Follow Dr. Tony
Follow Dr. Tony
Dr. Tony Willcox, PhD, D.A.O.M., A.P., Dipl. Ac. & Dipl. C.H. (NCCAOM), Cert. DN (AAMT)—over 20 years treating elite athletes and everyday patients across Delray Beach and South Florida. Sports acupuncture, dry needling, K-Laser, and NovoTHOR® red light therapy. Official Acupuncturist, Florida Panthers Elite Medical Team (8 years), and Medical Staff, Blackzilians UFC Fight Team (5 years) — 2007 to 2016. Newsmax Health Top 100 Integrative Medicine Physician.
Whether you're a pro athlete or just want to feel like yourself again, Dr. Tony Willcox brings the same care he's given competitors across the NFL, NHL, UFC, NBA, MLB, WWE, and PGA. With 20+ years of experience and doctoral training in China, he blends acupuncture and integrative therapies to support your body's natural ability to heal. Recover. Rebalance. Restore.
Follow Dr. Tony
Dr. Tony Willcox is the only acupuncture doctor named to Newsmax Health’s Top 100 Physicians Who Embrace Integrative Medicine — listed alongside Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Mark Hyman, and Dr. Andrew Weil.
That recognition isn’t honorary. It reflects a career few acupuncturists ever come close to: eight years on the NHL Florida Panthers medical team, five years with a UFC fight team, and published clinical research on acupuncture’s effect on mild cognitive impairment at Florida Atlantic University.
He also holds a rare Double Doctorate — a D.A.O.M. earned in the U.S. and a PhD in Acupuncture earned in China, the birthplace of the medicine — placing him among a small fraction of acupuncturists nationwide.
What that means for you: the elite-level training that draws professional athletes goes into the care of every patient who walks through our door — applied to your pain, stress, sleep, and recovery. It shows in the range of therapies at Acupuncture Zen, a combination rarely found under one roof anywhere in South Florida: Acupuncture, Dry Needling, K-Laser Therapy, NovoTHOR® Red Light Therapy, Infrared Heat Lamp Therapy, Electro-Acupuncture & Microcurrent, Cupping Therapy, and Chinese Herbal Medicine.
The real advantage isn’t just having all of these in one place — it’s the clinical judgment to know exactly which to use, and when, for your condition.
Where it all began. Dr. Tony Willcox stands alongside Dr. Johanna Yen, president of the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine in Fort Lauderdale — the school where he earned his summa cum laude distinction in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. Pictured beside the institute’s traditional bronze acupuncture statue, this moment marks the foundation of a journey that would carry Dr. Tony from South Florida to doctoral study in the birthplace of the medicine, China.
His path to that achievement began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where in 2005, he received summa cum laude in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine from the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine. The Institute’s founder and president, Dr. Johanna Yen, later sat down for an interview at Acupuncture Zen, reflecting on Dr. Tony’s training and the medicine they both practice.
In 2016, he earned a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (D.A.O.M.), the highest doctoral degree in Acupuncture offered in the United States. He was also awarded a prestigious Chinese Government Scholarship to pursue his PhD in Acupuncture at the Anhui University of Chinese Medicine.
Professor Yang Jun, one of the most renowned acupuncture physicians in China, mentored Dr. Tony during his PhD studies at Anhui University. Beyond his academic training, Dr. Tony gained extensive hands-on clinical experience treating hundreds of patients in busy hospital settings across both major cities and rural areas of China. He managed a wide variety of conditions, with a particular focus on neurological disorders — work that significantly strengthened his clinical skills and improved patient outcomes. Completed between 2016 and 2019, his doctoral training in the birthplace of acupuncture proved well worth the rigorous effort it demanded.
Dr. Willcox is the first Westerner to earn a PhD in Acupuncture from the Anhui University of Chinese Medicine in Hefei, China — a distinction unmatched in the university’s 60-year history.
The culmination of his doctoral research was a clinical study conducted at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, titled Effects of Acupuncture on Mild Cognitive Impairment. Co-authored with world-renowned neurologist, researcher, and professor James E. Galvin, MD, MPH — a leading expert in Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body dementia (LBD), and cognitive aging — the study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinsonism in September 2019. Dr. Galvin now serves as Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Expert Acupuncture in Delray Beach, Florida | Advanced Training & Decades of Clinical Experience
Discover natural healing with Dr. Tony Willcox — one of the most highly trained acupuncturists in the U.S., combining advanced clinical expertise with compassionate care right here in Delray Beach.
