Today we’d like to introduce you to Chih Fan Hwa.
Hi Chih Fan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My wife and I are the co-founders of Agape Acupuncture & Holistic Care.
For both of us, traditional Chinese medicine was not our first career, but rather a calling that emerged after years of reflection, searching, and self-rediscovery. Before switching to traditional Chinese medicine, I worked for three years as an ICU nurse in the mainstream medical system. While the work was meaningful and rewarding in its own way, it also exposed me to the limitations of crisis-oriented care. During those years, I began to ask myself: Is there another way to help people to restore health—one that is more holistic, preventive, and gentle without triggering a cascade of prescriptions?
My wife was on a parallel journey. She experienced the power and beauty of TCM since her childhood, which ignited her initial passion for the ancient healing art. However, at the age of 18, when it was time to choose a college major, she didn’t know better than being a law major with practical considerations. Yet the desire to be a healing professional to help people never left her.
Remarkably, we both arrived at the same question at nearly the same time: Why not explore a different path, in a different field? That question led us both to traditional Chinese medicine. We enrolled at Texas Health and Science University in South Austin, where we met and quickly discovered how much we had in common. After getting married, we continued our education together and eventually earned our doctoral degrees from Pacific College of Health and Science.
Throughout this major life transition, our faith has been our cornerstone. We are both believers of Christ. When the time came to open our own clinic, we prayed, searched, and ultimately felt called to settle in Pflugerville. Our desire was simple but profound: to help people heal and to share God’s love through our work. This conviction inspired the name of our clinic. As written in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” We felt a natural calling to integrate that love into our professional practice.
It has now been almost five years since we opened our doors. We continue to learn, to pray, and to serve with warm and open hearts. Over time, the clinic has become a healing harbor—a place where people receive the holistic, compassionate care they deserve. Strong in body, joyful in soul—that is our hope, and the reason we work so diligently, for our patients and for ourselves.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Can’t say it’s been a smooth road, but it’s definitely getting better.
When it comes to challenges, we don’t even need to talk about the heavy academic load of medical school as adult learners, or the difficulty of balancing work and study just to make ends meet while we were both students.
One ongoing challenge since opening the clinic is that running an acupuncture clinic is very different from simply being an acupuncturist.
As practitioners, our focus is on learning, refining our clinical skills, and treating patients to help them reach optimal health. That’s the heart of our work and where our passion lies. But operating a clinic requires much more than clinical expertise. Over the past few years, we’ve had to learn how to work with insurance companies, manage EHR systems, handle taxes, oversee inventory, and plan finances. In the beginning, all these details felt overwhelming and frustrating.
Over time, we came to understand that keeping the clinic financially healthy and operating efficiently is just as important as improving our medical skills. It’s what allows us to continue offering high-quality, affordable care to our patients.
We’re fortunate to have each other as partners in this journey. We’ve developed a working rhythm that allows the clinic to run smoothly while still giving each of us time to step back from management when needed. By taking turns focusing on operations, we create space for reflection, continued learning, and professional growth.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We, Agape Acupuncture & Holistic Care, are an acupuncture clinic, specializing in insomnia, fatigue, chronic pain, digestive disorders, allergies, anxiety and stress, and post-op recovery. Other than acupuncture, we also provide cupping (ba guan), scraping (gua sha), ear seeds, infrared therapy, tuina and herbal supplement.
Our core value is to support healing through in-clinic treatment and at-home self-care. Our mission is to ignite your inner healing power to get you back on track with healthier life.
For new patients, we begin with a detailed initial evaluation to understand the connection between their chief health complaint and overall health before proceeding with treatment. Our body is an organic whole, our organs don’t work on its own, they are all connected. We dig into overall health condition to figure out the root cause of a chief complaint. Proper treatment modalities will be applied after the evaluation.
Lifestyle is also studied to figure out what home care advices will be most beneficial.
Other than doing acupuncture on patients in the clinic, we also aim to lead our patients to get healthier and know how to take care of themselves at home. Their health independence is our ultimate goal.
The name Agape Acupuncture & Holistic Care is not only a reminder to us about Christ’s presence in our life and practice, but also a promise to our patients. As is said in Matthew 25:40 NIV, Truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. We promise to treat our patients bearing in mind that we are doing it for Jesus Christ.
If there is anything that makes us special, the top one on the list should be HIM.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
When I was young, I lived with my parents and my grandmother. She was a petite Taiwanese woman, healthy and full of energy. During the week, while my parents were at work, she was the one who cooked for the family. After school each day, what I looked forward to most were the sweet soups she made.
Sometimes it was red bean and barley soup, sometimes mung bean soup, sometimes honey lemon water, or ginger and brown sugar soup. Occasionally, there were soups with names I didn’t even know how to describe. At the time, I simply thought they were delicious. Looking back now, I realize that this was my earliest exposure to traditional Chinese medicine as part of daily life.
Through bowl after bowl of sweet soup, my grandmother quietly wove herbal wisdom into our everyday routine, turning nourishment into something warm, familiar, and deeply comforting.
Pricing:
- Acupunture treatment $70
- Cupping(ba guan) session $30
- Scraping (gua sha) session $50
Contact Info:
- Website: www.agapeacu.com
