weidong Lu created and established the Oncology Acupuncture Specialty at DFCI since 2000. He leads a team of five Oncology Acupuncturists. In addition to his clinical practice, he is a principal investigator conducting NIH-funded acupuncture clinical trials in symptom management for cancer patients. He is the first recipient of the Bernard Osher Foundation/ The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine ( NCCAM ) CAM Practitioner Research Career Development Award. He is a member of the Research Committee of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He is a faculty member of Harvard Medical School Research Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine. He also lectured in the Freshman Seminar at Harvard University and the Oncology Fellowship Program at DFCI. He dedicates his research in Integrative Medicine, especially in Integrative Oncology. His research focuses on the creation and clinical practice of Oncology Acupuncture Specialty; clinical research on symptom management and supportive care using integrative medicine including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine; Drug-herbal interactions and the impacts on clinical practice; designing and conducting clinical trials of oncology acupuncture. He has published over 30 research papers and book chapters in peer-reviewed journals and he has been invited to speak internationally.


Dr. Margalit received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in radiation oncology at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Cancer Epidemiology and Master of Public Health in Clinical Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Margalit is an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, specializing in the treatment of tumors of the head and neck, and skin. Dr. Margalit teaches and mentors students from Harvard Medical School and Residents of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. She is an active participant on national committees of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and American Board of Radiology (ABR) and is an associate senior editor for the International Journal of Radiation Oncology ● Biology ● Physics. Dr. Margalit’s research focuses on integrating new technologies and targeted therapies to improve cure rates while minimizing side effects of cancer treatment.