Thubten Phuntsok was born in Derge in the Kham region of the Tibetan plateau in 1956.  Growing up in a largely nomadic area during the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution, he gleaned his early education from a village primary school and from several lamas who taught him history, Tibetan grammar, and Buddhist ritual.  Thubten Phuntsok eventually apprenticed himself to a doctor and became a physician in a rural clinic.  He attended the Tibetan Studies Institute in Derge where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and then moved to Beijing to begin teaching at the Central Nationalities University.

Now Thubten Phuntsok is a senior Professor of Tibetology at Central Nationalities University in Beijing.  A leading scholar of Tibetan history, Professor Phuntsok was has published numerous books in a range of disciplines from grammar to medicine to ancient history.  He is a Distinguished International Fellow and Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia for 2009 and has held adjunct positions at several prestigious institutions in China and abroad.

Thubten Phuntsok joins Machik's advisory board not only with a distinguished academic reputation, but with a commitment to grassroots social transformation on the Tibetan plateau.  As the founder and president of TAPA (Tibet Association for the Prevention of AIDS), the first non-governmental organization on the plateau focused on AIDS prevention, he has spearheaded new educational programs and medical training initiatives to help protect rural communities from the advance of HIV/AIDS.