Annemarie Gockel holds a B.A. in Western Society and Culture from Concordia University, an M.S.W. from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Annemarie has been a practicing clinician, seeing individuals, leading groups, and working with couples in hospital, university, and community-based settings over the course of her career. Annemarie is currently an Associate Professor at the Smith College School for Social Work, where she focuses on educating social work students in clinical practice. Annemarie’s research interests center on the development and integration of mindfulness and other contemplative, mind-body interventions in clinical and community settings. She also investigates the potential of contemplative practices for enhancing clinical skill development, and fostering clinician well-being and effectiveness.
Jenny Mascaro is an applied biological anthropologist whose research focuses on investigating the impact of mindfulness and compassion meditation practices on the well-being, compassion, and health of both hospitalized patients and their healthcare providers. Her research approach incorporates a mix of methods, such as ambulatory assessment of linguistic behavior, functional and structural neuroimaging, as well as clinical and psychosocial evaluations. Jenny’s work also delves into implementation science, aiming to systematically identify and assess innovative avenues for integrating well-being practices within hospital medicine. Beyond her professional pursuits, she finds joy in gardening alongside her dogs and chickens, cooking, hiking, and engaging in sports with her children. Jenny is a Mind & Life Fellow, has served as a reviewer for Mind & Life grants, and currently services as the Science and Grants Consultant for Mind & Life.
Martin N. Davidson is the Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He currently serves as senior associate dean and global chief diversity officer for the School. His thought leadership, informed by his contemplative practice, has changed how many executives approach inclusion and diversity in their organizations. He teaches, conducts research, and consults with global leaders to help them understand how diversity makes organizations better. His book, The End of Diversity as We Know It: Why Diversity Efforts Fail and How Leveraging Difference Can Succeed, introduces a research-driven roadmap to help leaders make diversity, equity, and inclusion a generative part of everyday life in their organizations. In addition to teaching leadership in Darden’s MBA and Executive Education programs, Davidson has consulted with leaders of a host of Fortune 500 firms, government agencies and social profit organizations. He has been featured in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, and CNN. He earned his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg has served in multiple capacities in the Jewish community — including Hillel director, day school teacher and community relations professional. She is a 1986 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and has served as a congregational rabbi for seventeen years, including thirteen years at the Jewish Community of Amherst. In the past twenty-four years, Rabbi Weinberg has studied mindfulness. She has introduced meditation into the Jewish world as a form that can enliven and illuminate Jewish practice, ideas and community. She teaches mindfulness meditation and yoga in a Jewish idiom to laypersons, rabbis, cantors and other Jewish professionals, and was a founder and senior teacher for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, a retreat- based program for Jewish leaders. She also serves as a spiritual director to rabbis, cantors and educators across the U.S. She is a developer and teacher of the Jewish Mindfulness Teachers’ Training. Weinberg has written extensively on a variety of subjects including Jewish spirituality, social justice, feminism, and parenting. She is a major contributor to the “Kol Haneshamah” prayerbook series. Her CD, “Preparing the Heart: Meditation for Jewish Spiritual Practice,” integrates Jewish sacred text and meditation. Her first book, “Surprisingly Happy: An Atypical Religious Memoir,” was published in 2010.
Buddhist Author and Teacher
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel has studied and practiced the Buddhadharma for 30 years under the guidance of her teacher and husband Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Elizabeth is known for her willingness to question the entire path in order to reach a place of genuine practice and awakening. She asks audiences to engage in the practice of open questioning with her while she takes a fresh look at all the assumptions and beliefs we have about spirituality. Audiences repeatedly comment on how this approach has reinvigorated their meditation practice and the way they relate to their lives as a whole. She is the author of “The Power of an Open Question,” and her new book, “The Logic of Faith,” is coming out in 2018.
