Tibetan Medicine Symposium, Feb 10 at U of T

Centre for International Health, Comparative Program on Health & Society, Munk Centre for International Studies & Centre for the Study of Religion, Faculty of Arts & Science
present

A TIBETAN MEDICINE SYMPOSIUMINTERACTIONS WITH THE WEST: CHALLENGES & CONTRIBUTIONS

Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 5:30PM-8PM
Campbell Conference Facility
Munk Centre for International Studies, 1 Devonshire Place
Registration: $20 faculty & $5 students from
Munk Centre e-registration: http://webapp.mcis.utoronto.ca/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=7150
Information: cphs.munk@utoronto.ca / 416-946-8891


SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM

5:30-6PM Dr. Frances Garrett and Jennifer Bright, PhD(candidate): Research on Tibetan Medicine at the University of Toronto
6-6:30PM Dr. Tim Cook: The Health of Tibetans in the Eastern Plateau – an Internists Perspective
6:30-7:30PM Keynote Speaker: Dr. Dorjee Rapten Neshar: Essentials of the Tibetan Medical System
7:30-8:00PM Q&A


SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS

Jennifer Bright received her MA in Religious Studies from Queen's University and is now a PhD candidate in Religion at the Centre for the Study of Religion. Between her MA and entry into the doctoral program she spent two years in India studying Tibetan in Dharamsala, and she has recently returned from another trip of several months, where she researched women’s health issues for exiled Tibetans in India. Her doctoral research focuses on perceptions of the body and of health and illness in Tibetan communities, and the role played by religion in such attitudes.

Dr. Frances Garrett received her doctorate in Buddhist Studies in 2004 from the University of Virginia. Her book, Religion, Medicine and the Human Embryo in Tibet (Routledge, 2008), links aspects of Tibetan medicine to expressions of culture, religion, art and literature through a study of embryology in Tibetan literature. Her current research considers the intersections between Buddhist practice, ritual and occult knowledge and medical theory, and what these tell us about the processes of institutional and ideological change in Tibet. Dr. Garrett has been Assistant Professor in the Centre for the Study of Religion since 2003.

Dr. Dorjee Rapten Neshar was born in Kyidong, Tibet. Following the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1969, he escaped to India with his family. Dr. Dorjee received his medical training at the Tibetan Medical College in Dharamsala where he completed intensive study in the Tibetan Medical System. Dr. Dorjee acquired most of his practical experience into the more profound level of health & healing through late Dr. Tenzin Cheodrak (the former chief physician to His Holiness The Dalai Lama). With over 18 years of dedicated service in the practice of Tibetan Medicine, he has attended many national & international conferences; presented many papers on Tibetan Medicine & has a number of published articles to his credit.

Dr. Tim Cook completed 4 years as a general duty medical officer with the Canadian Forces, and then, on completion of a general internal medicine fellowship and Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the London School spent 1995 through 2003 wandering the world wearing a blue beret. This sparked a keen interest in Global Health which subsequently led to an MPH from the London School as well. For the past 3 summers, he has visited a remote part of the eastern Tibetan plateau providing needs analysis for Inter-Citic Minerals Inc. Currently, he directs the internal medicine programmes including travel health for Medcan Corporate health Management in Toronto, teaches internal medicine residents at Mt Sinai Hospital, co-directs a course on integrative medicine at University of Toronto (Arts and Sciences) and continues a consultative practice with the Canadian Forces Environmental Medicine Establishment at Defence Research and Development – Downsview.