Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, PhD - USA, India
Bhaswati Bhattacharya dividing her time between Manhattan and Benaras. Since 2002, she serves as Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. She has recently completed a PhD in Ayurvedic chemistry, pharmaceutics, and pharmacology (Rasa Shastra & Bhaisajya Kalpana) from Banaras Hindu University, focusing on polyherbal formulations for diabetes. She was recently awarded as a Fulbright Specialist 2018-2022 in Global Public Health specializing in Integrative Medicine.
She is a Harvard-trained physician-educator, working for 20 years to bridge indigenous medical systems with mainstream biomedicine. Her formal training includes a B.A. (University of Pennsylvania) in liberal arts focusing on neuroscience, a M.A. (Columbia University) in Pharmacology with 5 years of PhD work in neural development, an M.P.H. (Harvard University) in International Health, a M.D. (Rush University of Chicago) doctorate in medicine, formal residency training in urban family medicine (Columbia University) and in preventive medicine (Mount Sinai, NY), a course in integrative nutrition at Teachers College-Columbia University and a PhD (Banaras Hindu University) in Ayurvedic chemistry, pharmaceutics, and pharmacology (Rasa Shastra & Bhaisajya Kalpana), specializing in the scientific basis for polyherbal and metallo-mineral formulations.
She also has formal training in holistic health counseling, yoga, Ayurveda, energywork, mindbody medicine, homeopathy, and aromatherapy. Bhaswati’s holistic training comes through numerous formal courses and apprenticeship format still practiced by traditional healers in Tibet, India, China, Nepal, Brazil, Nigeria, El Salvador, and South Africa. During her 2013-2014 Fulbright award, she studied herbomineral formulations called 2013-2014 Fulbright award, she studied herbomineral formulations called bhasmas and their use in improving vitality, known as Ojas in Sanskrit.
She has delivered speeches internationally, including a talk on World AIDS Day at the United Nations for amFAR, retreats and workshops focusing on medicinal plants, and technical lectures on herbal medicines around the world. Selected in the list of 2014 Top 50 Thinkers of India by MTC Global, she is known for her well-informed views on public health, biodiversity, Ayurveda and topics related to indigenous medical systems. She has consulted on projects for several beauty and cosmetics companies, including Emami/Zandu, TulsiRose, L’Oreal, Reebok and Unilever. A documentary film on her work, Healers: Journey into Ayurveda is shown on The Discovery Channel. Her first book Everyday Ayurveda is a national bestseller published by Penguin Random House in 2015.
