Maung Tin-Wa was born and raised in Myanmar which has a rich history of traditional medicine using plants for healing. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry at Rangoon University, M.S at Ohio State University and a Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in the area of natural products medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy. His academic career included research fellowship at the University of California at Riverside,  involving citrus plants , chemotaxonomy utilizing chemical markers to identify plant species of genus Clarkia.  As a professor at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago (UIC) , he spearheaded the development of drug discovery program: isolating the medicinal active compounds from plants from around the world and their molecular structure elucidation, serving as the Senior Investigator on National Cancer Institute (NCI) program in 1970s.  This program is still being expanded and continuously funded at $7 million per year and being handled by his successive colleagues at UIC and Ohio State .Likewise one of the laboratories he was involved with initially is still designated as one of the five World Health Organization (WHO) program for traditional medicines in the world.

However he did not have the opportunity to study the beauty of plants in their natural state nor ever had the pleasure of drawing and painting these plant forms.  Only recently under the tutelage of Mary L. Harden, he learned a new way of looking at plants beyond their chemistry and biological activities. Tin continues to develop his skills and participate in exhibitions.  His work has been both donated and sold in the United States and abroad. He was also involved as one of the Board of Directors with Partners Asia Foundation for over a dozen years and now serve in Advisory capacity. During his travels and hiking around the world, that he enjoys, he has a better appreciation of the plant world in nature.