Tawni Tidwell, TMD, PhD, is a biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor whose work brings together Tibetan medicine, neuroscience, and Buddhist epistemology. She made history as the first non-Asian person to complete formal Tibetan medical training alongside Tibetan peers, offering a rare cross-cultural perspective in both research and clinical care.
Her research examines diagnostic approaches to cancer and metabolic disorders, meditative states, Tibetan medicine in the context of COVID-19, and the relationship between meditation and the gut microbiome. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she helps connect Tibetan and Euroamerican medical traditions through both scholarship and practice.
Tawni also maintains a clinical practice in Wisconsin and Austria, where she supports people living with chronic conditions through Tibetan medicine. She credits her path and accomplishments to her Tibetan medical teachers and her dharma teacher, Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche.