Ting Bao, MD, MS, was working in a Washington, D.C.-based acupuncture clinic after her junior year in college when she first saw up close how much this ancient Chinese practice – as well as herbal supplements – could help individuals during cancer treatment. The experience made a deep impression on Bao, as did something several clinic patients confided in her. 

This was the late 1990s, when acupuncture, herbal supplements, and other integrative therapies like Reiki and meditation were offered in very few United States health-care centers. The patients were frustrated, they told Bao, by the lack of knowledge among oncologists about the potential benefits of these modalities in easing treatment-related pain, nausea, and other cancer-related side-effects. 

“Patients just had to find and try integrative therapies on their own while their doctors focused on giving them chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery,” recalls Bao. “They said they needed guidance.” 

In that moment, Bao says, she realized the path her own medical training would take. By being well-versed in eastern and western medicine, she could offer her future patients the best of both worlds. The epiphany resulted in her becoming a breast oncologist, medical acupuncturist, and integrative medicine physician, and eventually led to her current role as co-director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapy and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber. 

“With the help of these patients, I saw the future,” says Bao, who assumed her Zakim Center position in August 2023 after a decade as a joint faculty member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Integrative Medicine and Breast Medicine Services. “By combining acupuncture and other integrative medicine into oncology care, you could improve oncology patients’ quality of life and potentially help them live longer by improving their treatment adherence.”  

Undeterred and Energized 

Born and raised in Beijing, China. Bao came to the United States at age 20 in search of the rich liberal arts education she felt she could not get at home, but was essential to a career in medicine. It was during the summer after her junior year at Wellesley College that she first worked in the D.C. acupuncture clinic.  

“I shadowed an acupuncturist there who was treating 200 patients a month, and half were cancer patients,” explains Bao. “Four of my close family members had died of cancer, and I already knew I wanted to be an oncologist. There was still so much unknown about cancer, and I’m the kind of person who if I don’t know about something, I really want to learn more about it.” 

Energized by what she observed in the clinic, Bao continued shadowing the acupuncturist while at John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Then, during her residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, she used her elective rotation and vacation time to study for and earn her acupuncture certification. 

“It was a course offered only to physicians,” Bao explains. “I saw a lot of primary care doctors, rheumatologists, and anesthesiologists learning about acupuncture for pain reduction, but there were not many medical oncologists.” 

Undeterred, Bao completed a breast oncology fellowship at Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and then a master’s degree in clinical research at the University of Maryland, where she was a joint faculty member at the Greenebaum Cancer Center and Center for Integrative Medicine.  

Moving to MSK in 2014, Bao became an internationally known speaker and panelist on the benefits of integrative therapy in improving cancer patients’ quality of life and symptom management. She served as president of the Society for Integrative Oncology in 2020-2021, and Zakim Center Director Jennifer Ligibel, MD, was excited when the opportunity came to bring her aboard as co-director two years later. 

“Ting has a really unique background that gives her a holistic and comprehensive view of the patient, the disease, and the side effects of treatment,” says Ligibel. “She is a skilled clinical researcher, and is also exploring the biologic mechanisms through which acupuncture and other integrative treatments exert their beneficial effects. Her work and her leadership will be a critical part of helping the Zakim Center continue to fulfill its mission of both bringing evidence-based integrative therapies to our patients and conducting research to determine the optimal application of integrative therapies in cancer populations.” 

Moving the Field Forward 

True to this dual commitment, Bao is currently conducting two multicenter trials enrolling between 250 and ​​268 patients: a phase III randomized controlled trial on acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) treatment to evaluate the efficacy and mechanism of acupuncture for CIPN pain in cancer survivors; and a phase III randomized controlled trial to probe the efficacy of yoga to reduce CIPN symptoms and reduce the risk of falls in cancer survivors.  

“Both trials are scheduled to end enrollment in 2025, and have the potential to be practice-changing,” says Bao.  

Bao is also providing integrative medicine consultations to a growing number of patients, representing more than 20 different cancer types. By regularly working with various Dana-Farber centers and clinics, including Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care (POPC), she is creating integrative therapy projects designed for specific subgroups of cancer patients. 

“Dr. Bao has been a wonderful addition to the Zakim Center, serving as an ambassador for its programs and increasing access to patients for integrative therapy consults,” says James Tulsky, MD, chair of POPC. “She has also actively sought out research collaborations with a number of our POPC faculty, and we are grateful for her active partnership.” 

Such partnerships, Bao knows, will continue moving the field of integrative therapy forward. 

-- Saul Wisnia