Dr. Yeshi Dhonden

Dr. Yeshi Dhonden, personal physician to His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1960-1980), is a renowned traditional Tibetan Medical doctor and one of the worlds foremost living authorities on Tibetan Medicine. He was born in 1927 to a prosperous farming family in the village of Yamdro in a district called Hlo-go, close to Lhasa, Tibet. At age six his parents sent him to a small monastery comprised of approximately 400 monks. Because of his exceptional abilities in memorization, at age eleven he was sent to Men Tsi Khang the Medical Collage in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. While there, he memorized the four Medical Tantras and then entered into formal training under the director of the college, Kyen-rab Nor-bu.

Dr. Dhonden began his medical practice in 1951, returning to his home district and developing a high reputation for his great skill. When His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled from the Chinese Communists in 1959, Dr. Dhonden also decided to leave Tibet for India where he began treating Tibetan Refugees.

In 1960, at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dr. Dhonden was appointed to be his personal physician and he moved to Dharamsala. There he also took on the challenge of founding Men Tsi Khang, the Tibetan Medical College. He as both Director and principal teacher until 1979.

Dr. Dhonden first visited the U.S. in the mid-70's where he gave diagnostic demonstrations to many US physicians. He later returned in 1980 as a visiting professor at the University of Virginia Medical School where he gave a series of lectures and wrote the book "Health Through Balance". While there, he collaborated with the radiation Oncology department in a study evaluating the efficacy of Tibetan herbal preparations in the treatment of mice implanted wit sarcoma tumors.

In 1995 Dr. Dhonden became the Chief Medical Advisor of Menla Tibetan Medical Institute. Menla is an initiative under the auspices of Alternative Resources Unltd. Inc. II a nonprofit organization. The institute was founded to further the work of Dr. Dhonden, and to preserve the integrity of Tibetan Medicine through research and education. Menla is currently involved in developing the first formal study in the US assessing the efficacy of Tibetan Medicine in the treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer. This collaboration is with Dr. Debashish Tripathy, M.D., principal investigator, University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Fredi Kronenberg, consultant, Columbia University.

Today, at age 73, Dr. Dhonden still maintains his private practice in Dharamsala where he serves a great number of patients daily. Through the years, he has successfully treated thousands of people, both in India and throughout the world. He is the author of "Health Through Balance: An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine" and "Healing from the Source: The Science and Lore of Tibetan Medicine" as well as numerous articles written for the Library for Tibetan Works and Archives, India.