Learning Ayurveda will change your life.
During her time in India, Jessica partnered with Turtle Bay Resorts in southwest Karnataka state to open a small Pañchakarma center. Over two year, she received patients 15 countries for traditional Pañchakarma, educational programs, Rasāyana (regeneration and restoration) and outpatient care. Working closely with the local community, she personally trained five Pañchakarma therapists and employed additional support staff.
After returning to the US, she recreated a traditional Pañchakarma center in the peaceful foothills of North Carolina from 2014 to 2016. However, the challenges of building high-quality Āyurvedic infrastructure in a rural location became too difficult for a small business. Later in 2016, she relocated to Southern California and connected with the Southern California University of Health Sciences’ Āyurveda Department where she taught clinical classes and managed clients.
Meet Jessica
Born, raised and educated in Boston, MA, Jessica Vellela spent nearly eight years in India to become the first American-born woman to graduate as an Āyurveda Āchārya (Āyurvedic Physician) and practice independently in India. Graduating at the top of her final year class with the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery degree (Āyurveda Āchārya) in 2012, she excelled in classical study of Āyurvedic literature and translation, medicinal compounding, and clinical practice in specialties including Pañchakarma.
No stranger to rigorous education, Jessica is a National Honor Society alumna of Boston Latin School and a self-made Data Architect with a 15+ year career. Drawing from her wide skillset, she is integrating current technology to make Āyurvedic education and practice more easily accessible to a Western audience.
With this unique combination of skills and perspective, Jessica trains professional Āyurvedic students in the depth of knowledge that has been missing in Western Āyurvedic education. She prepares students for success and advancement of Āyurveda in the coming decades.
Jessica works diligently to raise standards and awareness of scientific Āyurveda based on classical principles and biomedical knowledge today.
Jessica has been practicing and teaching Āyurveda since 2011.
He previously served in the Department of Integrative Medical Studies at the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and its School of Āyurveda, in Kerala. Dr. Prasanth manages exceptionally challenging and often incurable medical cases for patients who seek him out from every corner of India and from around the world. During his Post-Graduate and PhD studies, he directed and taught several of the country’s most highly respected educational programs for international students, including Western doctors and medical personnel.
Dr. Prasanth has contributed to and authored more than 60 international, peer-reviewed publications, co-authored the Foundations of Ayurveda 6-volume series, and authored two academic textbooks for Indian training. He currently serves as a reviewer for three international, peer-reviewed, indexed journals of Ayurveda.
His service for the Indian government includes setting up a Panchakarma extension hospital for AIIA on behalf of the Ministry of AYUSH at LBSNAA, Mussoorie, for the Base Hospital Indian Army, New Delhi.
He has also appeared for numerous international visits, talks and conferences as a representative for AYUSH in the French Reunion (10 days, 2016) and Birstein, Germany (guest lecturer at the 21st Ayurveda Symposia).
Dr. Prasanth presented online for the Embassy of Vietnam, participated in online deliberations in Kazakhstan, and in Germany for the 22nd International Symposia. He has spoken at more than 50 online programs and deliberations at various national and international conferences of India. He gave radio talks for the French Reunion.
At the All India Institute of Ayurveda, he is an accredited skills trainer for Panchakarma Technicians in India. He serves as a guide for Post-graduate and PhD students and has personally guided over 10 students' dissertation works to date.
Meet Prasanth
Dr. Prasanth Dharmarajan is one of India’s leading Pañchakarma experts. He is one of the first staff members of the All India Institute of Āyurveda (AIIA) and is currently an Associate Professor in the Pañchakarma Department. He designed and developed the department to handle hundreds of patients per day, created the first national standards for Pañchakarma Technician training in India and continues to manage the Institute’s post-graduate and PhD students. He currently teaches and trains international scholars through joint programs at AIIA and serves as the Secretary for the International Cell.
In 2015 he completed his PhD in Pañchakarma from the Institute of Teaching and Research (ITRA) in Jamnagar and became the first Āyurvedic Physician from the state of Kerala to achieve this super-specialty.
AYU Academy is the most comprehensive Ayurvedic education available outside of India today. Started in 2016 with the year-long, accelerated Svastha Acharya (Ayurvedic Health Coach), AYU Academy has changed the landscape of Ayurvedic education in the US with higher standards.
All courses, programs and textbooks were designed by Jessica Vellela, BAMS, and Prasanth Dharmarajan, PhD Ayu. The SA Program ran annually from 2017 through 2024 for a handful of highly committed students each year. Graduates continue to appreciate the rigor of the program and the depth of understanding that it provided them in all future endeavors.
Because of the intense nature of the program, AYU Academy is now offering it on a self-paced basis with the hope that it will be accessible to more students over time.