Yuki Itaya graduated from Emperor’s College, Santa Monica, in 2006. She is a trustee with MOXAFRICA, a British charity that is researching Japanese-style direct moxibustion as an adjunctive treatment for tuberculosis in developing nations. This work includes a 200-patient phase II RCT at Makerere University, Uganda. Yuki is also the only certified teacher of the M-Test outside of Japan, a movement-based diagnostic and treatment protocol developed by Prof. Mukaino Yoshito, MD, of Fukuoka University, Japan.

By the time Yuki was six years old, she had already developed a passion for Shinkyu (the Japanese word for acupuncture and moxibustion) that was born out of assisting a local vet treat horses. Determined to live a useful life, Yuki applied to work at the UN when she was eight. Although her application was declined, the experience motivated her to study abroad from an early age.

Yuki has lectured on moxibustion at many Japanese universities and is a regular contributor and translator for the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine. She believes in making medicine more accessible to the public and by empowering people to take control of their own health. Yuki teaches M-Test and moxibustion, and how to apply them where medical facilities are otherwise limited or absent.

When not in the clinic, Yuki can often be found in the forest looking for mushrooms with her husband and daughter.