AHVMA Link- Advanced Course 2025
Continue to expand your treatment options for all your patients through the lens of this holistic modality.
Our 2025 Advanced Course takes place in beautiful Shelburne, VT.
CIVT and A Time to Heal's Advanced Explorations in Veterinary Herbal Medicine is an opportunity for veterinarians experienced with classical Chinese medicine to learn more. You’ll learn how to integrate this powerful system of medicine into daily practice to solve your most challenging cases. We emphasize classical Chinese medicine, in a very friendly, relaxed environment. Come and learn classic Chinese medicine, reflected in the theory and medicines that have persisted for centuries.
It is recommended that attendees of the Advanced Course should already have a foundational class in acupuncture and herbs from either CIVT, IVAS, A Time to Heal, and/or Chi Institute.
2025 Course Info
2025 Course Dates
-Thursday, October 9th (Dr. Erin Bannink)
-Friday, October 10th (Dr. Nate Heilman)
-Saturday, October 11th (Dr. Steve Marsden)
-Sunday, October 12th, 2025 will be a travel day for attendees (no class)
2025 Instructor Bios and Course Topics:
Thursday, October 9th, 2025 – Dr. Erin Bannink Day of Lecture
8am start – 6pm end
BIO:
Erin Bannink, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM (oncology), CVA, GDVCHM (Michigan State University, 2002) is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in the specialty of oncology. Dr. Bannink has practiced Integrative Oncology with Classical Chinese Veterinary Medicine as a board-certified veterinary specialist in a private referral practice setting at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan since 2007. She is a professor for CIVT, is certified in veterinary acupuncture (IVAS) and holds a Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine (CIVT). Dr. Bannink has a special interest in whole-being wellness for both veterinarians and those caring for pets with cancer. Through www.MettaPets.info, she produces monthly lectures and articles on integrative oncology topics for veterinarians and provides integrative oncology information for pet parents as well as wellness resources. She also runs an exclusive on-line wellness and personal development community for veterinarians, MettaPets Veterinarian Wellness Network: www.mettapetsvetwellness.com.
2025 TOPICS:
AM
Oral chemotherapy/targeted therapies and herb combos
Dr. Bannink will review options for patient management using a combination of oral chemotherapy, common oral tyrosine kinase inhibotor therapies and herbal therapies. She will review which combinations work best for which tumor types. This will give you practical information on how to prescribe these oral therapies and monitoring recommendations so you can implement these approaches in your practice with confidence.
PM
Redefining Success: A Soulful Approach to Veterinary Oncology and Life
In this heartfelt and thought-provoking workshop, Dr. Erin Bannink invites you to explore a more expansive and integrative view of success—both in the context of pet cancer therapy and in your personal and professional life. Through the lens of wholistic healing, Dr. Bannink weaves together science, soul, and lived experience to help you reexamine how expectations, mindset, and inner alignment shape our ability to navigate the challenges of oncology patient care and our professional life with grace, clarity, and compassion. You’ll receive practical tools and a research-supported framework for guiding clients through their pet’s cancer journey in a way that honors both emotional and spiritual well-being. Learn how to support your clients in identifying treatment goals that not only serve the body, but also bring peace to the heart and clarity to the mind—transforming overwhelm into purpose and presence.
In the second half of the workshop, the focus shifts inward as Dr. Bannink guides you through a powerful exploration of how the challenges we face—professionally and personally—can become catalysts for growth. Drawing from both experience and spiritual insight, she’ll help you uncover why your ability to transform obstacles into opportunities for growth is the true key to lasting success. Whether you seek greater financial abundance, deeper relationships, professional fulfillment, or inner peace, you’ll leave with a renewed sense of clarity and practical tools to help you rise to your next level. This is more than professional development. It’s an invitation to reconnect with your deeper why—to rediscover the soul of your work, and to reclaim the joy, resilience, and meaning that led you to veterinary medicine in the first place and forging a path forward that leads to greater success in the process.
Friday, October 10th, 2024 – Dr. Nate Heilman Day of Lecture
8am start – 6pm end
BIO:
Nathan Heilman DVM, CVA, VSMT (Cornell University, 1997) practiced mixed animal veterinary medicine for ten years before starting Qi Veterinary Clinic with his wife, Thérèse Fafard, in South Burlington, VT, in 2007. Here they integrate Chinese medicine, using acupuncture, herbal medicine, food energetics, and spinal manipulation therapy, while also providing comprehensive Western treatment. Nate graduated from IVAS in 2005 and the Healing Oasis' course in CVSMT (Chiropractic) in 2015. He enjoys deepening his understanding of the Chinese medical metaphor in his daily practice and working towards proactive health maintenance with his patient population. Nate enjoys being outdoors in the woods, whether working or playing, and walking his dogs Mr. Blue and newest additions, rambunctious black lab pups Shaggy and Scooby, with Thérèse. They live on their 'farmette' in New Haven, VT, with their son, Giles, and daughter, Emmaline.
2025 TOPIC:
Understanding The Spleen, Soup to Nuts
Our patients come to us with their prenatal constitutional strength ‘fixed’ by conception and in utero development. Their constitutional Jing resides in the Kidney. An animal fulfills their destiny when they find their true joy, experiences likely to involve their human caretakers and their other animal companions around them. Indeed, the manifestation of the human – animal and animal-animal bonds lie at the Heart of veterinary medicine. But what connects the prenatal Kidney Jing to the Heart’s spirit of destiny fulfillment? In Chinese medicine it is recognized that the post-natal function of the earth elements, the Spleen-Pancreas and the Stomach allow the ascent of Jing (Essence) to merge with Shen (spirit). These ‘middle earth’ organs are where “the rubber meets the road,” so to speak, and it is also central to much veterinary consultation.
“What food is best for my cat?”
“My cat vomits weekly, which is normal, right?”
“Why is my dog having frequent bouts of diarrhea?”
“How is my dog’s torn ACL related to the diet that I’m feeding my dog?”
OK, well, we are asked three out of four of these questions, anyway...
In this day of the Advanced Seminar we’ll explore the Spleen-Pancreas’ role in health and disease and give the practicing veterinarian information to help guide their clients towards medicines, supplements and diets that can properly protect and restore gut and Spleen function. For most of our patient visits veterinarians are tasked with addressing diet and GI health questions. The focus of the day will be to take aim at these questions and provide materials to make daily practice easier.
We’ll cover:
-The embryologic origin and anatomy of the Spleen – Pancreas and the Stomach
-The influence of the Spleen on gut physiology and immune function
-The larger implications for health and disease with Spleen function / dysfunction
-The coursings of the Spleen and Stomach channels
-The major acupuncture points that influence the Spleen and Stomach and what they suggest about herbal prescription
-Herbal medicines and supplements to maintain and restore Spleen and gut health
-Diet recommendations to promote healthy Spleen and Stomach functions
Saturday, October 11th – Dr. Steve Marsden Day of Lecture
8am start – 6pm end
BIO:
Steve Marsden DVM, ND, MSOM, Lac. Dipl.CH, CVA, AHG (WCVM, Saskatoon, 1988) lectures for IVAS, the AHVMA, the AVMA, and numerous other organizations. He is co-founder of the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies and is a director emeritus of the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland OR. He authored the Manual of Natural Veterinary Medicine (Mosby); and Essential Guide to Chinese Herbal Formulas (CIVT). Dr. Marsden is extensively trained in alternative medicine, including Chinese herbology, acupuncture and naturopathic medicine. In 2010, Dr. Marsden was named Teacher of the Year by the AHVMA; and in 2009, the Small Animal Veterinarian of the year by the CVMA.
2025 TOPICS:
Shortcuts to Diagnosis:
Rendering an accurate diagnosis is the key to connecting a patient with the arsenal of sophisticated treatments that Chinese medicine has to offer. Unfortunately, it seems this list of possible diagnoses for seemingly every patient is always a long one, making choices difficult and frequently in error. Physical tools like pulse diagnosis and the response of the pulse to acupuncture can quickly allow a practitioner to cut through to the heart of the matter, but what if a practitioner does not feel confident in their pulse taking skills? This lecture tells you the key findings in the history and lab test results that are associated with each of the major Chinese medical diagnoses so you can get on with treatment. We will also review what these diagnoses correspond to you in western terms and why, to make it easier for you to recognize those scenarios, regardless of your proficiency with Chinese medicine (half day)
How Dr. Marsden approaches cardiac patients and why:
Heart disease patients often benefit from a truly integrative approach, in which diet and Chinese medicine are the foundations of a successful treatment, with other herbs, supplements and drugs then being introduced to take care of outstanding obstinate symptoms. This lecture will review Dr. Steve’s approach to these patients, showing how the various treatment options fit together and why so you can get maximum benefit for your patients with the minimum chance of any negative interactions.
New Perspectives on Lameness:
A big reason for getting into holistic medicine is to provide better support for the weak and painful dog. Veterinarians are often taught that arthritis is most often due to Blood stasis yet are then often disappointed when Blood moving formulas don’t help that much. They resign themselves to the notion that things must be too far gone for them to help, but this is often not the case.
It turns out that when exactly Blood movers are introduced has a big impact on their usefulness and that the patient must be prepped to respond to them. Blood movers are not the first thing that should be used but instead the last.
This talk lays out the rationale for these ideas and uses cases to exemplify them. Treating according to the logic of this model may not just hold the keys to better treatment outcomes. It may also allow prevention of arthropathies and injuries, revealing them to no longer be mere chance events
Case help:
There are few problems that can’t be solved by a roomful of holistic veterinarians, so why not take advantage of all that accumulated brain power and bring your toughest cases with you to get some help with them. Along the way you’ll learn some tricks for how to analyze cases quickly that you can take back to your own practice. More than likely, you’ll see the ideas present in “Shortcuts to Diagnosis” being put to work right away, so that even if we can’t get to all the cases, you’ll have a concrete understanding of how to put these tips to work for you as soon as you get home.
Enrollment is limited to 30 veterinarians.
Veterinarians! Contact us for more information and how to register!
