Themed on "physical and mental health – crossing the border", the conference was attended by about 300 scholars in Tibetan medicine and other related fields from 20 countries including China, the United States, Russia, and Australia.

 

At the opening ceremony, Jigme Phuntsok, chairman of the Tibetan Medicine Specialty Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and chairman of the board of the Qinghai Jiumei Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd., made a speech and he said that Tibetan medicine is the brainchild of Tibetan ancestors, and is a contribution to all mankind as well as a collective asset of mankind. Different countries and people of different color should all pay attention and show care to it. And scientific methods should be used to systematically research it and critical thinking should also be used to separate truth from fiction, which will make Tibetan medicine contribute its due share to promote and maintain mental and physical health of human beings.

 

During the two-day conference there were six themed sessions and one round-table discussion were held and a total of 36 scholars including 9 from China and 27 from abroad  made speeches.

 

The report showed the latest research results in each respective field including basic theory of Tibetan medicine, clinical practice, diagnosis and treatment methods, international communication, modern research into Tibetan medicine, research into psychosomatic disease combining Tibetan medicine and modern science and other areas.

 

At the conference, Dr. Rudolph E.Tanzi, life-long professor and vice president of the Harvard Medicine School, researcher Yin Ba, vice president of the Tibetan Medicine Hospital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and Dr. Janet Gyatso, Harvard Divinity School associate dean for faculty and academic affairs, each provided a themed report focusing on topics of the potential value of natural drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease, an introduction into the Tibetan medicine and calendar, and the challenges in Tibetan medicine research.

 

The conference was hosted by the Tibetan Medicine Specialty Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and jointly organized by the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and other famous institutions.

 

40 Chinese experts and scholars from the Tibetan Medicine Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region, the China Tibetology Research Center, Qinghai Jiumei Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd. and other institutions attended the meeting.

 

The Tibetan Medicine Specialty Committee of World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies was founded in August 2015 in Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province. It currently has 50 member units with over 500 members, mainly from Tibetan medicine enterprises and institutions in Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunan Province, with an aim to expand the influence of Tibetan medicine internationally, speed up the process of modernization and internationalization of Tibetan medicine and promote the overall development of Tibetan medicine.

 

(The author Rinchen Tongdru is the Secretary General of the Tibetan Medicine Specialty Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and associate professor of the Tibetan Medicine School of Qinghai University)