The faculty at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute is a community of teacher-scholars who appreciate the priority of excellent teaching while understanding the key role of academic endeavors.  It is a a spiritual association of educators where cooperation rather than competition is the norm, where the students and faculty, as allies in learning, are the rule rather than the exception, and where mutual respect and trust are a fundamental part of our daily spiritual observances following the Buddhist-Vedic-Yogic tradition.  A deep sense of community pervades the entire organization.  We each feel like Dharma brothers and Dharma sisters to each other striving to adhere to the Bodhisattva's Path of healing.

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Full Faculty

Ven. Losang Jinpa, D.Ayur, C.M.T., Master Ayurvedic Herbalist (M.A.H.)

Director, President, Asian Bodywork Therapist, Graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute, Co-Founder of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute and the Medicine Buddha Healing Center

Co-founder of the school and one of two resident full faculty members, Losang is author of “Medicine Buddha Herbs”. 

He completed a six-year 1800-hour apprenticeship with Dr. Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., the world-renowned Ayurvedic Physician with 38 years experience who founded the Ayurvedic Institute – the premier Ayurvedic educational institution outside India. Trained by Dr. Lad as a clinician, pulse reader and teacher, Losang served on the Ayurvedic Institute’s faculty where he taught herbology.

A graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute, Losang continued advanced clinical study where he observed Dr. Lad healing over 1900 patients in India and the U.S.    Dr. Lad said, “Losang is a dedicated, compassionate, highly spiritual person who was put on this planet to heal people.”  

In 2000, Losang was one of the first Ayurvedic Herbalists ever to be awarded Diplomate of Ayurveda (D.Ayur) by the American Ayurvedic Association (AyurvedicAssociation.com).  Losang’s 8 years of scholarship included Chinese Medicine theory and two intensive Tibetan Medicine study trips to H.H. Dalai Lama’s Tibetan Medicine & Astrological Institute in the Indian Himalayan Mountains (www.tibetan-medicine.org), where he studied with Tibetan Dr. Kelsang Dorje. 

In 2000, Losang co-founded the non-profit Medicine Buddha Healing Center and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute to revive the age-old integration of Buddhism with Indo-Tibetan Ayurveda.  He now teaches three times weekly in Berkeley at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute and monthly in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Institute of Ayurveda and maintains his busy Ayurvedic practice in these cities under the tutelage of his mentor Dr. Bill Celentano.

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Rev. Dr. William Celentano, D.O., D.C., Osteopathic Physician, Clinical Ayurveda Therapist (C.A.T.)

Co-Founder, Board Certified Urgent Care Physician, University Medical Hospital

Co-Founder of the school and one of two resident full faculty members, Dr. Bill, a primary and urgent care physician, is board-certified in family medicine.  He received a degree in Osteopathic Medicine from Midwestern University with special training involving Osteopathic treatment in the Cranial Field and completed a residency in Family Medicine at the San Bernardino County Medical Center. 

Prior to returning to medical school, Dr. Bill graduated from the National College of Chiropractic.  Interest in Acupuncture and Meridian Therapy led him to two trips to China to work with physicians at the Shenzhen Hospital of Oriental Medicine. 

Dr. Bill is presently the Director of the Las Vegas Institute of Ayurveda (www.AyurvedaLV.org) and a Staff Physician at the McCarran Clinic of University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Dr. Bill continues his study of Ayurveda with Dr. Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., world-renowned Ayurvedic Physician, educator, and founder of the Ayurvedic Institute (the premier Ayurvedic educational institution outside India), Dr. Partap Chauhan (Jiva Ayurveda Center, India), and also Dr. Sunil Joshi (Vinayak Ayurveda Center).

Dr. Bill incorporates a valued synthesis of Western Medicine concepts with the time-tested wisdom of Ayurveda. 1990.  He has been involved in the incorporation of an integrative approach to medicine and healing practice since 1982.

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Adjunct Faculty

Rev. Dr. Partap Chauhan, B.A.M.S., Ayurvedic Physician from India, Master Ayurvedic Herbalist (M.A.H.)

Dr. Chauhan is a regular adjunct faculty member teaching Ayurvedic Rasa Shastra (metallic, mineral and gem herbal compounds), Ayurvedic Herbal Wine and Tincture Making and Advanced Herbology at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute.  Dr. Chauhan is teaching for the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute via both in-person in-classroom lectures and via distance learning multimedia audio and video courses.  Dr. Chauhan hosts our Institute’s yearly India Study-Abroad Program in his busy clinic and school in the countryside outside of Delhi.

Dr. Chauhan, Director of Jiva Ayurveda Center for Incurable Diseases (www.Ayurvedic.org), has an extensive background in Vedic philosophy and spirituality and is an accomplished Vaidya (Ayurvedic Doctor) practicing Ayurveda in its original form.  In 1980 he joined the Delhi University’s Ayurvedic College, graduating second in his class. 

Formal education did not suffice to quench his deep thirst for knowledge so he searched for a guru to unlock the secrets of Ayurveda.  His search culminated in 1983 when he met with the late Shri Nanak Chand Sharma, an expert in Rasa Shastra (alchemy) and the preparation of Ayurvedic medicines.  Dr Chauhan undertook five years of grueling full time study under Vaidya Sharma’s active guidance, and mastered the intricacies of herbal medicines and their preparation.  In 1991, while still studying under the tutelage of Vaidya Sharma, he started his own practice south of Delhi.  He also established the Jiva Pharmacy to create purely Ayurvedic medicines. In these years, Dr Chauhan has toured and lectured in many countries worldwide helping chronic patients.

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Dr. Subash Rana, A.M.B.S., Ayurvedic Physician from India, Master Ayurvedic Herbalist (M.A.H.)
 

Completed in 1959 a Six-Year Full Time Ayurvedic Physician Degree Program in Haridwar, India at the Gurukula Kangri Ayurvedic University.  He has since 1959 actively treated over 50,000 patients in India.  Dr. Subash Rana is regularly offering advanced seminars on East Indian herbology and Rasa Shastra at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley.  Dr. Subash Rana does joint consultations with Losang at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center during the mornings and also sits in on many Elephant Pharmacy consultations on Sundays.

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Rev. Michael Dick, M.A., Pulse Diagnostician, Master Ayurvedic Herbalist (M.A.H.)
 

Michael Dick is the author of the 20 chapter The Ayurvedic Herbology Handbook, the in-depth textbook edited and compiled by Michael Dick, M.A. of Dr. Vasant Lad’s Ayurvedic Institute.  This text is used as the primary textbook for the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute’s first year herbology course: “Ayurvedic Herbology I (HRB108)” – 4.00 trimester units / 60 course hours.  This course is the longest single course in our First Level Clinical Ayurveda Therapist (C.A.T.) Diploma Program.

Mr. Dick is one of the regular adjunct faculty members at both Dr. Lad’s Ayurvedic Institute and our Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute and is the author of more than 40 well-researched articles on Ayurveda.  Mr. Dick co-taught herbology with Losang Jinpa at the Ayurvedic Institute. He also instructs the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute’s courses on the Sanskrit Ayurvedic Classic Texts such as the Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam. 

Like his fellow faculty member and colleague Mr. Kreuzer, Michael Dick also completed a six-year 1800-hour apprenticeship with Dr. Lad.  Mr. Dick has a B.A. in Psychology and extensive Ayurvedic training with a focus on herbology and pulse diagnosis including a two year Master’s Program in advanced Ayurveda in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Lad’s 1-year Ayurvedic Studies Program, five years in advanced clinical Ayurvedic study (Gurukula) with Dr. Lad, Pancha Karma training in Massachusetts, and training in India under the guidance of an Indian Vaidya.  Additionally he has studied western herbalism, Jyotisha, palmistry and cranio-sacral therapy.  Mr. Dick has been a private Ayurvedic practitioner for the past nine years.

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Rev. Vijaya Stallings, M.A., Ayurvedic Practitioner, Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist Specialist (C.A.H.S.)

Graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute, Co-Founder of the Dhanvantari Ayurveda Center.  Vijaya is available in Berkeley for teachings during the summer each year.  He practices Ayurveda at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center from early May to mid-August of each year.  The rest of the time he is at the Dhanvantari Ayurveda Center in Newport News, Virginia.

Ayurvedic Psychology courses are taught by Vijaya Stallings, M.A. in Counseling Psychology, busy Ayurvedic Practitioner, 1991 graduate of Dr. Lad’s Institute and student of celebrated Tibetan Dr. Lobsang Rapgay, Ph.D. 

 

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Thomas Billings, B.S., M.A., M.S., Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist and Statistical Research and Analysis Instructor, Clinical Ayurveda Therapist (C.A.T.)

Since 1994 Thomas has studied Ayurvedic nutrition, herbology and Ayur-Yoga with Dr. Vasant Lad at Mount Madonna Center in Santa Cruz mountains area of California and at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico.  Thomas is a prolific author of articles on Ayurveda, raw foods and vegetarianism.  His website is www.BeyondVeg.com.  He has been a vegetarian for 30 years with experience as an Ayurvedic diet therapist, a raw foods specialist, a past “fruitarian”, and is an Integral Yoga Institute Teacher in the tradition of Swami Sat Chit Ananda. Thomas has earned a Master of Science degree in Statistics from the University of Texas at Dallas and was a Doctoral Candidate in Statistics at U.C. Berkeley. He is highly qualified to teach our Statistical Research and Analysis courses and Ayur-Yoga courses.

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Dr. Xiao-Tong Gong, D.O.M., Ayurvedic Practitioner, Buddhist Healing Arts Practitioner, Clinical Ayurveda Therapist (C.A.T.)

Dr. Gong co-teaches some of our Chinese Medicine and Buddhism classes.  She is a 2002 graduate of the International Institute of Chinese Medicine (www.IICM.org) and has completed more than 300 hours of study with Dr. Vasant Lad at Mount Madonna Center in Santa Cruz mountains area of California and at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico where she completed her studies in 1999.

 

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Rev. Satish Roberts, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist Specialist (C.A.H.S.)

Co-Founder of the Medicine Buddha Healing Center, Graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute

Satish has completed a five-year 1200-hour apprenticeship with Dr. Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute in both New Mexico and Pune, India.  Satish is one of only 2 students to have attended four consecutive 120-hour clinical programs in Pune, India with Dr. Lad (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).  Satish has be trained by Dr. Lad as a clinician, pulse reader and herbalist.  Satish is a 1998 graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute and continued his advanced clinical study where he observed Dr. Lad healing over 3000 patients in India and the U.S.

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Jai Hanuman, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Sanskrit Pundit, Mantra Therapist, Clinical Ayurvedic Herbalist Specialist (C.A.H.S.)

Jai Hanuman is a devotee of Sri Hanuman and attended the one-year 700-hour Ayurvedic Studies Program with Dr. Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico.  Jai Hanuman has be trained by Dr. Lad in the ancient Sanskrit texts of Ayurveda. Jai Hanuman offers our Ayurvedic Sanskrit course in a multimedia audio-video distance learning format. He is fluent in French, English and conversant in Hindi and Sanskrit and has done both Sanskrit tutoring and independent study, inspired by his profound love of this ancient sacred language. Jai Hanuman now conducts regular Sanskrit Intensives for the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in Berkeley.

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