Our Programs

Thailand Project

ดูหน้านี้ในภาษาไทย

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 ongoing Projects in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. We are excited to have Dr. Chirra Taworntawat, P.hD., who likes to be called “Coach Bank”, as our Director. 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 the vegan mentoring he does on his YouTube Channel Coach Bank, which has over 500,000 followers. You can find Coach Bank on his Facebook: เคล็ดลับง่ายๆรักษาโรคด้วยอาหาร และการเป็นเศรษฐีความสุข as well, where he receives millions of views.

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) to join the Mindful Meals program, which commits the Wat to serving only plant-based meals once a week for one year. To date, we now have MOU agreements at five different temples. These are the first agreements of their kind in Thailand. As the monastics are not allowed to ask for specific food, they are looking to us to help encourage healthy plant-based food as medicine for the health of the monastics.

We are replacing 20,800 animal-based meals with our five enrolled temples and with the vast influence each temple has on their community, the ripple effects of compassion to all beings goes far beyond the meals themselves.

People sitting on red step in front of golden Buddha statue inside ornate temple decorated with chandeliers and floral arrangements.
A woman in a white medical uniform and glasses is handing a small item to another woman in a blue shirt, during a gathering of elderly people seated on pink chairs in a decorated hall.
Our Thailand team, including Thailand Project Director Dr. Chirra Taworntawat (Bank) and Project Manager Aom Sasinan, sit with interviewers, along with our former President Bob Isaacson and Executive Director Andrea Diaz.

Our Thailand team, including Thailand Project Director Dr. Chirra Taworntawat (Bank) and Project Manager Aom Sasinan, sit with interviewers, along with our former President Bob Isaacson and Executive Director Andrea Diaz.

Our Thailand Team visits Buddhist Watts to educate monks on the health of plant-based diets, and offers free medical check-ups to monks.

Our Thailand Team visits Buddhist Watts to educate monks on the health of plant-based diets, and offers free medical check-ups to monks.

Former President Bob Isaacson hands a health kit to a young Buddhist monk at a DVA event in Thailand.

Former President Bob Isaacson hands a health kit to a young Buddhist monk at a DVA event in Thailand.

Thailand Project Director Dr. Chirra Taworntawat (Bank) holds a tray of delicious vegan ingredients for a plant-based cooking demonstration.

Thailand Project Director Dr. Chirra Taworntawat (Bank) holds a tray of delicious vegan ingredients for a plant-based cooking demonstration.

DVA’s Thailand team poses with a group of Buddhist monks after a vegan health and nutrition presentation.

DVA’s Thailand team poses with a group of Buddhist monks after a vegan health and nutrition presentation.

A young student looks through a plant-based nutrition guide supplied by DVA.

A young student looks through a plant-based nutrition guide supplied by DVA.

Presentations to monks at Wats

DVA Thailand Project, led by Director Dr. Bank, who has a Ph.D. in Public Health, has made over 150 well-attended presentations at 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 into multiple teams with additional speakers including Venerable Lene, Dr. Pete, and Thai Medicine Dr. Mink, who diagnoses the monks during the health presentations where she finds that at least 40% of them have non-communicable diseases caused by their diets.

Word of our presentations and cooking classes is spreading from Wat to Wat, as monks who have benefited greatly are eager to recommend DVA to others.

A large group of people, mostly women, posing indoors for a group photo. They are smiling, some are giving thumbs up, and holding banners related to Rotary and animal welfare.
Group of people standing in front of a banner, including monks, women, and a person in a green suit, all holding their hands together in a prayer gesture.
Two women wearing aprons and glasses standing outside at a restaurant or market, smiling at the camera, with the woman on the left holding a black bowl of cucumber slices and a transparent container of food.

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 discussing the health benefits of a plant-based diet. These sessions attract numerous monastics and reach over 800,000 people annually. Using his Public Health background, Dr. Bank and our staff are also sharing nutritional information with many monastics by telephone.

Our DVA team visited Trang, Thailand, in July 2024 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.

A woman being filmed with a camera crew in an outdoor setting. She is holding a tray of food and is having a conversation with a staff member. Green plants are visible in the background.

Meet DVA’s Thailand Project Team!

A young man with glasses and dark hair, dressed in a gray suit with a white shirt and a black bow tie, smiling. Background features ornate decorations and flowers.

  • 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 with a current following of over 550,000 and has multiple videos with millions of views.

    He gives health and nutrition presentations directly to the monks and teaches the cooking classes to the wat kitchen staff and manages our Thailand Project.

    Bank wrote and published the book Just Eat where he dives into over 150 research journals to recommend the best foods we should eat for optimal health. He graciously donates his book, which includes nutritional benefits of different foods found in Thailand, to the monastics who attend his presentations.

    Bank is currently expanding the Thailand Project to include an environmental team who will present the benefits of a plant-based diet for the environment to students around Bangkok.

Close-up of an elderly woman smiling, with short dark hair, wearing a white collared shirt, against a blue textured background.

  • 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.

A man in a suit and glasses sits at a desk with a sign reading 'Thailand' in front of him.

  • Jop is a Thai diplomat-lawyer with previous postings in Hong Kong and Denmark. He has also represented Thailand in various treaty neogitiations at the UN and elsewhere.

A woman with long dark hair smiling in front of pink and purple background.

  • 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.

A person wearing glasses and an orange robe, with a shaved head, standing against a gold-colored background.

  • 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.

A woman with shoulder-length dark hair and fair skin posing outdoors with a blue sky background.

  • Primary care physician who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine from the Northern State Medical University in Russia. 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.

Contact the Thailand Team

If you would like to volunteer to help DVA help animals and/or have questions or suggestions, please contact DVA’s Thailand team at banks@dharmavoicesforanimals.org.