Biography
I am a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. I have a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teach Asian history, medicine, and religion at Abington College.
Research Interests
- East Asian History
- Asian Religions
- History of Medicine in Asia
- Buddhist Studies
Publications
• 2022, A Global History of Buddhism & Medicine (New York: Columbia University Press): Monograph summarizing a decade of research on Buddhist medicine, and accompanying the 2017 and 2020 anthologies.
• 2020, Buddhist Healing in Medieval China and Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press), co-edited with Andrew Macomber: Edited collection of essays with local and global perspectives on Buddhist healing in medieval East Asia.
• 2020, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (New York: Columbia University Press): Edited collection of 35 chapters by 31 contributors introducing translations of texts and ethnographic transcripts about Buddhist healing in the modern era.
• 2017, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources (New York: Columbia University Press): Edited collection of 62 chapters by 57 contributors introducing translations of texts about Buddhism and medicine covering much of premodern Asia.
• 2016, Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga, Ayurveda, Revised edition (Bangkok: White Lotus Press): Brief introduction to history and contemporary practice of traditional Thai medicine, with emphasis on cross-cultural influences and medical pluralism. (First edition: Hohm Press, 2007.)
• 2014, Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press): Significantly revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation, focusing on the translations strategies/tactics utilized in the introduction and assimilation of Indian medicine in medieval China.
Education
2010 Ph.D., History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD
2005 M.A., East Asian Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
1996 B.A., Anthropology & Cognitive Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA