Who is Lily?
Roots
Lily van Wijngaarde-Chen (陈筱霞) grew up in China, in a family of medical professionals. Her father was a cardiac surgeon, her mother worked at the hospital. Healing was the natural backdrop of her childhood — not acupuncture or TCM specifically, but the deep conviction that the body deserves care and that medicine is more than treating symptoms. She has carried that attitude with her always.
The detour
Before becoming a therapist, Lily built a career as a university lecturer. For fifteen years she taught economics and English at a top university in China. Those years taught her something no medical training can convey: how to truly listen. How to explain complex things simply. How to see the person behind the complaint. She brings those skills to every treatment at Tianyi.
The calling
After her academic career, Lily returned to what had always called her. She studied Traditional Chinese Medicine at Shenzhou Open University and sought out the most experienced guidance she could find. She found it with Dr. Cong Zhang (张冲) — a specialist at a top-AAA hospital in China, internationally known for treating infertility, sudden deafness, post-stroke syndrome and chronic pain syndromes. Alongside his guidance, Lily worked on the acupuncture and TCM ward of a major hospital — the place where theory becomes clinical practice. In 2016 she opened Tianyi Health Center in the heart of the Jordaan. Three years later, the practice moved to its current location at Haarlemmerdijk 120A.
