He has lived in Dharamshala, India since 1988 and serves as a personal physician to the 14th Dalai Lama, along with treating people in the local community.

[5][6] Kerzin did his residency at Ventura County Medical Center and practiced family medicine in Ojai, California for seven years.

[1][8] In the mid-1980s, B. Alan Wallace and the Dharma Friendship Foundation coaxed a lama from Dharamsala, Gen Lamrimpa, to come to Seattle for two years, and Kerzin served as his driver.

[9] In 1988 Gen Lamrimpa returned to India and Kerzin accompanied him, intending to take a six-month leave of absence from the University of Washington.

[1][5][6] He also began studying Buddhism and meditation, and 19 years after he moved there (in the early-2000s), he was ordained in February 2003 as a Bikkshu (Buddhist monk) by Dalai Lama.

[17] Kerzin is a fellow of the Mind & Life Institute,[18] which was initiated in 1985 to foster a dialogue between Buddhist scholars and Western scientists.

[25] This TV documentary received a largely negative review in the Wall Street Journal,[26] but a more positive one appeared in the New York Times.

[27] In 2023, he was interviewed by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Magazine 'PITTMED' with articles published on Cultivating Equanimity and Cures for Put-Downs.