Raina earned her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) and Masters in Traditional Oriental Medicine (MSTOM) from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in San Diego and was profiled as the 2009 Outstanding Graduate for PCOM- SD. She is licensed by the California State Acupuncture Board (L.Ac.) and Diplomate of Oriental Medicine and Asian Bodywork Therapy by the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). She is also a certified massage therapist by the California Massage Therapy Council (CMT) and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB).

She completed acupuncture internships at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, San Diego Cancer Center, Family Recovery Center in Encinitas and UCSD Geriatrics’ Clinic. She also completed an international training program at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Chengdu, China. While there, she completed rotations in Diabetes, Oncology, Cardiology and Post-stroke. In practice, Raina specializes in Japanese Meridian Acupuncture and has studied with Masters Ikeda Sensei and Yoshito Mukaino from Japan

Raina’s massage training is in Tui Na, Swedish and Pohaku, Hawaiian hot stone massage. She traveled to Hawaii and received the blessing of a Hawaiian Kahuna to perform the Pohaku massage here. She is also a Reiki practitioner and a STOTT Pilates® Fully Certified Instructor Rehab Specialist and is completing her STOTT Pilates® rehabilitation certification.

Raina is also a Clinical Specialist/Acupuncturist at UCLA Center for East-West Medicine. She has presented her research on Acupuncture’s Effectiveness at Treating Subclinical Hypothyroid Disease via the HPA/HPT axis: A Multiple Case Series at many research and integrative medicine conferences around the country.

Her journey into alternative medicine began as a result of a back injury obtained from a car accident. This experience gave her the push she needed to seek help for all of her health problems that were not improving with Western medicine. She was inspired by the success of alternative medicine that she left her corporate job and returned to school to become a healer. It turns out that her ancestors, in Japan, were herbal pharmacists and Reiki masters.