Mark Epstein, MD

Mark Epstein, MD, is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts without a Thinker, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, Going on Being, Open to Desire and Psychotherapy without the Self. His newest work, The Trauma of Everyday Life, will be published in August of 2013 by Penguin Press. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and is currently Clinical Assistant Professor in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Mark Epstein maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Mark Epstein has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Ni-Cheng Liang, MD

Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang is a mother, cancer survivor, mindfulness teacher, and pulmonologist who is a Director of Pulmonary Integrative Medicine. She is a leader and international speaker on wellness, mindfulness, anti-racism, integrative and pulmonary medicine who has taught courses, led retreats, and designed wellness curricula for a decade. She has volunteered as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine for UCSD for over a decade in their medical student-run free clinic. She has been recognized as a seven-time San Diego Top Doctor, received the San Diego American Lung Association Lung Health Provider of the Year Award in 2019, and was recognized by Mindful Magazine as one of the 10 Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement in 2021. She co-hosts the Mindful Healers Podcast and founded the Mindful Healthcare Collective, Providing free well-being sessions to reduce suffering amongst healthcare professionals. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Thoracic Society and the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang maintains a private practice and is the CEO and founder of Coastal Pulmonary Associates and Awaken Breath, LLC. She is a consultant with Trudell Medical International, 2nd MD Expert, the Office of the California District Attorney and is a sub-investigator of RHeSOLVE. Dr. Liang is the founder of Mindful Healthcare Collective and co-founder of Mindful Healing Collective. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang is the co-host of the Mindful Healers podcast. She is a member of the American Thoracic Society.

Judson Brewer, MD, PhD

Jud Brewer, MD, PhD (“Dr. Jud”) is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives – with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large.

Dr. Brewer is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor at the Schools of Public Health and Medicine at Brown University. Additionally, he is the chief medical officer at Sharecare, a digital health company, and a research affiliate at MIT.

As a psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for treating addictions, Dr. Brewer has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for anxiety, emotional eating, and smoking. Based on the success of these programs in the lab, he co-founded MindSciences, Inc. – acquired by Sharecare in 2020 – to create app-based digital therapeutic versions of these programs for a wider audience, working with individuals, corporations, and health systems to put effective, evidence-based behavior change guidance in the hands of people struggling with unwanted behaviors and “everyday addictions.”

Dr. Brewer has published numerous peer-reviewed studies, trained U.S. Olympic athletes and coaches, foreign government ministers and corporate leaders. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association, among others.

He is the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love, Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017) and Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind (Avery/Penguin Random House, 2021).

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Judson Brewer has an employment relationship with Brown University and is a consultant with Sharecare. He receives funding from Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the NIH. Dr. Brewer receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Judson Brewer serves as an associate editor for Frontiers in Psychology and is a reviewer for several publications, for a complete list contact PESI, Inc.

Susan Pollak, MTS, MEd, EdD

Susan M. Pollak, MTS, MEd, Ed.D, is a faculty member in psychology at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance, where she has taught and supervised since the mid-1990s. She is the president of the Institute of Meditation and Psychotherapy from 2010-2020, is a founding member and senior advisor of Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, a psychologist in private clinical practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Certified Teacher of the MSC program. Dr. Pollak co-taught Mindful Self-Compassion during its early development and she is co-author of Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy www.sittingtogether.com/authors.php, a contributing editor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, 2nd edition. Her newest book is Self-Compassion for Parents https://www.amazon.com/Self-Compassion-Parents-Nurture-Caring-Yourself/dp/1462533094 Her blog about Mindfulness and Compassion at Psychology Today is called "The Art of Now."
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Susan Pollak maintains a private practice and is the cofounder and teacher at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance. She is the co-director of CMC/CHA Grand Rounds. She receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Susan Pollak is a reviewer for Guilford Press and is a member of the American Psychological Association.

Gail Parker, PhD, C-IAYT

Gail Parker, PhD, C-IAYT, is an author, psychologist and a yoga therapist educator.

She is the author of Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma (2020) and Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga (2021) and is currently the president of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance (BYTA) Board of Directors. Dr. Parker is a faculty member in the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy. Her broad expertise in behavioral health and wellness includes forty years as a practicing psychologist. She is a lifelong practitioner of yoga and is well known for her pioneering efforts to blend psychology, yoga, and meditation as effective self-care strategies that can enhance emotional balance and contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of practitioners. She teaches yoga therapists, yoga teachers, and health care professionals how to utilize Restorative Yoga to support stress reduction and resilience in the face of ethnic and race-based traumatic stress.

Dr. Parker has appeared as a psychologist expert on local and nationally syndicated talk shows, including numerous appearances on the Oprah Show.

She was a faculty member in the Beaumont School of Yoga Therapy in the department of Integrative Medicine at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak Michigan. She was also a faculty member in the groundbreaking Co-Curricular Yoga Therapy Program at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, teaching Yoga Therapy to first- and second-year medical students as part of their academic curriculum. She was an adjunct faculty member in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

She is married and the mother of one son.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Gail Parker has an employment relationship with Conscious Living, LLC. She receives royalties as a published author and compensation for her work as a media psychologist. She serves as a consultant for the Highland Project and Shay's Warriors. Additionally, she receives speaking honoraria and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. Gail Parker has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Gail Parker is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Michigan Psychological Association, Association of Black Psychologists, Imago Relationships International, Yoga Alliance, International Association of Yoga Therapists, and Black Yoga Teachers Alliance.

Patricia Rockman, MD, CCFP

Patricia Rockman, MD, CCFP, is an associate professor with the University of Toronto, department of family and community medicine; cross appointed to psychiatry. She is the past chair of the Ontario College of Family Physicians Collaborative Mental Health Network. She is a medical psychotherapist and leads MBCT and MBSR groups. She also provides mentorship and trains clinicians to deliver MBCT and MBSR. She has been educating healthcare providers in stress reduction, CBT and mindfulness-based practices for over 20 years. She is co-founder and the Director of Education and Clinical Services at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies and the developer of the MBCT Facilitation Certificate Program.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Patricia Rockman is the co-founder of Centre for Mindfulness Studies and has employment relationships with Harvard Medical School, the University of Fraser Valley, the University of Toronto, the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, and the Ontario College of Family Physicians. She receives compensation as a consultant and receives a speaking honorarium from the Centre for Mindfulness Studies and the Numinus Wellness. Dr. Rockman receives royalties as a published author and is a freelance journalist. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Patricia Rockman is a member of Access MBCT.

Merriam Sarcia Saunders, LMFT, ADHD-CCSP

Merriam Sarcia Saunders, LMFT, ADHD-CCSP, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and Certified Clinical Services Provider with deep clinical experience supporting people with ADHD and neurodivergence across the lifespan. She brings over 15 years of practice in private, school, and community settings, with specialized expertise in ADHD, autism, and ADHD coaching.

Merriam is widely recognized for her work translating complex ADHD research into practical, compassionate strategies. She is the author of ADHD-focused children’s books such as My Whirling, Twirling Motor and My Wandering, Dreaming Mind, as well as adult non-fiction including Divorce and the ADHD, Autistic, Anxious Child and Mindfulness Meditation for ADHD, which reflects her commitment to strength-based, mindful approaches for neurodivergent brains.

In addition to her books, Merriam co-founded A Novel Mind, a widely used database and resource hub for neurodiversity-affirming literature, and serves as an adjunct professor of psychology, bringing evidence-informed practice into both clinical and educational spaces.

Known for blending mindfulness, behaviorally grounded support, and real-world insight, she teaches clinicians how to help clients and families build self-regulation, resilience, and effective routines that honor the unique strengths and challenges of ADHD.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Merriam Saunders maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Dominican University. She receives royalties as a published author. Merriam Saunders receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Merriam Saunders has no relevant non-financial relationships.

 

Marianela Medrano, PhD, LPC

Dr. Marianela Medrano was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and has lived in Connecticut since 1990. A poet and a writer of nonfiction and fiction, she holds a PhD in psychology. Her literary work as appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She is the founder of Palabra Counseling & Training Center, LLC. Her TEDTALK at Ursuline College speaks about her work and research on the Taino people: youtube.com.

Dr. Medrano has trained in mindfulness and spirituality in a variety of settings. She is a mindful eating instructor/facilitator. Additionally, she is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield through The Sounds True Foundation, a program for teaching awareness and compassion-based practices. She serves as a mentor/supervisor for the International Federation for Biblio/poetry therapy, IFBPT.

Dr. Medrano has lectured in many countries, including Spain, India, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. She has worked with various populations and on various mental health issues, including drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and family/marriage counseling.

In 2023, Dr. Medrano received a grant from the Bess Family Foundation, which she is using to investigate mindfulness as a vehicle to advance ecological initiatives focused on interspecies care in the Dominican Republic.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Marianela Medrano maintains a private practice and is a faculty mentor with South-Western College. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Marianela Medrano is a blogger with the American Counseling Association.

Seth Gillihan, PhD

Seth J. Gillihan, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and creator of the Think Act Be online school. He specializes in evidence-based mindful CBT for depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, stress, and insomnia. Seth is a certified therapist and supervisor in Prolonged Exposure therapy for PTSD and a Fellow of the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He served on the faculty of the world-renowned Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety as well as the department of psychiatry, and he also taught full time in the psychology department at Haverford College.

Seth is also best-selling author of several books, including Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Simple Path to Healing, Hope, and Peace (forthcoming); The CBT Deck; The CBT Deck for Anxiety, Rumination, & Worry; The CBT Deck for Kids & Teens (co-author); The CBT Flip Chart; A Mindful Year (co-author). Seth has also co-authored over 40 book chapters and peer-reviewed research articles, and he has presented his research nationally and internationally.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Seth Gillihan maintains a private practice and is a consultant with Bloom Self-Therapy app, Waking Up app, and Everyday Health. He is the host of Think Act Be podcast and receives royalties as a published author. Seth Gillihan receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Seth Gillihan is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the International OCD Foundation.