Uma Bhatnagar
Dr. Uma Bhatnagar is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM). She is a California board-certified acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist. Dr. Bhatnagar graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) and received a Master of Science degree. Later, she received a Doctorate of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree (DAOM) from ACTCM. Her thesis, “Fetal Education in Early and Medieval Chinese Medicine”, focuses on specific Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) pregnancy and postpartum practices. She did a doctoral residency in women’s health at Shanghai University Hospital. She is a student of Ayurvedic physicians, Dr. Vasant Lad, and Dr. Vivek Shanbag; a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner (CAP) and trained in Tibetan medicine with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang.
Dr. Bhatnagar is also an Indologist, who did her graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Oriental Studies, where she studied Hindi and Sanskrit, and received a Master of Arts degree. She was a PhD candidate in Indian Philosophy, under the direction of Drs. Ludo Rocher and Wilhelm Halbfass. She received a U.S. State Department Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for 3 years for Hindi language study. In her private life, she has had a life-long association with India. Her husband was Indian, she was married in India, and her two children were born in India.
As a SFSU Holistic Health faculty member since 2003, Dr. Bhatnagar brings the perspective of a clinician, scholar, and educator. At SFSU, she has taught upper division students and developed original course content. Dr. Bhatnagar offers an integrative model of healthcare, highlighting the medical theory and practice of traditional medical systems from China, India, and Tibet. She has also initiated interactive mind and body practices such as meditation, Qigong, Yoga, as well as preventive diet and nutrition. She is committed to providing SFSU students with an integrative, practical, and transformative model of healthcare.
Dr. Bhatnagar’s research and teaching interests include the transmission and interaction of Greek, Islamic, Chinese, Ayurvedic, and Tibetan medicine along the Silk Road. Other areas of interest include chronic inflammatory disease, autoimmunity, and particularly, the integrative treatment of traumatic stress.
She was very blessed to have been a close student of Swami Chinmayananda Ji (1916-1993), the founder of the Chinmaya Mission, for the last ten years until his passing in 1993. Since 2005, she has been attending Morari Bapu Ji’s Ram katha teachings in Hindi on the Ramacharitamanas of Tulsi Das.
She met Padmashri Dr. Prahlad Singh Tipanya in 2017. She recognized the same vision of tolerance and resilience in the poems of Kabir and offered to spread the message beyond the boundaries of countries and cultures. Thus far, their collaboration has resulted in four books: The Sakhi Tree: 56 Couplets of Kabir (2025); Heart of the Banyan Tree: The Kabir Songbook, Book 1 (2025); The Mango Sanctuary: The Kabir Songbook, Book 2 (2025); and Kabir 4 Kids: The Sant Kabir Alphabet (2026).