CV

  • a full PDF version of my CV is available for download here
  • my publications can be found here
  • my teaching experience and invited lectures can be found here

Employment

Science Director
2012–present
Mind & Life Institute, Charlottesville, VA

  • serve as primary subject matter expert on neuroscience and meditation, integrating between multiple departments and initiatives
  • host, edit, and executive produce the Mind & Life Podcast to share the work of contemplative science with the public
  • organize and conduct workshops, programs, and conferences that promote dialogue at the intersection of science and contemplative practice
  • write blogs and essays to communicate latest findings in contemplative neuroscience to public audience
  • deliver guest lectures and public talks
  • manage multiple grants programs that fund basic and applied scientific research on contemplative practice and mind body interventions (2012-2019)
  • serve as co-PI on collaborative research project; manage team to develop experience sampling app to measure desire in daily life and evaluate well-being outcomes (2013-2017)
  • serve as lead editor for book chronicling dialogue between scientists and the Dalai Lama (2013-2017)

Visiting Assistant Professor
2017–present
Contemplative Sciences Center; Department of Psychology
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

  • develop and teach upper-level undergraduate course on contemplative science
  • organize faculty seminar on intersections between cognitive science and humanities

Adjunct Professor
2015–2017
Lesley University, Cambridge, MA

  • develop and teach a full semester online course on contemplative neuroscience as part of the Master’s Program in Mindfulness Studies

Neuroscience Education Coordinator
 2011–2012 
Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, Atlanta, GA

  • develop curriculum for a program that teaches science to Buddhist monks and nuns in India
  • teach Tibetan monastics in India, distilling high-level scientific data and theory for an intellectually advanced audience with little to no scientific background
  • write and edit textbooks/primers to convey this curriculum, provide content expertise for program translation into Tibetan

Postdoctoral Training

Postdoctoral Fellow
2011–2012
Emory University
Department of Psychology
Advisor: Larry Barsalou, PhD

  • neuroimaging studies examining cognitive mechanisms of stress, mindful attention, focused attention meditation and emotion
  • fMRI and behavioral psychology designs

Postdoctoral Fellow
2011–2012
Emory University
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Advisor: Helen Mayberg, MD

  • resting state neuroimaging of large-scale brain networks in major depression, and their relationship to cognitive dynamics in meditation
  • fMRI and brain network analysis, clinical psychiatry

Neuroscience Initiative Postdoctoral Scholar
2009–2011
Emory University
Department of Psychology
Advisor: Larry Barsalou, PhD
Co-mentors: Charles Raison, MD; John Dunne, PhD

  • studies on cognitive dynamics that occur between focused attention and mind-wandering during meditation, using first-person input to drive analyses
  • behavioral, psychophysiological and neuroimaging techniques

Postdoctoral Fellow
2005–2010
Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Mental Health Service
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Advisor: Erica Duncan, MD

  • investigating alterations in prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex in schizophrenia patients and their family members
  • neuroimaging of reward systems in schizophrenia
  • clinical interview and diagnosis, neuropsychological evaluations, psychophysiological measurements and fMRI analysis

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience
1999–2005
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Program in Neuroscience/Department of Psychiatry
Advisor: Scott E. Hemby, PhD

  • dissertation examined single-cell gene expression profiles in post-mortem brain tissue of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and control subjects; identified disease-related gene expression alterations that were specific to individual cell groups within the entorhinal cortex
  • single-cell laser capture microdissection, RNA amplification, real-time quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry, Western blot and microarray analysis

Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology
1993–1997
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Summa Cum Laude

Fellowships, Grants, and Honors

Mind & Life Fellow, 2018
Turkey Land Cove Foundation Grantee, Writing Residency, 2015, 2017
Emory Scholars Program in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009–2011
Francisco J. Varela Research Award Recipient, 2009
Mind & Life Summer Research Institute New Investigator, 2008, 2009
Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Recipient, Individual Pre-doctoral Award, 2002–2005
George W. Woodruff Fellow, Woodruff Foundation/Emory University, 1999–2004
NIH Neuroscience Training Grant Recipient, 1999–2002
Phi Beta Kappa, Wake Forest University, 1997

Service & Leadership

Board Member and Scientific Advisor, Courage of Care, 2015-present
Volunteer Staff/Lecturer, Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), 2014-present
Administrative Coordinator, Emory Collaborative for Contemplative Studies, 2009–2012
President and Founder, Poncey-Highland Community Garden, 2008–2012
President, 608 Seminole Avenue Homeowners Association, 2006–2012
Alumni Network Coordinator, Emory University Neuroscience Program, 2002–2003
Director of Website Design, Emory University Neuroscience Program, 2001–2004
Student Representative, Emory University Neuroscience Executive Committee, 2001–2003

Ad Hoc Reviewer

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Frontiers in Psychology
Mindfulness
NeuroImage
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Neuroscience Research
Oxford University Press
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
Psychophysiology
Schizophrenia Research 

Teaching and Presentations

Please see separate menu items for teaching experience and selected invited presentations. 

Publications

Please see separate menu item for an updated list of publications.