Transnationalism and Changing Medical Practice Paradigms in Exile Tibetan Medicine and the West

Medical practice crossing national boundaries is a common phenomenon in contemporary Tibetan medicine, especially among exile practitioners in India and Nepal. Both in the form of medical tours abroad or local treatments of foreigners and via telemedicine, doctors provide transnational medical care. However, due to such expanded medical practice or phenomena like telemedicine and innovations in treatments, varying degrees of changes in contrast to national treatment paradigms occur that raise questions about medical efficacy or benefit for patients. Using participant observations and interviews with Tibetan medical doctors and patients, I will conduct multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in India, Nepal, and Europe to explore and analyse transnational Tibetan medical practices. I will try to determine to what extent this trend transforms essential principles, perceptions, and representations of Tibetan medicine to offer a better understanding of the value and limitations of transnational medical practice, both for practitioners and patients of Tibetan medicine.