Current Study

North American COVID-19 Tibetan Medicine Observational Study 

NACTMOS

Funders and Supporters:

Project Description:

This project aims to study COVID-19 cases treated exclusively by Tibetan medicine in North America. Our goal is to demonstrate how Tibetan medical physicians provide care for mild and medium-severity COVID-19 cases in North America, and if such treatment approaches are shortening the course of disease, ameliorating symptoms differentially and/or preventing long-term effects of COVID-19. This project is a collaboration between Tibetan physicians in major city centers where Tibetan medicine serves large Tibetan immigrant populations. We review de-identified patient data on traditional and biomedical diagnostics, complex Tibetan geomedicinals and herbal formulas used during the course of treatment, clinical outcomes, patient experiences, and characterizations of how the physician-patient relationship was forged under pandemic conditions. We seek to integrate research mentorship of participating physicians and Tibetan college-age research assistants, as well as non-Tibetan undergraduate and graduate students interested in Tibetan medical research, to innovate distributed research methods amidst the New Normal.

Project Team:

Principle Investigators:

• • • • Tawni Tidwell, TMD, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
      • Tenzin Namdul, TMD, PhD, Epidemiology & Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota

Participating Tibetan Physicians:

• • • • Tawni Tidwell
      • Tenzin Namdul
      • Jetsun Cheme
      • Tsering Tsomo
      • Phuntsog Wangmo
      • Dickyi Yangzom
      • Yangbum Gyal
      • Tenzin Namdul
      •  Dawa Ridak
      •  Tsundu Sengye
      •  Anasuya Weil
      •  Tsering Youdon
      •  Nashalla Gwyn Nyinda
      •  Tawni Tidwell
      •  Nyima Youdon
      • Yangdron Kalzang

Research Assistants:

• • • • Jetsun Jungney— sophomore, neurobiology, University of California, Davis
      • Tenzin Palkyi —  UT Southwestern Medical School (1st year)
      • Natalie Skopicki — pre-med, Emory University
      • Kristin Blake — second year psychiatry resident, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Advisors:

• • • • Richard Davidson, neuroscientist, Center for Healthy Minds — University of Wisconsin-Madison
      • Melissa Rosenkranz, psychoneuroimmunologist, Center for Healthy Minds — University of Wisconsin-Madison
      • Richard MacLehose, epidemiologist, University of Minnesota
      • Sienna Craig, anthropologist, Dartmouth College
      • Erica Weirich, Director, Global Health Research Foundation; primary care physician, Stanford University