Ian Baker is a medical anthropologist, explorer, and is the author of five books on Himalayan medicine, art, and culture.
Ian Baker traveled to Nepal in 1977 to study Himalayan art and Buddhist philosophy. After completing a Masters Degree at Oxford University, he returned to Kathmandu where, for seven years, he served as Academic Director for an American college semester abroad program. He launched the Tibetan Studies Program for the School for International Training and went on to write five books on Tibetan medicine, art, and culture.
His latest work, The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise, chronicles a series of expeditions which he led into Tibet’s fabled Tsangpo Gorge and his team’s discovery of a waterfall that had been the source of myth and speculation among geographers for more than a century.
His articles and photographs have appeared in National Geographic Magazine and Explorers Journal. He is the co-founder of Rare Journeys, an educationally-oriented travel company, and a board member of Shambhala. He is currently completing a Ph.D in Medical Anthropology at University College London.