Hugh MacPherson Memorial Lecture 2026

Gathering Evidence in Times of Crisis: Ear Acupuncture in Addiction + Mental Health Settings

Dr Khensu Carter in conversation with Rachel Pagones 

Dr. Khensu Carter is an Integrative Psychiatrist, Acupuncturist and NADA Registered Trainer.  He is first and second author on a number of primary research, concept focused, and policy-oriented publications.  Throughout his career, he has promoted & implemented NADA protocol as an adjunctive tool in population-based and clinical care wherever patients are being treated or wellness care provided.  He is a champion educator who lectures in the specialties of both medi-psychiatry & acupuncture.  Disseminating the knowledge of NADA protocol as best practice & collaborating on the "nuts & bolts" of seamless integration is a task he embraces as a personal and professional calling.     

Dr. Khensu will be interviewed by Rachel Pagones who is an acupuncturist, educator and author. Her clinical and personal interest in the provision of acupuncture to underserved communities culminated in the book Acupuncture as Revolution (Brevis Press, 2021), which locates the origins of the NADA protocol and community acupuncture among Black and Puerto Rican activists in New York in the 1970s. She continues to study and write about ways in which acupuncture is made accessible to disadvantaged groups. 

This conversation will explore clinical and socio-political contexts which have influenced the development of NADA protocol and the research which has stemmed from this.