Biography
I am a postdisciplinary scholar fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between health, spirituality, and crosscultural exchange. I have a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teach courses in Asian history, religions, and health humanities at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. I also have been the editor in chief of the journal Asian Medicine: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine since 2016.
Research Interests
- Traditional Asian Medicine
- Asian Religious, Spiritual, and Mystical Traditions
- Buddhism, Mindfulness, and Meditation
Publications
Monographs
2025, Meditation Sickness: A Sourcebook on the Dangers of Buddhist Practice (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press).
2022, A Global History of Buddhism & Medicine (New York: Columbia University Press).
2016, Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga, Ayurveda, Revised edition (Bangkok: White Lotus Press).
2014, Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
Edited volumes
2024, Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press). Co-edited with Kin Cheung and Susannah Deane.
2020, Buddhist Healing in Medieval China and Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press). Co-edited with Andrew Macomber.
2020, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources (New York: Columbia University Press).
2017, Buddhism & Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources (New York: Columbia University Press).
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