About the Alliance

New Rivers Alliance is a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit expanding access to acupuncture-based preventive care for low-income and underinsured communities.

Founded by two doctoral-level licensed acupuncturists who met during their clinical training, the organization addresses a structural gap in healthcare: limited access to early intervention for stress-related physiological dysfunction and emerging chronic disease risk.

Our Vision

The Alliance is committed to advancing an upstream model of care that intervenes before physiological dysregulation develops into chronic, high-cost disease.

Rooted in a 2,000-year clinical tradition, acupuncture is a systems-based modality studied for its effects on autonomic nervous system regulation, stress-response modulation, and pain processing.

Chronic stress is a major contributor to cardiovascular, metabolic, sleep, and inflammatory disease. In the U.S., chronic conditions account for the majority of healthcare utilization and spending, often following long periods of subclinical dysfunction.

The Alliance was created to expand access to preventive, regulation-focused care within community settings.

Why It Matters

Chronic disease develops along a continuum, often beginning with early functional changes such as autonomic dysregulation, sleep disruption, fatigue, and persistent pain.

Despite strong evidence supporting early intervention, preventive care remains underutilized—particularly in low-income and underinsured populations.

As a result, early-stage dysfunction frequently progresses into more complex conditions requiring higher-cost, reactive care.

Expanding access to early intervention has the potential to improve outcomes and reduce downstream healthcare burden.

Our Approach

The Alliance delivers community-based preventive acupuncture care designed to intervene earlier in the disease process.

Our model includes:

  • Identification of early physiological dysfunction

  • Support for autonomic nervous system regulation

  • Consistant, structured clinical protocols

  • Standardized intake and outcomes tracking

  • Delivery through community clinic partnerships

This model positions acupuncture as a preventive, systems-regulating intervention within a broader continuum of care.

Our goal is to evaluate and scale a reproducible model for underserved healthcare settings.

Founders

The Alliance was founded by Joshua Laurenzi and Nina Saraceno, two doctoral level licensed acupuncturists who met during their clinical training and share a commitment to preventive, community-based healthcare.

Together they bring clinical expertise in acupuncture and a shared focus on early intervention, autonomic regulation, and the prevention of stress-related progression toward chronic disease.

Board of Directors

  • Joshua Laurenzi, DAOM L.Ac.

    Executive Director and Co-Founder

    Dr. Joshua Laurenzi is an acupuncturist, herbalist, and educator whose work centers clinical care, Chinese medicine education, and healthcare advocacy. He serves as Executive Director of New Rivers Alliance and previously served as Dean of Programs and Clinic Director at the Academy of Chinese Culture & Health Sciences, where he continues his professorial role. Dr. Laurenzi brings expertise in classical Chinese medicine, organizational strategy, education, and community-based health initiatives. He joined the board to advance access to Chinese medicine based preventative healthcare services and to support the responsible integration of acupuncture into modern healthcare systems. He is particularly passionate about expanding healthcare access for underserved communities and promoting preventative approaches that improve long-term health outcomes. Dr. Laurenzi operates a private clinical practice in San Francisco and is the author of Only Perfect Shadows: A Philosohpy of Classical Chinese Medicine.

  • Nina Saraceno, DAcCHM L.Ac

    Program Director and Co-Founder

    Dr. Nina Saraceno serves as Program Director of NewRivers Alliance, where she leads clinical strategy, organizational development, and community partnerships. She also maintains a private acupuncture practice in Santa Rosa, California, specializing in orthopedics, pain management, and stress-related conditions through evidence-informed preventive and integrative care. A lifelong dancer, she brings an embodied understanding of biomechanics and the role of movement in health and recovery. As a licensed acupuncturist with experience in community acupuncture and integrative health settings, Dr. Saraceno also teaches human physiology at Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences. She brings more than a decade of experience in the pediatric nonprofit sector, with expertise in program administration and trauma-informed direct service. As co-founder of the Alliance, she is dedicated to expanding access to preventive healthcare by addressing chronic stress and other upstream drivers of disease.

  • Jon Diskin, DAcCHM L.Ac

    Board Member

    Dr. Jon Diskin is a New Rivers Director and licensed acupuncturist specializing in integrated orthopedic acupuncture, pain management, and trauma informed emotional integration. His treatments seek to address the links between stress/trauma, physical pain and chronic disease to restore balance, reduce pain, regulate the nervous system and support the body’s innate healing intelligence. With a long term professional background in nonprofit management, business development and account management spanning the media relations, education and building trades sectors, Jon joins New Rivers to support its mission of expanding access to preventive healthcare that addresses chronic stress and upstream contributors to disease and assists the organization with fundraising, community outreach, and organizational development.