Dr Pema Dorjee concludes speaking tour of South America
Friday, 21 September 2007, 10:58 a.m.
Dr Pema Dorjee speaking at UNIFESP in Sao Paulo, Brazil |
New York: Dr Pema Dorjee, one of the senior most physicians of the Dharamshala-based Tibetan Medical Institute, successfully concluded a three-week speaking tour to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia in South America.
The tour was organized by the Central Tibetan Administration’s Liaison Officer for Latin America, Mr Tsewang Phuntso, in collaboration with the Federal University of Sao Paulo’s School of Medicine and Association Palas Athena in Brazil, Kagyu Tekchen Choling in Argentina, Coporacion Cultural Tibetana in Chile, Peruvian Tibetan Cultural Association and Peruvian University of Medical Sciences (Cayetano Heredia) in Peruand FPMT Center in Colombia.
Mr Tsewang Phuntso accompanied Dr Pema Dorjee during his speaking tour.
During the five-day visit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dr Dorjee gave a three-day extension course on Tibetan medicine at the Federal University of Sao Paulo’s School of Medicine from 2 September. He spoke on practical introduction to the Tibetan medical system; therapeutic aspects of the Tibetan medical system; and the approach of Tibetan medical system to cardio-vascular, gastric, and nervous system.
An open leture in Sao Paulo |
The course was attended by 72 university professors, researchers, post-doctoral students and a few invited guests of Association Palas Athena.
On 5 September, he delivered an open lecture at the university attended by 400 university teaching staff, researchers, and students and others interested in Tibetan culture.
The program at the Federal University of Sao Paulo’s School of Medicine is an outcome of the agreement signed between the university and Office of Tibet last year during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Brazil to undertake a collaborative program to explore the interface between Mind and Body and its effect of Health.’
This collaborative work is currently partnered by the Federal University of Sao Paulo’s School of Medicine, Association Palas Athena, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archive, and the Tibetan Medical and Astrology Institute. It is coordinated by the Office of Tibet in New York.
Participants at a three-day extension course in Sao Paulo, Brazil |
While in Sao Paulo, Dr. Dorjee also visited various research departments of the university and the Brain Institute of the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital (AEIH), Latin America’s most advanced private hospital.
During the second leg of visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina from September 7 to 9, Dr. Dorjee delivered a talk on ‘Role of individual food habit and life style on personal health,’ at the Argentinean medical council. This was followed by another talk at Kagyu Thekchen Choling, each talk attended by 100 to 125 people.
In Santiago, Chile, from 10 -12 September, Dr Dorjee spoke on ‘Tibetan approach to depression’ to 24 psychiatrists and 38 psychologists of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chile’s Faculty of Medicine.
He also gave a talk at the University of Americas, Instituto de Formacion
Transpersonal Integral (IFTI) and Tribeca Culture Center. More than 300 people attended these talks.
He also gave an exclusive interview to the ‘El Mercurio’, Chile’s conservative national daily which enjoys the largest circulation.
Dr. Dorjee delivered three talks on Tibetan medicine at the Peruvian University of Medical Sciences (Cayetano Heredia), during his 3-day visit in Lima, Peru from 13 to 15 September.
During the last leg of his visit in Colombian capital Bogota from 16 to 18 September, he spoke on ‘Tibetan medical approach to keep the body in balance’ at Bogota Royal Hotel. The talk was organized by the Santa Fe Medical Foundation of Bogota for their members, and around 80 people attended the lecture.
He also delivered talks at the Javeriana University, a private higher education institution founded in 1623 by the Society of Jesus, and Yamantaka Buddhist center.
He left for India on 19 September, after successfully concluding his visit in five South American countries.
–Report filed by Office of Tibet, New York