Livia Kohn earned her Ph. D. in 1980. After six years at Kyoto University in Japan, she joined Boston University as Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies in 1988, then returned to Kyoto twice more for two-year stays.  She has also worked variously as visiting professor and adjunct faculty at Eötvös Lorand University in Budapest, the Stanford Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, San Francisco State University, and the Taoist College Singapore. She retired from active teaching in 2006 and now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Her specialty is the study of the Daoist religion and Asian long life practices. Having lived in Kyoto for close to 10 years, she is also an expert in Japanese religions. She has written 32 sole-authored books and over 100 articles, as well as edited 8 volumes and translated 5 works from the German, French, Chinese, and Japanese. Since 2008, she has served as the executive editor of the Journal of Daoist Studies, editing a 250-page volume every year. She also manages Three Pines Press, the Western voice of Daoism (www.threepinespress.com) and organizes the International Conference on Daoist Studies (New England Daoist Assembly – Daoism Philosophy and Practice in Daily Living – Eastover Estate & Eco-Village : Eastover Estate & Eco-Village).

In addition, she serves on numerous committees and editorial boards, leads Daoist Qigong and Core Health workshops worldwide, and is the lead organizer of a series of major international conferences on Daoism. She also guides tours focusing on Asian religions to China and Japan and writes an ongoing blog about relevant current issues in these countries (http://liviatoursjapan.com).