Dr. Ritchie received his B.A. and M.A. from Eastern Illinois University and Western Illinois University in 1972 and 1973, respectively. In 1984 he was awarded a M.D. degree and in 1987 he finished his residency training in anesthesia, both at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Following over ten years of private practice in anesthesia in Arizona, Dr. Ritchie completed a three-year non-degree program in Traditional Chinese Medicine at Yo San University and Emperor’s College in Santa Monica, California. This program included both didactic and internship training in all aspects of Chinese medicine, acupuncture and herbal pharmacology.

During this training period Dr. Ritchie was a member of the faculty at Yo San University, teaching classes in the fundamentals of Western medical bedside diagnostic theory and technique.

In 2001 he completed a six-month training program with the Academy of Pain Research in San Francisco, California, which is alternately affiliated with area medical schools such as Stanford and USC-SF.

Starting in 2002, Dr. Ritchie opened Scottsdale Acupuncture, a primary care practice emphasizing the use of acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the management of most all of the acute and chronic conditions commonly seen in a general medicine practice today.

Dr. Ritchie is a licensed Arizona M.D. with a family oriented medical practice, which primarily utilizes acupuncture and Chinese medicine. His practice targets three specific health care concerns:

1) the management of most painful conditions, both acute
    and chronic;
2) the prevention of new diseases, or the worsening of
    existing conditions; and;
3) the promotion of optimal health and well being for each     patient.

These health care goals are attainable by carefully selecting from among the most appropriate treatment options currently available to physicians from both the contemporary Western and Eastern medical sciences. As a physician with extensive training and practical experience in both sciences, Dr. R. is uniquely positioned to:

1) offer a list of treatment options available to the patient
    and their particular set of symptoms and diagnosis,
    beginning with those that are the least invasive and the
    least burdened with unpleasant and risky side effects;
2) provide answers and resource data to help each patient
    gain additional insight into their medical health, within
    the framework of nutrition, exercise, aging and
    lifestyle choices;
3) help the patient choose a medical course of action that     balances sound medical advice with their own particular     needs and preferences;
4) act as a consultant to physicians, especially in the areas
    of prognosis, efficacy, timing and safety of different     treatments or herbs; and;
5) safely and effectively communicate a patient’s diagnosis
    and treatment plan to both Western and Eastern trained     health care providers, as well as those trained in most
    other healing arts, thus ensuring that each patient
    receives the best each discipline has to offer.