SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

A History of Tibetan Medicine through Texts and Images

A group of four Tibetan doctors and researchers affiliated with the Tsongon Provincial Research Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Tsongon Tibetan Culture Museum will present a lecture on their research and the history of Tibetan medicine more generally.

Dr. Dorje  is a senior Tibetan medical doctor and currently the director of Tsongon (Qinghai) Provincial Tibetan Medical Research Institute. Dr. Dorje is also on the board of the Tso-Ngon Provincial Tibetan Medical Hospital, Tsongon Tibetan Culture Museum and Tsongon Arura Pharmaceutical Company. Dr. Dorje is also a visiting professor at the Tsongon  University Tibetan Medical College.

Dr. Dorje began his study of Tibetan Medicine in 1979 earning the highest Tibetan Medical degree in 1995 from Tsongon Medical College, Siling (Xining). Over the past thirty years, Dr. Dorje has practiced Tibetan Medicine and treated thousands of patients. He also has published numerous articles and books on Tibetan Medicine. With his leadership, the Tibetan Medical Research Institute is able to organize and publish a lot of Tibetan classical medical textbooks. In addition, he works as the chief editor of China Tibetan Medicine, the only national level Tibetan Medicine journal in the P. R. China.

Dr. Dorje has also involved in many Tibetan Medicine research projects and some of them are national level research projects, which purpose to create new compound Tibetan medicine to treat chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disorders. Dr. Dorje has been a team member of provincial and national medicine qualification and standardization expert group in P. R. China in the past ten years.

One of the outstanding projects the Tsongon Tibetan Medicine Research Institute under the direction of Dr. Dorje is to discover, acquire, collate/edit and publish ancient books and manuscripts on Tibetan medicine. As a part of the project output, about 90 books have been officially published.

Dr. O Tsokchen holds an M.D. in Biomedicine and is one of the leading experts on Tibetan Medicine today. Currently, Dr. Tsokchen is Professor and President of Tsongon University Tibetan Medical College, as well as President of Tsongon Provincial Tibetan Medical Hospital and the Director of Tsongon Tibetan Culture Museum. He also serves as President of Tsongon  Tibetan Medicine Association and Honorary President of Tsongon Biomedical College of Tsongon University.

Dr. Tsokchen has worked tirelessly with his Tibetan medicine teams in these institutions to establish, improve, and develop Tibetan medical teachings, clinical practices, and research since the 1980s, mainly in Tsongon (Qinghai)  Province of the PRC. At Tsongon University Tibetan Medical College, Dr. Tsokchen established the academic training program in Tibetan Medicine including Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral level programs in clinical medicine, pharmaceuticals, Tibetan medicine management, and major prevention.

Dr. Tsokchen established the Tsongon Provincial Research Institute of Tibetan Medicine where clinical trials test Tibetan medicine and its treatments. Several of these studies were recognized as “Best Research” at the provincial level in 2001 and 2004. Dr. Tsokchen also founded Arura Tibetan Medicine Group, which produces more than 300 types of Tibetan medicine for clinical treatment. Most of the medicine is used in clinics and hospitals around P. R. China.

Dr. Tsokchen established the Tsongon Tibetan Culture Museum. There, he leads a team collecting studying, and displaying historic Tibetan medical collectibles and Tibetan cultural antiquities. Currently, more than 20,000 pieces of artifacts have been collected. This museum is the only museum within China dedicated to Tibetan culture with focus on Tibetan medicine.

In addition to his leadership roles, Dr. Tsokchen has co-authored and edited ten books and numerous articles on Tibetan medical theory, the production of Tibetan pharmaceuticals, and various Tibetan medical treatments.

Tsem Gonthar is the vice director of the Tsongon Tibetan Culture Museum. He studied physics at university and taught for ten years at the Tsongon Normal College for Nationalities in Chabcha. During this period, in this same college he helped set up the first modern Tibetan science department. As director of the physics department, he supervised the compilation and translation of Tibetan language textbooks for scientific subjects. He also has a deep grasp on Tibetan culture at the grass root level as his parents and other family members live in a semi-pastoral farming Tibetan village.

Dr. Ba Dolma is a professor of epidemiology, specializing in laboratory experimentation. She has more than two decades of laboratory experience and has gained a wide knowledge of patterns of diseases on Tibetan Plateau.