Lynnea Villanova MD

Physician | Playwright | Musician | Poet | Multimedia Creative Director | Healer

Dr. Lynnea Villanova is an interdisciplinary artist, physician, and creative director whose work bridges the technical precision of science with the emotional resonance of art. With over 30 years of experience as a board-certified physician in both family medicine and medical acupuncture—and as a specialist in Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurveda and integrative medicine—she draws on a lifetime of clinical experience to inform her exploration of consciousness, perception and the body as a site of transformation.

Dr. Villanova’s early academic path included hands-on neuroscience research in cellular electrophysiology. She performed whole-cell patch clamping in the lab of Werner Loewenstein, PhD—discoverer of the gap junction—and later contributed to single-channel recording research that led to an invitation to join the lab of James H. Schwartz, MD, PhD, a foundational figure in neurobiology. Though she ultimately pivoted toward clinical practice, her research background seeded a lasting interest in brain-body dynamics and the energetic and narrative mechanisms of healing.

As a clinician with deep expertise in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dr. Villanova is known for her advanced use of neurological scalp acupuncture—a technique shown on functional MRI to induce neuromodulation. She views this approach as an extension of, rather than a complement to, emerging energy-based brain interventions such as transcranial (through the scalp) magnetic, ultrasound and electrical stimulation therapies. She applies this integrated approach to conditions including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, post-stroke paralysis, ALS and autoimmune disorders. She has also developed treatment protocols in Chinese herbal medicine and allergy desensitization. Her practice—spanning internal medicine, gynecology and infertility, physical medicine, aesthetics and psychoemotional care—is rooted in holistic and results-oriented treatment. She has owned and directed multiple practices in integrative medicine, pain management and minimally invasive aesthetics, and has served as a clinical educator and advisor in both academic and regulatory settings, including a gubernatorial appointment as Physician Advisor to the North Carolina Acupuncture Licensing Board (2015–2017).

In her artistic work, Dr. Villanova brings this layered knowledge to life through music, poetry, visual design, and immersive performance. She is the co-founder and creative director of Aureola LLC and Curvilinear Productions, through which she develops multimedia projects that blend scientific insight with story, sensation and symbolic expression. Her large-scale video installation Projection Booth—featured at the 2024 BrainMind Summit—visualizes metaphoric correlates of consciousness and serves as a companion to Forms of Fire, her in-development multimodal theater project developed in collaboration with Andrei Codrescu, Micah Ariel James, Clove Galilee (director/choreographer), Melvin Gibbs (grammy-nominated composer) and Dean Parker (sound design; associate to Carter Burwell). The piece explores the neuroplastic aftermath of trauma through immersive design, language, sound and movement. and has been awarded a 2026 NYSCA Artist’s Support Grant

Villanova’s poetry has been published in Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art (Three Rooms Press, 2020-2024), alongside Thurston Moore, Anne Waldman and Nicole Eisenmann. A lifelong musician, she has performed as a semi-professional bassist and songwriter for over three decades, collaborating across genres and disciplines.

Whether in the clinic or on stage, her work continually investigates how narrative, movement, and the tangible human body interact with emotional landscapes and the elusive journey toward healing.

Link to full professional CV