Classical training at BHU
Vandana completed her BAMS and an M.D. (Ay.) — Doctor of Medicine in Ayurveda, in the subject of Prasuti Tantra-Stree Roga (Obstetrics & Gynecology) — from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India — a central university of India and one of Asia's largest residential universities, whose Faculty of Ayurveda is among the oldest and most rigorous in the country. The 8½ years of training encompassed foundational Ayurvedic sciences, classical texts, pharmacology, and extensive supervised clinical practice.
Her specialisation in Obstetrics and Gynecology anchored her expertise in women's health across every stage of life — from fertility and pregnancy through to menopause. Among the scholars who shaped her thinking most profoundly was Dr. Manjari Dwivedi, whose work on women's health through Ayurveda left a lasting mark on her approach to both practice and writing.
Clinical career & teaching
After completing her postgraduate training, Vandana joined SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital — one of India's premier Ayurvedic institutions, in Hassan, Karnataka — as both a clinician and educator. Over five years, she taught graduate and postgraduate students in Ayurvedic Obstetrics and Gynecology while serving as Professor in the Department, affiliated with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. The clinical load was substantial, spanning outpatient and inpatient care across complex and varied presentations.
When Vandana relocated to the United States, it was a personal move — not a career one. She arrived without a professional roadmap in Ayurveda, and built one from the ground up: connecting with like-minded practitioners and organisations, contributing her expertise wherever it was welcomed, and working steadily to raise awareness of classical Ayurveda in a country where it was still finding its footing. As that awareness grew, so did the opportunities. Her appointment at the Center for Integrative Health, Ohio State University, was one such door that opened — and one she gladly walked through.
AyurveDatri — a mission
In June 2021, Vandana founded AyurveDatri — channeling over three decades of clinical and academic experience into a practice built for accessibility and depth, for clients seeking personalised care and for practitioners seeking rigorous training. Her scholarly contributions extend well beyond the clinic: she has co-authored two comprehensive texts — Stree Roga Vimarsha, on Ayurvedic gynecology, and Prasuti Tantra Sandarshini, on Ayurvedic obstetrics — both used by practitioners and students of the discipline across India.
She is the Founder and President of the Ayurveda Association of Ohio, and serves as Editor for the Ayurveda Journal of Health, published by the University of Massachusetts. She sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, published by AYUSH, Government of India, and JREIM — a journal of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India, in continuous publication since 1982. She also serves as Conference Convener for WAVES International's 17th Biennial Conference and 30th Anniversary — reflecting her standing in the broader global Ayurveda and Vedic scholarship community.
Roots of practice
Varanasi — one of the world's oldest cities and the historical seat of Ayurvedic scholarship — shaped Vandana's earliest understanding of medicine. Growing up immersed in Veda, Shad Darshan, and classical sciences alongside modern medicine and philosophy, she developed an early and abiding fascination with how traditional medicine worked — not just that it worked, but precisely why.
That intellectual curiosity — precise, questioning, grounded in observation — became the foundation she carried into 8½ years of rigorous academic training at BHU and the decades of clinical practice that followed.
"Raja Vaidya Pt. Shiv Kumar Shastri ji was not just a family friend and family Vaidya — he has always been my confidante, loving teacher and guide. I bow to the holy feet of my Guru and seek his blessings."