Van Der Valk, Jan M. a.: - Dr. Jan M. A. van der Valk is a scholar-practitioner trained in the fields of biology (University of Leuven), ethnobotany and anthropology (University of Kent), and Tibetan studies (Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu University). For his PhD dissertation in anthropology (2017) and currently as a postdoctoral researcher in the Austrian Science Fund project "Potent Substances in Sowa Rigpa and Buddhist Ritual" (University of Vienna), he has mainly focused on how natural substances are transformed into potent medicines by working with traders, manufacturers, and materia medica experts in Switzerland, India and Nepal. Van der Valk has been learning Tibetan medicine under Dr. Pasang Yonten Arya since 2012, started his own herbal dispensary in Belgium in 2017, and is the editor in chief of Bedurya Publications.