Connie grew up in the "scenic city," Chattanooga, TN. There, she spent much of her childhood and college years exploring the rivers and mountains surrounding her hometown—hiking, camping, rock climbing, and rafting. As a result, she developed a deep love for nature. She even studied Ecology in college and spent her 20s working as a Naturalist (outdoor educator) at the Chattanooga Nature Center. Local kids knew her as "the animal lady" since she worked with owls, hawks, snakes, wolves, and other forest critters native to the area.

During this time, Connie’s health suffered, as she struggled with headaches, chronic sinus infections, and immune system issues. Luckily, she found a practitioner who introduced her to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbs and, later, to Acupuncture. Since that first dose of TCM herbs, she could feel the medicine working and hasn’t had a sinus infection since. Her headaches and immune system issues were resolved, so she began using this exciting ancient (but new to her) medicine for all sorts of other "normal" everyday issues, like menstrual cramps and digestive symptoms. She began to read as much as she could about this medicine, loving the TCM concept of humans having their own internal ecology. This instigated a "quarter life crisis," and Connie decided to change careers, taking her knowledge of Ecology and focusing it on the body’s internal ecology.

She began her TCM studies after this, commuting to Edgewood College of Georgia, a small TCM school in Atlanta, GA. She soon moved to Denver, CO, transferring to the larger and more well-established sister school, Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She thought she’d be in Colorado for the remainder of her time in school, then move back home to TN. That was 17 years ago...

She graduated and began her TCM practice in 2009, deciding to stay in this beautiful place with much larger mountains than back home. Her first job out of school was at East West Health Centers in the Denver Tech Center. She gained much experience working with medical and wellness practitioners of many types—Medical Doctors, Naturopathic Doctors, Psychologists, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, and other Acupuncturists. She learned how to work integratively with all these health professionals.

After 6 years of practice, she felt the need for a little more and decided it was time to go back to school. She completed the Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine program at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, OR. This required commuting to Portland from Denver for monthly intensive long weekends for 2 years. During her study, she participated in externships in various locations in Peru, at Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital in Nanjing, China, and at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. She also completed a capstone research project, Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Primary Headache: A Retrospective Chart Review. This study focused on migraine, tension-type headache, cluster headaches, and evidence showing successful treatment of them using Acupuncture and other modalities of TCM. She also published a case study in a professional journal, Meridians: Journal of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. The article was Successful Treatment of Whiplash Associated Disorder using TCM and other modalities in an Integrative Medical Clinic and was the result of her collaboration with the providers at East West Health Centers.

After receiving her clinical doctorate, she met Dr. Henry Wu, a leader in the field of TCM practice and research both in China and the United States. She moved her practice to his clinic and became the Lead Acupuncturist and Clinic Director, all while fine-tuning her skills alongside a master in TCM and Medical Qigong (another branch of TCM).

During this time, Connie was diagnosed and underwent treatment for cancer. She worked integratively with her oncology team and her TCM team. One of her oncologists commented that “she handled chemotherapy beautifully” (psst... it was still very difficult). She not only learned but embodied the efficacy of Acupuncture treatment during cancer treatments and into survivorship. She recently celebrated 5 years free of cancer!

Over the past couple of years, Connie has returned to school at Red Thread International Institute of Qigong, in Carbondale, CO, to learn another branch of TCM, Medical Qigong. She recently finished Advanced Medical Qigong Practitioner, the second of four levels of certification within the training. Medical Qigong addresses the same issues that Acupuncture and herbs address, but from another angle. Connie uses it to inform her Acupuncture practice, gives Medical Qigong treatments, and teaches Qigong exercises prescribed for each individual’s health situation.

Most recently, Dr. Presson has taken over ownership of her mentor’s clinic in the Denver metro area and renamed it Presson Acupuncture Medicine. She truly loves using her TCM knowledge blended with professional and life experience to create the best treatment plan for her patients.

Connie loves hiking, camping, skiing, nature, herbology, and cooking.