CLEVELAND -- Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is becoming part of integrative medicine programs in the United States, experts said here Friday.

Major US hospitals, including local ones in Cleveland, have embraced TCM in recent years to offer best services to patients, said Jianping Zhu, provost of Cleveland State University, at the opening ceremony of the Cleveland Traditional Chinese Medicine and Materia Medica Forum.

The natural, holistic healing system, including herbal therapy, acupuncture, massage dietary advice and exercise, is gaining greater acceptance among Americans as the swimming legend Michael Phelps and other celebrities have helped popularize some TCM techniques including cupping, Zhu said.

Irina Todorov, another attendee, said her clinic has received over 7,400 acupuncture and 375 herbal visits since it opened in 2014.

"We must be humble and realize we do not have a strong and robust pipeline to solve all of our health problems," said Daniel Simon, president of University Hospitals of Cleveland.

"Our hospital is only 152 years old, and we talked about (Chinese) therapies today that are thousands of years old," Simon said. "We have too much to learn from you."

TCM and Western medicine can improve the overall medical services for mankind with each complementing the other to form a robust set of solutions to health problems, said Sang Binsheng, secretary general of the Beijing-based World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies.

Valarie McCall, chief of Cleveland's governmental and international affairs, reiterated the city's support for further integrating supplementary cures including TCM with mainstream healthcare, together with private partners like Cleveland Clinic.

The two-day event brought together dozens of renowned professionals from the United States, Canada and China to share their views on TCM clinical practices and scientific research.