Vision
Our healthcare system is near breaking point. It needs healing. We envision health care professionals finding resilience in training compassion, mindfulness, and reducing burnout, depression, anger, and frustration. This resilience and new life will automatically be transmitted to patients. By 2030 we aim to transform medical education to incorporate curricula of self-compassion, compassion for others, mindfulness, and resilience as essential as anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology.
Founder
Dr. Barry Kerzin
Physician, Teacher, Author, and Tibetan Buddhist monk
Board of Directors
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Bill Strickland
Bill Strickland
As Founder and Executive Chairman of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) and Bidwell Training Center (BTC), and National Center for Arts and Technology, Bill Strickland has created an educational model designed to create empowering educational environments for adults-in-transition as well as urban and at-risk youth, enriching Southwestern Pennsylvania, and the world. In 1968, Bill founded Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to help combat the economic and social devastation experienced by the residents of his North Side neighborhood. Later in 1972, he assumed leadership of Bidwell Training Center to guide its transition to providing skills relevant to Pittsburgh’s economy. GRAMMY®-winning MCG Jazz was added to the MBC family in 1987, which is one of the longest-running jazz subscription series in America. What started as an informal art program and exhibition space for inner-city minority children has now transformed into a 62,000 sq. ft. arts and career-training center, as well as a 40,000 sq. ft. production and educational greenhouse. Throughout Strickland’s distinguished career, he has been honored with numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to arts and the community, including the coveted MacArthur “Genius” award. He is also the author of Make the Impossible Possible. -
Dr. Barry Kerzin
Dr. Barry Kerzin
--- Founder & President --- Next to being the initiating force behind AIMI, Dr. Kerzin travels the world to teach AIMI's resilience programs to medical professionals. He is an Affiliate Prof. at the Univ. of Washington Tacoma, a Visiting Prof. at Central University of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India, a former Honorary Prof. at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and a former Assist. Prof. of Medicine at the Univ. of Washington. Barry is a fellow at the Mind and Life Institute and consults for the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig on compassion training. For 30 years, he has been providing free medical care to the poor up to the highest lamas, including HH Dalai Lama. Barry has completed many meditation retreats, including a three-year retreat. His brain was studied at Princeton Univ. and the Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, as a long-term meditator. He was ordained as a Bikkshu (monk), and now combines his work as a monk and doctor, harmonizing the mind and body. -
Dr. Garrett Riggs
Dr. Garrett Riggs
--- AIMI Treasurer --- Garrett Riggs, MD, PhD, is a neurologist and neuroscientist who lives in Colorado and practices in New Mexico. His academic interests have focused on neuro-linguistics and disorders of language. His academic training included a BA in Linguistics (minor in Russian language), an MS in Communication Disorders, a PhD in Anatomy & Neurobiology, an MD followed by a residency in Neurology, and fellowship training in both Behavioral Neurology and Clinical Trial Design. Dr. Riggs has a life-long interest in philosophy and Eastern thought. He is a practicing Buddhist in the Gelug tradition. Dr. Riggs was fortunate to meet AIMI’s founder, Dr. Barry Kerzin, through mutual acquaintances in 2012. They have been close friends ever since. Regarding his work with AIMI, Dr. Riggs says, “Some of the most meaningful work of my career is what I do with AIMI, Dr. Kerzin, and all the generous people who volunteer time and effort to bring compassion and kindness back to the center of the helping professions. Despite the hectic pace of the modern world, I think most people in these professions retain a real desire to make a difference. AIMI can help them realize that vision, for it is often what drew them to these jobs in the first place.” -
Scott Lammie
Scott Lammie
Senior Vice President of Business Development, Board Treasurer for UPMC's Insurance Services Division and Secretary and Treasurer, Community Care Behavioral Health.
Since September, 1990, Mr. Lammie has held key business, financial, and operational leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) which have supported the Health System's evolution, growth, and development into one of the nation's leading integrated delivery and financing health systems.
Mr. Lammie graduated from Duquesne University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting. Since 1977, Mr. Lammie has been licensed in Pennsylvania as a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Lammie’s current professional affiliations include the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Public Accountants, and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Mr. Lammie is active in various volunteer board leadership capacities with non-profit civic, economic development, and community service organizations supporting the greater Pittsburgh community.
Staff
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TJ Bruder
TJ Bruder
--- Program Director --- TJ Bruder is a creative strategist, social impact addict, and communication professional with nearly 30 years of experience in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Initially working in the international banking sector on Wall Street, he made a change to the creative realm, including graphic design, photography, and art direction. He feels honored to be part of the AIMI team, as his life passion and purpose is to help bring positive change to areas of need, making use of his expertise and overall international background.
Advisory Board
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Richard J. Davidson, PhD
Richard J. Davidson, PhD
William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, and Founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology and has been at Wisconsin since 1984. He has published more than 360 articles, numerous chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of “The Emotional Life of Your Brain” published by Penguin in 2012. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society. He was the year 2000 recipient of the most distinguished award for science given by the American Psychological Association – the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. He was the Founding Co-Editor of the new American Psychological Association journal EMOTION. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. In 2011, he was given the Paul D. MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences from 2011-2017 and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Mental Health for 2014-2016. His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. -
Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer is the author of twelve books, on subjects as diverse as the Cuban Revolution, globalism, Islamic mysticism and His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. In both 2013 and 2014 he delivered talks for TED–one on movement, one on stillness–and each has received more than two million views so far. Educated at Eton, Oxford and Harvard, he has been an essayist for Time since 1986, and for The New York Times for almost as long, and his pieces regularly appear also in The New York Review of Books, Harper’s and the Financial Times. -
Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn
Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher. He is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was founding executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (1995), and founder (in 1979) and former director of its world-renown Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic. He is the author of Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (Dell, 1990, 2005, 2013), Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994, 2005), and many others. His books are published in over 40 languages. Dr. Kabat-Zinn received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from MIT in 1971. Dr. Kabat-Zinn’s work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness into mainstream institutions such as medicine, psychology, health care, neuroscience, schools, business, prisons, and professional sports. Hospitals and medical centers around the world now offer clinical programs based on training in mindfulness and MBSR. Dr. Kabat-Zinn has received numerous awards over the span of his career, and is a former board member of the Mind and Life Institute. -
Prof. Verghese M.D., MACP
Prof. Verghese M.D., MACP
Abraham Verghese is Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and a fierce advocate for bedside medicine and physical diagnosis in an era of increasingly sophisticated medical technology, where computer-based medical information often supersedes the patient’s story. He was instrumental in establishing the Stanford 25, which emphasizes bedside medicine and identifies 25 physical diagnosis skills student must master prior to the end of their fourth year of training. Dr. Verghese coined the term ‘iPatient’ for the electronic records that often receive more attention than the patient in the bed. Dr. Verghese is a compelling voice for healthcare professionals and non-medical audiences alike. His first novel, Cutting for Stone, was on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. His first book, a memoir, My Own Country, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; his second, also a memoir, The Tennis Partner, was a national bestseller. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and in the medical literature. He is working on his second novel, The Maramon Convention. Dr. Verghese studied medicine at the University of Madras and completed his Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians and was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2011. In 2014, he was awarded the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities. -
Robyn Brentano
Robyn Brentano
Robyn Brentano has devoted her career as a nonprofit leader to promoting compassionate and sustainable solutions to issues in the fields of international development, refugee resettlement, education, human services, and cultural revitalization. Currently, she is the Vice President for Resource Development at The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. Prior to joining The Center, she served as the Executive Director of the Garrison Institute, which supports the application of contemplative methods to foster individual, community, and systemic resilience in education, climate change, and trauma. As the Executive Director of the Tibet Fund, she worked intensively with the US State Department and the Tibetan government-in-exile to implement education, health, economic and community development programs across the 52 Tibetan settlements in India and Nepal. At Healing the Divide, a public charity founded by Richard Gere, she oversaw an arts revitalization program in Tibet, a health care project for destitute Tibetan monks and nuns in India, and an initiative to support Israeli and Palestinian grassroots peace organizations. As VP for Development at the New York Association for New Americans, the nation’s largest refugee resettlement organization in the 1990s, she led fundraising for the agency’s education, employment, microenterprise, legal services, citizenship, domestic violence, and substance abuse programs. -
Wayne Tormala
Wayne Tormala
Dedicating his career to human service, Wayne Tormala has provided leadership for over 40 years in the public and private sectors at the local, state, national and global levels. Wayne has developed successful programs across a wide range of issues, including poverty, world hunger, mental health, HIV/AIDS, environmental conservation, economic development, social justice, and public health. He has developed several “best practices” in economic development and public health for high-risk, disparate populations, and has performed extensive public-speaking and media work throughout his career. In his current duties as Bureau Chief at Arizona Department of Health Services, Wayne provides leadership across a range of population health arenas, including tobacco control, chronic disease (cardiovascular, cancer, pulmonary, stroke, diabetes, asthma, HIV prevention), healthy aging (falls prevention, Alzheimer’s Disease), men’s health, worksite wellness, chronic pain, health disparities/equity, chronic pain, opioid/substance misuse, suicide, and injury & violence prevention. Wayne serves on the Advisory Board of the Altruism in Medicine Institute, and provides personal and professional growth experiences for healthcare and other human service professionals on such topics as Loss & Grief, Doing Things That Matter, Being a Catalyst for Community Change, and Compassion for Self & Others. He is an Adjunct Faculty of the University of Arizona - College of Public Health, where he teaches Mindfulness in Public Health Practice. Wayne finds balance with daily meditation, relaxing with family and friends, playing guitar, gardening, and enjoying the nearby deserts and mountains of Arizona. -
Jerry Clifford, PhD
Jerry Clifford, PhD
Jerry Clifford has spent over forty years as a research scientist and educator after receiving a PhD in nuclear physics at Iowa State University's Institute for Atomic Research. As an Air Force officer, he taught physics at the Air Force Academy, worked on nuclear weapons programs, studied particle beams for Reagan's Star Wars, and worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Before anti-terrorism was in vogue, Jerry worked on new technologies to detect explosives in luggage for airport security. Jerry now teaches "Science & Conscience" at California State University Channel Islands. He tries to help young people gain critical thinking skills to examine social issues that have scientific foundations. Jerry is fascinated in neurobiology and personal growth and enjoys discussing the mysteries of the cosmos. He also is the Interim Coordinator of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU Channel Islands, where he has taught senior citizens since its inception in 2004. -
Dr. Julia Kim
Dr. Julia Kim
Dr. Julia Kim is a leading expert in global health and wellbeing and the Program Director of the Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan www.gnhcentrebhutan.org. Through local and international partnerships, the GNH Centre curates experiential leadership and learning programs that promote a more flourishing, equitable, and sustainable world - based on New Economics principles, alternative progress measures, sustainable development, and the growing science of wellbeing. Prior to living in Bhutan, Julia worked as a physician and HIV researcher in Africa and Asia, before serving with UNDP and UNICEF in New York. She brings a background in leadership development, research, and policy in the fields of wellbeing economics, international health and development, and is a member of the Club of Rome, and an associate of the Presencing Institute - a global network that views the integration of awareness-based practices as a core capacity of 21st-century innovation and leadership. Julia holds degrees from Cornell University, the University of Manitoba, Tufts University, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.