Tawni Tidwell

Tawni Tidwell, TMD, PhD, is a biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor, the first non-Asian to complete formal Tibetan medical training alongside Tibetan peers. She integrates Tibetan medicine, neuroscience, and Buddhist epistemology in her research, focusing on diagnostic practices for cancer and metabolic disorders. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she bridges Tibetan and Euroamerican medical traditions, leading studies on meditative states, Tibetan medicine for COVID-19, and meditation’s link to the gut microbiome. She also maintains a clinical practice in Wisconsin and Austria, treating chronic and acute conditions with Tibetan medicine. Tawni has been fortunate to provide the potency of Tibetan medicine for the wellbeing of others from the remarkable opportunities to learn from her Tibetan medical teachers and dharma teacher, Phakchok Rinpoche.