We at DVA send Metta to all the Thai people. May you all be healthy and safe.
In 2020, DVA launched our third countrywide Project in Thailand, joining our Projects in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, which have been going strong. We are excited to have as our Director Dr. Chirra Taworntawat, P.hD., who likes to be called “Coach Bank”. Coach Bank is a former monk and is currently a Buddhist practitioner. He received his Ph.D. in public health at the renowned Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. He is bilingual, speaking Thai and English, having attended secondary school in the UK. Bank is also well known in Thailand for his vegan mentoring on his YouTube Channel Coach Bank, with over
500,000 followers. You can also find Coach Bank on his Facebook: เคล็ดลับง่ายๆรักษาโรคด้วยอาหาร และการเป็นเศรษฐีความสุข
We are working with the approximately 300,000 monastics in Thailand, the vast majority of whom eat a great deal of animal flesh and animal products and face a number of very challenging health concerns. Some of the biggest and most influential temples in Thailand are working with DVA by welcoming our presentations on the health benefits of a plant-based or, at least, vegetarian diet. Dr. Bank, P.hD gave our first presentation at the renowned Wat Mahathat in 2020. More recently, in the Spring if 2024, DVN and Wats Wachirathammawat and Sophanaram signed a historic MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), which commits the Wat to serving only plant-based meals once a week for one year.
Recent Presentations
DVA Thailand Project, led by Director Dr. Bank, who has a Ph.D. in Public Health, has made well-attended presentations at 120 Wats, including: Mahathat, Rama 9, Patrum, Toongsaeri, Ladprao, Prommarangsi, Lamkradam, Prayasurain, Gog, Lamgadaan, Somchin, Prachabumrung, Laksam, Witmuttayaram, Bangteoy, Pleang, Palerdtum, Lerdtumnimit, Todsatid, Hong, Mahapruktaram, NakProk, Prayong, Samakkitum, Khuchan, Perd Udom, Fuwannapum, Patum, and Paknam Phase Charoen. 
We have now branched out to multiple teams with additional speakers including Venerable Lene, Dr. Parinya, Dr. Pete, and Thai Medicine Dr. Mink, who diagnoses the monks during the health presentations.
Cooking Classes
In partnership with Sinergia Animal, DVA Thailand has been conducting cooking classes with the kitchen staff at a number of Wats, including Rama 9 and Lerdtumnimit. 
DVA believes that by offering classes on how to cook healthy, great-tasting food, the Wats will serve more plant-based meals, improving the health of the monks and setting an example for other Wats all over Thailand.
Dr. Bank, Ph.D., continues to make Facebook Live presentations on our DVA Thailand Facebook page about the health benefits of a plant-based diet with a number of monastics watching. Using his Public Health background, Dr. Bank is also sharing nutritional information with many monastics by telephone.
DVA’s President Bob Isaacson had a very productive meeting with the abbot of Wat Chet Lin in Chiang Mai. The abbot invited DVA to make a presentation hoping that we will help him persuade the other 21 monks to give up animals as food.
Our DVA team visited Trang, Thailand, in late July and made a presentation to almost one hundred monks on the health benefits of a plant-based diet and trained the kitchen staff of a well-known Wat on delicious and nutritious cooking.
DVA’s Thailand Project Team
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Dr. Chirra Taworntawat (Bank), Ph.D., Director of DVA’s Thailand Project, a Ph.D. in Public Health at Chulalongkorn University, former monk, and YouTube Channel personality. He gives health and nutrition presentations directly to the monks and teaches the cooking classes to the wat kitchen staff. |
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Aom Sasinan, Project Manager of the DVA Thailand Project started as the Assistant to the Director. Her dedication to the monks and their health is what drives her hard work for diet-change. Aom is an artist and she created the ”Vegan Saturday” program which now has two famous wats enrolled. |
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Venerable Lene |
Venerable Lene – Phra Akarin Kittico (Sethacharunan) Graduated from Kasetsart University in Food Science, healed himself from diabetes with a plant-based lifestyle and now gives lectures about diet-change to the monastics at the wats. |
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Dr. Mink |
Dr. Mink – Lt. Chanadda Preechachawut graduated from Ramkhamhaeng University with a major in Thai Traditional Medicine in 2017 and is currently a full-time doctor with her own clinic. She joins our presenters at the wats and provides Thai Medicine services for the monks. |
Dr. Parinya, Ph.D. |
Dr. Devanaruemitkul is an Professor, Thai Legal Scholar, former Vice President of Sustainability and is currentl lecturer for the Department of Public Law and Director of Faculty of Law Thammasat University. He gives presentations from the perspective of environmental awareness. |
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Dr. Pete |
Dr. Walucha Kobtikul is a primary care physician who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine from the Northern State Medical University in Russian. She is currently an intern at Queen Sirikit Hospital in the Chonburi Province of Thailand. Dr. Pete is studying for her Master’s degree in Epidemiology from Mahidol University. |
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Varapol (Jop) Chensavasdijai |
Varapol Chensavasdijar (Jop), Thailand Chapter Leader and Thai diplomat. |
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Venerable Bhante Anandajoti |
Venerable Bhante Anandajoti, member of DVA’s Advisory Board, Professor at International Buddhist College (IBC) in Songkhla, Thailand. |
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Heng Guan Hou |
Heng Guan Hou, Myanmar Chapter Leader, Entrepreneur, and Vice President of the Center for a Responsible future, formerly the Vegetarian Society Singapore. |
Contact the Thailand Project team:
