About Cara Frank
Chinese medicine is human medicine.
As an acupuncturist, herbalist, author, educator, and Jewish mom, taking care of people and solving problems is woven into everything I do.
I first came to Chinese medicine like many of my patients do: sick, tired, and disappointed by conventional medicine. I was just 17 and dealing with a stubborn health issue that other treatments didn't touch. I visited an acupuncturist as a last-ditch effort and in a single treatment, my life changed. Not only did I completely heal from my condition, I fell in love with Chinese medicine, enrolled in acupuncture school, and never looked back.
Since then, I've practiced this medicine for over four decades because it works. I've treated thousands of patients, trained hundreds of practitioners, and written the clinical text that many of them still teach from. I know what happens when the diagnosis is almost right — and what changes when it's exactly right. That difference is everything.
What I've learned after all these years is that healing isn't a destination you arrive at. It's a path you walk, with the right guide, the right approach, and a map that actually makes sense.
Read about what’s in store below
Join me in my next chapter
Even after four decades of practice, Chinese medicine still makes me curious. When you've spent a life in service to something — really given yourself to it — the desire doesn't fade. It deepens. It finds new forms.
But I've also learned to follow my own qi. And a few years ago, I noticed it was pointing somewhere new. Running a large practice — as meaningful as it was — was no longer feeding me the way it once had. I needed something smaller, more flexible. And something that allowed me to work more deeply with the people who came to me. Not more patients. More presence.
So I made a change. I'm now splitting my time between Philadelphia and Portugal, which means my practice looks a little different. When I'm in Philly, I'll see you in person. When I'm abroad, we'll work together online. The same care, the same me — just in a more flexible form. I've always believed that continuity of care is everything in Chinese medicine. It's how the qi keeps flowing, and how real healing actually happens.
What excites me most is what this change opens up. For the first time, I have the space to do something I've always wanted to do more of: craft truly personalized health journeys. Each one grounded in my LAUGH framework — a philosophy I developed through years of fertility work and have come to realize is really a model for all of it. Literacy, advocacy, uncovering root imbalances, growth, and healing with genuine compassion. It's how I've always worked in the office. Now I get to bring that same intentionality to how we work together, wherever you are in the world.
And for new patients finding me for the first time — welcome. You're in good hands here.
A brief history of my Journey to now
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Early Career
After graduating in 1983, I moved back to New York City and built a successful practice out of my apartment. Acupuncture wasn't yet legal in New York, but most of us practiced anyway. When that came to an end, I used a friend's gift to study Chinese Herbal Medicine at Xi Yuan Hospital in Beijing. It was life-changing. I became an herbalist. Around the same time, I began scribing for my teacher Ted Kaptchuk in Philadelphia — and when a colleague offered to refer patients, I said yes to that too.
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The Philly Chapter
I moved to Philadelphia in 1989 and have been here ever since. My practice in Mt. Airy grew quickly, and when other practitioners started asking me to fill their herbal formulas, I said yes — and China Herb Company was born.
In 2004, I moved into Center City, bought and renovated a building, and started fresh. Then a community acupuncture movement began to take shape nationally. Moved and a little critical, I decided to open an affordable clinic myself. In 2013, with no business plan and no budget, I rented a space in the newly developing Grays Ferry neighborhood and opened Six Fishes Neighborhood Acupunctureon credit cards. It grew from zero patients to nearly 700 treatments a month.
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Teaching
In 1996, colleagues asked me to teach a Chinese Herb program — and of course, I said yes. What started as 300 hours eventually became a 660-hour program with clinical training, which I brought to regional and national accreditation at TAI Sophia Institute in Maryland. In 2013, I founded the Chinese Herb Department at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I founded China Herb Seminars to help practitioners stay confident prescribing herbs through telehealth. I've since created courses on Ophthalmology, Gynecology, Hypercholesterolemia, Upper Respiratory Disorders, and Pediatrics.
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Writing
I’ve written nearly 100 blogs on the topic of Chinese Medicine, nutrition, recipes and stories. Many of which live here.
In 2008, I began studying Classical Medicine with Dr. Huang Huang from Nanjing. That led to co-authoring a 660-page clinical textbook on Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders — a project that took four years and covers 66 diseases.
I’ve been honored to be a featured contributor in the Journal of Chinese Medicine three times.
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Herbal Products
Over the past 35 years, I’ve created numerous Chinese herbal formulas. Each one was deisgned to solve a problem: Ear Clear, Nose Clear, Cough Cooler for children. Left Metal Bitters for reflux. PND for post nasal drip. A series of foot soaks for broken bones, tendon inflammation and many more.
After teaching a course in Pediatrics, I created a suite of glycerin-based formulas for kids called Little Fishes Formulas.
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What's Next
The final puzzle was what to do with a practice I'd spent decades building. After some discouraging conversations with private equity firms, I found a better answer: in 2026 Six Fishes transitioned to a worker-owned cooperative, giving the staff a real ownership stake with only a small personal investment. Right livelihood in practice.
Now I'm dividing my time between Philadelphia and Portugal. I'm available for telehealth year-round and see patients in person during scheduled clinic weeks in Philly. And if you need care in between, Six Fishes welcomes you.
My principles
I knew there was a better way to heal my gut..
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