Follow Dr. Tony
Follow Dr. Tony
President and Professor Peng Daiyin (彭代银 教授) presented Dr. Tony Willcox with his PhD in Acupuncture in 2019. The ceremony took place at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine in Hefei, China. He became the first Westerner to earn the degree in the university’s 60-year history.
Dr. Tony Willcox — pictured on the left — with fellow graduates at the 2019 commencement ceremony in Hefei, China. The day marked the end of his doctoral studies in the birthplace of acupuncture.
Dr. Tony Willcox, during his service with the 2nd/4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). He is pictured in uniform and on field training exercises in Townsville, Australia, from 1984 to 1989.
Dr. Tony Willcox voluntarily joined the Australian Army at age 18 in 1984. First, he completed three months of basic training at Blamey Barracks, Kapooka. That base is the Army’s Recruit Training Centre near Wagga Wagga, NSW — known as the “Home of the Soldier.” Next came three months of infantry training at the School of Infantry, Lone Pine Barracks, in Singleton, NSW. There, he earned the Most Improved Soldier award.
Afterward, he served as an infantryman in Charlie Company, Alpha Platoon, of the 2nd/4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2/4 RAR). The battalion’s home was Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, Queensland. He also spent time in the Mortar Platoon, Support Company. Over 4.5 years of service, he developed skills in marksmanship, small-unit tactics, and field survival. In addition, he represented his battalion in military skills competitions and earned awards. He also qualified for the Skill at Arms Badge as a Marksman. That badge demands a formally prescribed standard of shooting, and soldiers must requalify every year to keep it.
The battalion formed part of Australia’s Operational Deployment Force (ODF) — the nation’s designated rapid-reaction unit. In the event of conflict, it would be the first combat force to deploy. Trained in close-country and conventional warfare, 2/4 RAR stood ready to move anywhere in the region at short notice.
Dr. Tony was one of only 13 soldiers chosen to represent 2/4 RAR in the Duke of Gloucester Cup. Roughly 800 soldiers served in the battalion at the time. The Army calls the event the “DOG Cup.” Many regard it as Australia’s answer to the U.S. Army’s Best Ranger Competition. This grueling multi-day contest pits teams from every regular infantry battalion against one another.
Competitors carried packs of more than 110 lbs over distances of more than 62 miles. Along the way, judges tested every facet of soldiering: marksmanship, combat tactics, endurance, first aid, and teamwork. Moreover, the conditions pushed each soldier to his physical and mental limits. Dr. Tony’s team finished as runners-up against the best infantry the Army had to offer. That result speaks to the discipline, resilience, and mental toughness he still brings to his practice at Acupuncture Zen.
During those same years in Townsville, Dr. Tony first encountered the medicine that would become his life’s work.
On October 15, 2005, Dr. Tony sat for all five board examinations in a single day — and passed every one. At that point, he was still eleven months from graduating from the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine. The five exams were Acupuncture Comprehensive, Point Location, Foundations of Oriental Medicine, Chinese Herbology, and Biomedicine. Back then, the NCCAOM administered them. Since January 2026, that body has carried the name NCBAHM — the National Certification Board for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. Most candidates spread these exams across two or more sittings. In fact, many do not finish them until after graduation. Dr. Tony was the first student at his school to complete all five in one sitting.
Where it all began. Dr. Tony Willcox stands alongside Dr. Johanna Yen, president of the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine in Fort Lauderdale. Behind them is the institute’s traditional bronze acupuncture statue. Here, he earned his summa cum laude distinction in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. From this starting point, his journey would carry him from South Florida to doctoral study in China.
His path began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 2005, the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine gave him its award for academic excellence. He earned it summa cum laude in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. In part, that award reflected his five board exams in a single sitting. He graduated the following year, in 2006. Later, the Institute’s founder and president, Dr. Johanna Yen, sat down for an interview at Acupuncture Zen. Together, they reflected on his training and the medicine they both practice.
In 2016, he earned a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (D.A.O.M.) — a clinical doctorate in the field. He then received a Chinese Government Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Acupuncture at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine.
Professor Yang Jun, a prominent acupuncture physician in China, mentored Dr. Tony throughout his PhD studies. Under Professor Yang’s guidance, Dr. Willcox treated a wide variety of conditions, with a particular focus on neurological disorders. Beyond the classroom, he also gained hands-on clinical experience in busy hospitals and rural clinics. As a result, he worked with hundreds of patients across both major cities and the countryside. He completed this doctoral training between 2016 and 2019.
Professor Yang’s own credentials help explain the caliber of that mentorship. He is a chief physician and professor. Since then, he has become the director of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. In addition, he holds provincial and national recognition as a discipline leader in acupuncture. He also serves on the clinical leadership of the China Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society and belongs to the China Association of Chinese Medicine. His clinical focus includes stroke recovery, the aftereffects of traumatic brain injury, sensorineural hearing loss, and neurological pain. Those are the same areas Dr. Willcox trained in under him. Finally, the relationship carried beyond the classroom. Professor Yang appears on the far left in the photo below, having traveled to celebrate the milestone in person.
Dr. Willcox is the first Westerner to earn a PhD in Acupuncture from Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. No one from the West had done so in the university’s 60-year history.
The university traces its roots to 1959. It draws on two of China’s oldest medical lineages. The first is the Xin’an school of southern Anhui. The second is the tradition of Hua Tuo, the second-century physician credited as one of China’s earliest surgeons. In 1996, the university opened its doors to international students. Even so, more than two decades passed before a Westerner completed the PhD program. That gap says as much about the program’s rigor as it does about the achievement.
Dr. Johanna Yen (Founder & President ATOM) & Dr. Tony Willcox
Dr. Yang, Dr. Zhang, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Yen, Tony Willcox & Marcelene Dyer, Dr. Fu Di and Dr. Allyson Wilson
ThThe original grounds of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. Here, centuries of the Xin’an medical tradition meet the school Dr. Willcox chose for his doctoral training.
Dr. Tony Willcox’s official doctoral degree certificate — a PhD in Chinese Medicine from Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. The university conferred the degree in Hefei, China, in 2019.
Acupuncture Zen has served the South Florida community for over 20 years. That community includes Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach. Throughout, the clinic has paired the wisdom of Traditional Chinese Medicine with modern integrative therapies.
Dr. Tony Willcox opened his first acupuncture clinic in South Florida in 2006. Over five years in Deerfield Beach, he built a loyal patient community. Then, in 2011, he relocated to Delray Beach, voted “Most Fun Small Town in America” by Rand McNally and USA Today. Today, Acupuncture Zen offers Acupuncture, Dry Needling, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fire Cupping, Laser Therapy, and NovoTHOR® red light therapy.
Every treatment draws on an unusual path. First, he served as an infantry soldier in the Australian Army. Later, he earned a D.A.O.M. in the United States under the direct instruction of visiting Chinese practitioners. He also completed advanced clinical training at Shanghai’s Yueyang and Shuguang Hospitals. Finally, he earned a PhD in Acupuncture at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. As a result, every patient receives a personalized, integrative treatment plan built on decades of clinical experience.
Professor Yang Jun 杨骏教授 introduces Dr. Tony Willcox before a lecture at Jin Zhai County Hospital in Anhui, China. The audience included more than 300 medical doctors practicing acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
The best practitioners never stop learning. For Dr. Tony Willcox, that has meant years of study in China.
In 2012, he traveled to Shanghai for advanced clinical training at two respected TCM institutions. The first was Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, and the second was Shuguang Hospital. There, he studied directly alongside senior physicians. In these hospitals, acupuncture is mainstream medicine. Consequently, the depth of clinical exposure is hard to replicate in a classroom.
That experience set the foundation for what came next. Between 2016 and 2019, Dr. Tony traveled back and forth to China to complete a PhD in Acupuncture. He lived and trained in Anhui Province for two months at a time. At points, he closed his Florida practice twice in a single year to make it happen. In short, the doctorate meant full immersion in the culture where this medicine developed over 2,500 years.
When the United States established a new clinical doctorate — the D.A.O.M. — Dr. Tony was among the first to pursue it. The rigorous two-year program connected him with acupuncture physicians and professors actively practicing in China. Each month, a different practitioner from China visited to teach and lecture. Each brought a different clinical focus. As a result, Dr. Tony gained firsthand insight into clinical practice as China actually uses it.
At his final thesis defense, faculty from the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine served on the review board. Afterward, he was one of only two people in his class to receive the Chinese Government Scholarship. One recipient went to Beijing. Dr. Tony went to Anhui University of Chinese Medicine to pursue his PhD in Acupuncture. That move began the most transformative chapter of his clinical career.
The bustling acupuncture department hallway at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. Here, Dr. Tony trained daily alongside senior TCM physicians.
At the heart of Dr. Tony’s training in China was direct mentorship under Professor Yang Jun. Professor Yang is a TCM expert and PhD advisor at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. He sees 100–150 patients daily. Many of them present complex cases — neurological conditions, facial paralysis, chronic pain, and tinnitus.
In that high-volume setting, Dr. Tony immersed himself in his mentor’s diagnostic approach. That approach combines disease and syndrome differentiation with meridian analysis and modern clinical insight. Meanwhile, he refined his needling precision and point-selection strategy. He also deepened his use of cupping and herbal support.
That mentorship carries into the care at Acupuncture Zen. For example, patients dealing with migraines, neuropathy, Bell’s palsy, or chronic stress-related pain may benefit from the same diagnostic approach.
However, the philosophy behind each treatment mattered most. Professor Yang approaches each patient as a unique clinical puzzle. To solve it, he draws on the full depth of classical Chinese medicine theory. Dr. Tony watched that mindset at work 100 times a day, and then he practiced it firsthand. Consequently, it reshaped the way he thinks, diagnoses, and treats. A textbook or a weekend seminar cannot teach that shift. Instead, it lives in every treatment at Acupuncture Zen.
Professor Yang Jun, a respected TCM physician in China, mentors Dr. Tony Willcox during his doctoral clinical training in Hefei.
Dr. Tony’s training extended well beyond the university hospital. He traveled throughout Anhui Province, home to more than 60 million people. Along the way, he treated patients in multiple hospitals and rural clinics. There, he met the full breadth of conditions that Chinese medicine addresses. That kind of hands-on exposure is uncommon in Western training. Ultimately, this immersive journey led to his successful dissertation defense and his PhD in Acupuncture.
Dr. Tony Willcox at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, a leading center of Traditional Chinese Medicine scholarship and practice.
Professor Yang Jun and doctoral students — including Dr. Tony Willcox — treat a patient with complex neurological disorders. Cases like this are routine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine.
Dr. Tony brings nine years of formal acupuncture and TCM training to his practice. His foundation combines three things. First, he completed extensive hospital-based training in China. Second, he trained under Professor Yang Jun at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. Third, he gained hands-on experience with complex cases in neurology, chronic pain, facial paralysis, and internal medicine. In addition, he holds a firm belief in integrative healthcare. Conventional medicine and evidence-informed natural therapies each have their place. Therefore, good care means knowing when and how to use both.
That career has not gone unnoticed. Dr. Tony Willcox is the only acupuncturist named to Newsmax Health’s Top 100 Physicians Who Embrace Integrative Medicine. The list also includes Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Deepak Chopra, and Dr. Andrew Weil. His path began in an army barracks and led to a doctorate in the birthplace of this medicine. For that reason, the recognition is a fitting one.
For over 20 years, Dr. Tony has delivered personalized, compassionate care across South Florida. His patients come from Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and beyond. His clinical focus includes chronic pain, migraines, anxiety, neuropathy, and sports injuries.
In practice, that means no generic protocol and no one-size-fits-all treatment. Instead, each patient works with a practitioner who has trained on three continents and studied under respected teachers. He has also treated thousands of patients. Above all, he has never stopped pushing to know more.
Ready to experience the difference? Call 561-633-3537 to schedule your appointment
Peace and Blessings, Dr. Tony Willcox, PhD, D.A.O.M.
Dr. Tony Willcox stands beside the public notice of his dissertation defense at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine. By tradition, the university posts the notice openly for faculty and students. It names the examining committee and the hour of the examination. With this defense, Dr. Willcox became the first Western graduate in the university’s 60-year history. It capped years of advanced clinical training and research under Professor Yang Jun.
Dr. Tony Willcox with his dissertation defense committee, including his advisor, Professor Yang Jun. The photo follows the successful defense of his PhD at Anhui University of Chinese Medicine.
Seated (L to R): Aihong Yuan (袁爱红), Qingping Zhang (张庆萍), Guoming Shen (申国明), Huayuan Yang (杨华元), Zhishun Liu (刘志顺), Jing Wang (王茎). Standing (L to R): Bingxiang Zha (查必祥), Wenping Ang (昂文平), Jun Yang (杨骏), Tony Willcox (吴尔夫).
Dr. Tony Willcox (red gown, third from left) at graduation — Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, China. Red gowns signify doctoral graduates.