Dr. Kenneth Carter

Kenneth “Khensu” Carter 

M.D., M.P.H., L.Ac., Dipl.Ac. 

Dr. Carter is affectionately known as “Dr. Khensu” since the 1990s.   One translation of this ancient Kemetic appellation, short for “Khensu Nefer-Hotep”, is “he who heals the psychosomatic ills of his community”.  His career has been defined by the disciplined practice of alternative, complementary, integrative, and integrated medicine in diverse settings.  The many settings include emergency and urgent care, individual and group clinical care, community-based and population-based care, research and healthcare systems implementation, lay and medical education.    

Dr. Carter’s educational pedigree includes Johns Hopkins University as student and attending, Rutgers University Medical School as student, Albert Einstein/Montefiore Hospital as intern and psychiatry chief resident, Columbia University School of Public Health as psychiatric epidemiology fellow and master of public health, and Lincoln Hospital Acupuncture Recovery Center aka “Lincoln Detox”.  He holds board certifications for more than three decades in both psychiatry (ABPN) and comprehensive acupuncture (NBCAOM); his standing as National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) Registered Trainer spans several decades as well.  His passion for upgrading the practice of psychiatry and expanding options for whole health and wellness care remain strong.  In 2023, he was recipient of the “Organization Implementation Award” conferred by the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine;  he received this on behalf of NADA as President.       

A high honor of Dr. Carter’s career occurred in 2025 with his retirement from Veterans Healthcare System as Lead Educator in Whole Health Integration for primary care and mental health.   Currently, he is serving a second term as President of NADA and also maintains a part-time practice in general psychiatry and acupuncture.   He remains devoted to disseminating the good news of adjuvant NADA Protocol when combined with treatment-as-usual in addiction/substance misuse, general mental health, medi-psych care and the care of co-occurring conditions.   His commitments reflect a determination to facilitate, support and promote excellence in implementation and education of ear acupuncture as an effective, easily accessible, person-centered and trauma-informed tool that is almost universally applicable.  He describes himself as a humble heir of the “style and technique” of ear acupuncture as emphasized by its progenitors—the Father of Acudetox, Dr. Mutulu Shakur (acupuncturist) and the Founder of NADA, Dr. Michael O. Smith (psychiatrist).  Dr. Carter’s “compass and call-to-action” was their seminal 1979 publication “The Use of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Drug Addiction”.  Dr. Smith was his first acupuncture teacher (1982) and remained a dear mentor until his passing in 2015. 

   Dr. Carter is first or second author on a number of research, concept focused, and policy-oriented publications.  He offers national and international seminars, training, and consultation.