About CHI

Shamini Jain

Dr. Shamini Jain is the Founder and CEO of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI), a collaborative accelerator that facilitates the transdisciplinary science and real-world application of consciousness and healing practices. As a clinical psychologist, as well as a research scientist in the fields of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and integrative medicine for over a decade, Shamini formed CHI through a deep understanding that major systemic transformations, which will place healing at the center of medicine and scientific inquiry, will most rapidly occur through a networked approach that fosters collaboration and innovation among key stakeholders.

Shamini obtained her B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. from the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. She conducted her clinical residency at the La Jolla VA Hospital/UC San Diego, and her post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research. She has won numerous awards from scientific societies for her research in PNI and integrative medicine and lectures on these topics in varied venues. In addition to running CHI, Shamini is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at UC San Diego and is an active member of the UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine.

Richard Hammerschlag

Richard’s initial research career in neurobiology was based at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte CA, where he served as Associate Chair, Division of Neurosciences. His second research career, in acupuncture and CAM, led him to Portland OR, where he was Dean of Research at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. He served as co-president of the Society for Acupuncture Research and is an Executive Editor of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Since his ‘retirement’, he has pursued an interest in Biofield Physiology, as an Institute Scholar of The Institute for Integrative Health (Baltimore, MD) and as Director of Research for the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (San Diego, CA).

Tabatha Parker

Tabatha Parker

Kari Millar

Kari Millar is an accomplished digital marketing professional who has been helping nonprofits with community outreach for over 15 years. She is passionate about all things digital and utilizes these skills to enhance an organization's digital footprint through email, mobile, social media, website management, and marketing automation. Kari is thrilled to bring these talents to the CHI team where her primary role is to manage the organization’s marketing automation system, collaborating with team members to create targeted emails, responsive automations, and forms, as well as analysis of email marketing campaigns. She also assists in other areas as needed, including website updates, blog posts, and social media outreach.

Lorna Ciccone

Lorna Ciccone (she/her), MBA, NBC-HWC is a Naturopathic Medical Intern at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, Canada and is National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. She worked for over ten years in field clinical trial management for several top Fortune 500 companies followed by several years of nonprofit and advocacy work in public health. She serves as CHI’s CHI Councils Manager and is passionate about delivering this incredible work to the masses.

Shamini Jain

Shamini Jain, PhD is the Founder and CEO of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI), a collaborative accelerator that facilitates the transdisciplinary science and real-world application of consciousness and healing practices. As a clinical psychologist, as well as a research scientist in the fields of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and integrative medicine for over a decade, Shamini formed CHI through a deep understanding that major systemic transformations, which will place healing at the center of medicine and scientific inquiry, will most rapidly occur through a networked approach that fosters collaboration and innovation among key stakeholders.

Lauren Evanow

Lauren has been an entrepreneur for all of her professional career, starting in the medical industry. She founded a medical device design and manufacturing company in which the need to understand the science of healing became apparent. Her desire to answer such questions as why people get sick and others didn’t, or what the actual mechanism of healing was led her to study integrative healing modalities from around the world. She is now focused on finding the answer to these and other questions to help better understand the role of consciousness in health, disease and in the healing process itself.

Rauni Prittinen King

Rauni Prittinen King, RN, MIH, BSN, CHTP / I, HNB – BC, a critical care nurse for 20 + years, she is Co – founder and Executive Director of Guarneri Integrative Health Inc.at Pacific Pearl La Jolla, President of Holistic and Integrative Medicine Resources Inc., and Board Member of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine.She is President and Co – founder of the non – profit, Miraglo Foundation; and founded and is former Director of Programs and Planning at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.Certified in Holistic Nursing, Hypnotherapy and Interior Design, Rauni’s a Certified Healing Touch (HT) Practitioner and Instructor, coordinating HT workshops at Scripps Hospitals since 1993.

Paul Mills, PhD

Paul is a long-standing National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical investigator with expertise in psychoneuroimmune processes in wellness and in disease, with a current focus on integrative medicine. He is director of the UC San Diego Clinical Research Biomarker Laboratory and Co-director of the UC San Diego CTRI’s Translational Research Technology (TRT) Laboratories Program. He is currently serving as director of research at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.

Abigail Noble

Abigail Noble is a globally recognized leader and executive at the intersection of capitalism and social change who came to realize the most impactful act is to empower individuals to lead physically healthy, emotionally balanced, spiritually aligned and socially responsible lives.

Abigail is co-creator and CEO of Socreates, an inner wellness company that offers individuals self-guided journeys that use socratic questions, channeled content, sacred geometry and sound healing practices to help them lead aligned and higher purposeful lives. She was the Founding CEO of The ImPact from 2015 to 2020, a network of family offices and family foundations committed to aligning their investment portfolios with societal impact and environmental causes. Prior, she built the impact investing portfolio of activities at Davos and was the Head of Impact Investing of the World Economic Forum from 2012 to 2015. From 2010 - 2012, she was Head of Africa and Latin America for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. She is a Fulbright Scholar, WEF Global Leadership Fellow and Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Abigail is a graduate of Harvard and Tufts Universities.

Abigail lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts with her husband and daughter. In her free time, Abigail loves cooking, being in nature, learning about ancient civilizations and their spiritual practices, and most importantly spending time with her family.

Daniel Vicario, MD

Daniel Vicario, M.D. is a medical oncologist and integrative oncologist. He was co-founder and medical director of the San Diego Cancer Center for over 15 years and medical director at the U.C. San Diego Cancer Center for three years until February 2014. Dr. Vicario remains the Medical Director and Director of Integrative Oncology at the San Diego Cancer Research Institute (SDCRI) which he cofounded in 1998. Dr. Vicario conducts research in the area of evidenced based healing modalities to support cancer patients and Integrative Oncology in general. Dr. Vicario has received multiple recognitions and awards for his tireless and innovative support of cancer patients. Access Dr. Vicario’s complete bio here.

Melani Walton

Cassandra Vieten

Cassandra Vieten is Executive Director of the John W. Brick Foundation, Scholar-in-Residence at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader. Founded by Victor and Lynne Brick, in honor of Victor’s brother John who suffered from schizophrenia, the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation funds and promotes empirical research on fitness, nutrition, and mind-body approaches to foster mental health, and to better prevent and treat mental illness.

Christina Vircillo Bresson

Christina Vircillo Bresson is an award-winning executive producer and director working in production and visual storytelling for over 25 years. After studying visual art and earning a BFA from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, she began her career in post-production. In 2006 she launched her own production company in NYC, Three One Creative. Her company's ground-breaking work has won industry recognition including Promax, BDA, Telly, and Emmy awards. Her company’s high-profile client list includes most major networks and media brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, Food Network, NBC, ESPN, Scientific American, and The Chopra Foundation. She has also created and launched a personalized AI app with Deepak Chopra focusing on well-being and has been head of brand and content for Chopra Global.

With passion and experience in both studying and personally exploring consciousness and healing for over 20 years, Christina embarked on her first film, The Way of Miracles. Officially selected to 12 film festivals winning awards at 7, The Way of Miracles has continued to make global impact, with current domestic and international reach of over 1 million. Currently streaming on Amazon, Gaia and Vimeo.

Louis Gagnon

Louis has a passion for human development and a strong bias for action. Over the last 30 years, he founded or led 7 organizations on 4 continents, from local NGOs to billion-dollar companies whose social impact has often been publicly recognized: Averting >100K transmissions of the AIDS virus in 8 countries of Asia and Africa Putting the right jobs in front of 50M job seekers on every continent Migrating 50K small US businesses to digital technology Generating >100M audiobooks listens in North America, Europe, and Asia Enabling 5K carpools-to-work in the US Providing mental health self-monitoring and self-care to >1M people in the US and Australia

Louis ranked #13 among the “The Top 25 Consumer Health Tech Executives in 2020”. He was awarded dozens of professional and alumni awards. He was featured in several books and magazines and is a sought-after speaker on mental health, well-being, business ethics, and the future of work.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisgagnon/

Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/LouisGagnon

Kathryn Johnson

Kathryn spent 25 years as the CEO of Health Forum, which offers healthcare leaders access to new information and fresh ideas to strengthen their organizations’ performance, and to improve the health of the communities they serve. Kathryn is a life-long health care, global health and women’s equality advocate. She is the cofounder of the Center for Global Service, which links volunteers with diverse opportunities and prepares them for the challenges of international service. She is cofounder of the Food Commons initiative, helping to revolutionize the production and of high quality, local food. She is past member of the board of the UN’s World Food Program-USA, a past Chairman of the American Society of Association Executives, and Past Chair of the Institute for Research on Learning. Kathryn currently serves on the boards of the Global Women’s Leadership Program, Care for Peace, International Leadership Association, IP3, Omni Med, and RENEW. And on the Advisory Boards of: MedShare Western, We Care Solar, Living Goods, Our House and the Samueli Institute.

Linda Stone

Linda Stone has worked in a variety of executive positions, ranging from marketing to research, to senior management, at both Apple and Microsoft. Linda was a pioneer in the area of multimedia in the 1980's, and a pioneer in social media in the early 1990's. She's coined several phrases that have become memes: continuous partial attention, screen apnea, and email apnea. Now, she studies the psychophysiology of our relationship with technology and considers how our relationship with technology might evolve in healthier ways. She coined the term Essential Self Technology: training and prosthetic technologies that support vagal tone and self-regulation. Linda writes, speaks, consults and serves on non-profit Advisory Boards. http://www.lindastone.net and @Lindastone

Jennifer Schwarz

Elisabeth Williams

Elisabeth Williams is a social entrepreneur, philanthropist, writer, aficionado of all things Energy, and founder of AWE Partners, a social enterprise that connects women with their soul’s purpose and where and how they’re meant to serve, so they can make their “AWE-thentic Impact” in the world.

Lis began her career working for top global firms in the areas of consulting and banking; however, she realized early on the corporate world was not her destiny. An entrepreneur at heart, she was always drawn to the nonprofit space and a personal mission to make a profound difference in the world.

AWE Partners was founded on the belief that most non-profit and social enterprises have important missions and caring individuals; however, their true impact varies greatly. Lis knows that solutions exist, but it’s up to us to identify those soul-utions and support them with our time, talent, and treasure.

A decade ago Lis began noticing the effects of well-intended messages to women and girls that were actually resulting in them making decisions that were not life-affirming. As a result, she heard and answered a calling to focus her energy on what she calls the “Re-Powerment” of women and girls, reminding them of the power they have always held due to their inherent worth, dignity, and sovereignty. Based on extensive research into effective solutions and her own growth and transformation, Lis has created an approach entitled “7 Pillars of Re-Powerment”.

Lis believes the collapse of outdated beliefs and systems and the Rise of the Divine Feminine and Higher Consciousness on the planet is providing a powerful opportunity for us to Co-create a New Future that supports all of humanity and our precious Mother Gaia.
Lis holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She is the author of The Gutsy Guide to Giving: Your Journey to AWE-thentic Impact. To learn more, visit www.awepartners.com.

Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. He is the author of more than 80 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.

Mimi Guarneri

Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABIHM, internationally renowned cardiologist, author and speaker, is President of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and former President of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. She is Senior Advisor to the Atlantic Health System for the Center for Well Being and Integrative Medicine. She also is Founder and Director of Guarneri Integrative Health, Inc. at Pacific Pearl La Jolla and Taylor Center for Integrative Medicine Education and Research. She co-founded the non-profit, Miraglo Foundation. Dr. Guarneri’s career began at Scripps Clinic as an interventional cardiologist, before founding the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine and serving as Medical Director for 15 years.

Rauni Prittinen King

Rauni Prittinen King, RN, MIH, BSN, CHTP / I, HNB – BC, a critical care nurse for 20 + years, she is Co – founder and Executive Director of Guarneri Integrative Health Inc.at Pacific Pearl La Jolla, President of Holistic and Integrative Medicine Resources Inc., and Board Member of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine.She is President and Co – founder of the non – profit, Miraglo Foundation; and founded and is former Director of Programs and Planning at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.Certified in Holistic Nursing, Hypnotherapy and Interior Design, Rauni’s a Certified Healing Touch (HT) Practitioner and Instructor, coordinating HT workshops at Scripps Hospitals since 1993.

Ruth Westreich

The Westreich Foundation is an initiative – based foundation. Ruth Westreich, the President, is a visionary thought leader, strategic thinker and collaborative partner in the areas of health creation, prevention of disease, and the research of human consciousness as the next frontier of exploration.Ruth, an artist by birth, an activist by accident believes in the power of connecting, collaborating and grassroots organizing, empowering systemic social change.

Gaetan Chevalier

Dr. Gaétan Chevalier obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Montreal in Engineering Physics, specialization Atomic Physics and Laser Spectroscopy. Did 4 years of research at UCLA in nuclear fusion, then Director of Research at CIHS for 10 years. After leaving CIHS, invited researcher in the Department of Developmental and Cellular Biology at UC Irvine. Director of the Earthing Institute since 2009 and Research Director at Psy-Tek, a research company on the campus of CIHS, since 2010.

Lorenzo Cohen

Dr. Lorenzo Cohen is the Richard E. Haynes Distinguished Professor and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Cohen leads a team conducting research and delivering clinical care of integrative medicine practices such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, massage, diet, exercise, acupuncture and other strategies aimed at reducing the negative aspects of cancer treatment and improving quality of life and clinical outcomes.

Arnaud Delorme

Arnaud Delorme, Ph.D., is a research scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a CNRS principal investigator in Toulouse, France, and a faculty member at the University of California, San Diego. He is a long-term Zen meditator, and has taught in India on the neural correlates of conscious experience in a Master’s degree program for the Birla Institute of Technology.

Blake Gurfein

Dr. Gurfein is a neuroimmunologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where he is on the research faculty at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Gurfein currently serves as Chief Science Officer of Rio Grande Neurosciences, a neurotechnology company focused on developing non-invasive brain stimulation technologies for use in treating unmet needs in neurology.

Menas Kafatos

Menas C. Kafatos, is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics, at Chapman University. He is a quantum physicist, cosmologist, writes extensively on consciousness, leads research in remote sensing, natural and anthropogenic hazards, regional and global climate change. He holds seminars and workshops in a variety of subjects on the natural laws that apply everywhere in the universe. His doctoral thesis advisor was the renowned M.I.T. professor Philip Morrison who studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer. He has authored 300+ articles, is author or editor of 15 books, including ‘The Conscious Universe’ (Springer) with Robert Nadeau, and is co-author with Deepak Chopra of the forthcoming book, ‘The Creative Cosmos’ (Harmony).

You can learn more at https://www.menaskafatos.com and follow him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/menas.kafatos Twitter:@mckafatos and LinkedIn: Menas Kafatos.

Eric Leskowitz

Dr. Eric (Rick) Leskowitz was a consultant psychiatrist for over 25 years with the Pain Management Program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where he founded the Integrative Medicine Task Force. He holds an appointment at Harvard Medical School, has studied energy healing, meditation and hypnosis for over 40 years, and has had 50+ articles published in leading scientific journals. He has also edited three textbooks, and his documentary film about group energies and sports, The Joy of Sox: Weird Science and the Power of Intention, was broadcast on PBS. The Mystery of Life Energy is his latest book (www.TheMysteryOfLifeEnergy.com).

Rollin McCraty

My work focuses on the mechanisms by which emotions influence cognitive processes, behavior, and health as well as the global interconnectivity between people and the earth’s energetic systems.

Susan Lutgendorf

Dr. Lutgendorf’s current research examines how behavioral factors are linked to biological processes involved in tumor growth in ovarian cancer. She also investigates mechanisms underlying chronic urologic pelvic pain. Her work has been recognized by a New Investigator Award from the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, an Early Career Award from the American Psychosomatic Society, and by anAmerican Psychological Association award for Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology.

Beverly Rubik

Beverly Rubik, Ph.D. (University of California at Berkeley, biophysics) is president/founder of Institute for Frontier Science, a nonprofit laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area; adjunct professor at three universities; and consultant to individual health clients as well as corporations. She conducts basic and clinical research on the biofield and energetic therapies. She has published over 100 papers and 2 books and serves on the editorial boards of three academic journals.

Dean Radin

Dean Radin, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Volunteer Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University. Before joining the research staff at IONS in 2001, he held appointments at AT&T Bell Labs, Princeton University, University of Edinburgh, and SRI International. He is author or coauthor of over 200 technical and popular articles, a dozen book chapters, and three books including The Conscious Universe, Entangled Minds, and Supernormal.

Cheryl Ritenbaugh

Cheryl Ritenbaugh, PhD MPH, MDiv, Professor Emerita of Family & Community Medicine, Anthropology, Nutritional Sciences, and Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona, trained in medical anthropology and nutritional sciences. She spent her career in biomedical research, the preponderance focused on nutrition and disease prevention, especially cancer and diabetes. Over the past 15 years, she has been a leader in clinical research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), winning more than $7 million in research grants, and serving as President of the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research, 2009-2011. She continues to work to develop relevant measures for CAM, evaluating the impacts of CAM therapies in everyday settings.

During her Masters in Divinity at the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism, she documented the longitudinal process of spiritual transformation among students. Her passion is to understand the physiological correlates of spiritual healing, both local and distant.

Garret Yount

Garret Yount, Ph.D., is a Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and the Director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. Dr. Yount’s expertise is in molecular neurobiology and his primary interest is bridging human genomics with aspects of consciousness and the nonmaterial mind.

Marilyn Schlitz

Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D. is a social anthropologist, researcher, writer, and charismatic public speaker. Her research and extensive publications focus on personal and social transformation, cultural pluralism, extended human capacities, and mind-body medicine. She is writer and producer of Death Makes Life Possible, a feature film, book, and series of educational programs on the topic of death and dying, and how engaging that topic in a deep and meaningful way informs the way we live our lives.

Herman van Wietmarschen

Herman van Wietmarschen, Ph. D. (University of Leiden, systems biology) is researcher Integrative Medicine at the non-profit research institute Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands, board member of the Academy of Integrative Medicine and associate editor for the European Journal of Integrative Medicine. He is conducting fundamental research into the working mechanisms of whole medical systems using systems biology technologies such as metabolomics. Additionally he is conducting pragmatic implementation research in the area of integrative medicine, helping health care organisations implementing complementary medicine and evaluating the process and effects. His drive is to understand the interactions between biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of health in various health cultures as well as translating this understanding into practice.

Laurie Thorp

aurie Thorp is a teacher, healer, and artist who is devoted to the evolution of the human spirit. She has been exploring and integrating energy healing, self-awareness, and embodied awakening for more than three decades. Laurie began her work as a massage therapist in 1991 and went on to study at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing (BBSH), a professional four-year program in Energy Healing. She graduated in 1996 and then continued with the advanced studies/BIP program at BBSH. She was a senior faculty member of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing until 2016. She has been in private practice for over 25 years. Laurie has taught workshops and seminars both in the US and several other countries around the world. These experiences have given her the opportunity to expand her creative vision and to deepen her desire to share both the breadth of knowledge and the joy of life with others. Laurie is passionate about the infinite potential that lies within the human body and spirit and is committed to living her life from a place of integrity, authenticity, and vibrancy, and embodied presence: the heart-mind-body connection of deep awareness within the present moment. Dancing, meditating, collage-making, traveling, and gardening provide a foundation for her own spiritual practice.

Lisa Anselme

Lisa Anselme is Executive Director and Holistic Nurse Consultant for Integrative Health Care for Healing Beyond Borders. An HTI Certified Healing Touch Practitioner and Instructor, she teaches Healing Touch Certificate Program Courses 1-5. A Certified Holistic Nurse through AHNCC, Usui Reiki Master/Teacher and Reiki Jin Ki Do practitioner, she has also held certification as a Clinical Transplant Coordinator. Through her nursing career, Lisa has served as a pediatric nurse clinician specialist within the nation’s largest teaching hospital with an expertise in women and children’s health, transplantation, and biomedical ethics. She has presented extensively to both professional and lay audiences on the topics of integrative health care, energy therapies, holistic consciousness, and biomedical and energy ethics. Lisa teaches and presents throughout the US and internationally, is on faculty at Red Rocks College, Denver, CO, and is Past President and Co-Founder of LifeSpark Cancer Resources and Energy Partners program, Denver, CO. Lisa is co-author of the textbook, Healing Touch: Enhancing Life Through Energy Therapies (2014) and Foundations and Practice of Healing Touch (2017). Formerly practicing in Iowa City, Iowa, Lisa maintains a private practice in holistic nursing and bioenergy therapies in Lakewood, Colorado.

Pamela Miles

Pamela Miles is an internationally renowned Reiki master and the foremost pioneer introducing Reiki practice to conventional medicine. Over the course of nearly four decades of experience with this spiritual practice, she’s collaborated on various projects with academic medical centers including Yale, Harvard and the National Institutes of Health. Pamela has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, including the preeminent Journal of the American College of Cardiology. She’s also brought her insight to corporate outlets such as Google and Unilever. Pamela’s expertise in Reiki and integrative health has been featured in mainstream media including The Dr. Oz Show, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, The Atlantic, Forbes, US News & World Report, New York Magazine, Allure, and Self. She is also the author of the award-winning REIKI: A Comprehensive Guide, the only Reiki book written for the mainstream public and healthcare professionals.

Grace Sesma

Grace is Mexican/Chicana with ancestral Indigenous roots in Sonora and Baja California. Like many families in Mexico, her mother and tias (aunties) used cultural remedies to help keep their families healthy. She grew up experiencing the curing of empacho through the abdominal sobadas that her mother gave her and watching her auntie cure neighborhood children of mal de ojo and caida de mollera. As a child she was particularly influenced by watching and listening to another tia, a curandera, share stories about helping neighbors and friends with various spiritual illnesses as well as to her uncle who was a well-known sobador and huesero, bonesetter. Being raised within cultural ways she understood from an early age how demanding the path of Curanderismo can be and that one must be truly called to these healing ways by Spirit. Although the ancestors visited her in dreams during childhood, it wasn't until the mid-1990s after experiencing very clear warning dreams that failure to return to the traditional medicine ways of her family/ancestors would bring severe consequences (a story that she shares during some of her pláticas), that she formally undertook the study of Curanderismo and other healing traditions by undergoing rigorous training with healers in Baja California and the United States.

Michael Yellow Bird, PhD

Michael Yellow Bird, CMT, MSW, PhD, is Dean and Professor of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. He is a member of the MHA Nation (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) in North Dakota, USA. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, and books.

Mary Anne Hanley

Mary Anne Hanley, PhD RN QTTT, a student of Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz, has been practicing and teaching Therapeutic Touch(TT) since 1984 and has participated in and conducted research related to TT. Most recently, she has published about the Human Energy Field and the Theory of Healing. Currently, President of TTIA, she has served in the roles of Education Trustee and Research Trustee. She is the Chair of the Global Academy of Holistic Nursing Scholarship.

Wendie Colter

Rev. Wendie Colter, CWC, CMIP®, is a Certified Medical Intuitive Practitioner, Certified Wellness Coach, and founder/CEO of The Practical Path, Inc., presenting intuitive development programs for wellness professionals. Wendie is a Fellowship faculty member for the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), and rotating faculty at Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine’s IMER program. She also serves on the Bioenergy & Health Committee of the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC), Washington, DC. Wendie has successfully trained doctors, nurses and wellness professionals from every discipline.

Kenneth Cohen

Ken Cohen, MA is a health and culture educator at the forefront of the dialogue between ancient wisdom and modern science. He has followed two parallel paths for most of his 65+ years. He was rigorously trained since his youth in song, ceremony, and traditional healing by Native American elder mentors and maintains close ties with his adoptive Nehiyaw (Cree) family. He is also is a world-renowned qigong and tai chi master, with an academic background in both classical and modern Chinese. Winner of the Alyce and Elmer Green International Award for Innovation and Lifetime Achievement in Energy Medicine, Ken’s work has been sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the Mayo Clinic, Health Canada, the Iskotew and Kumik Elders Lodges (Elder-in-Residence), and numerous universities. He is the author of Random House classics, Honoring the Medicine and The Way of Qigong and more than 200 journal articles on spirituality and health.

Rauni Prittinen King

Rauni Prittinen King, RN, MIH, BSN, CHTP / I, HNB – BC, a critical care nurse for 20 + years, she is Co – founder and Executive Director of Guarneri Integrative Health Inc.at Pacific Pearl La Jolla, President of Holistic and Integrative Medicine Resources Inc., and Board Member of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine.She is President and Co – founder of the non – profit, Miraglo Foundation; and founded and is former Director of Programs and Planning at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.Certified in Holistic Nursing, Hypnotherapy and Interior Design, Rauni’s a Certified Healing Touch (HT) Practitioner and Instructor, coordinating HT workshops at Scripps Hospitals since 1993.

Ann Baldwin

Ann Linda Baldwin, PhD, is a Professor Emerita of Physiology at the University of Arizona. She is also a Reiki Master, and has practiced Reiki on people and animals for the last twenty years. She obtained her Bachelors degree in Physics from University of Bristol, UK, her Masters degree in Radiation Physics from University of London, UK and her PhD in Physiology from Imperial College, University of London. She is also a certified HeartMath® Trainer and received the Humanitarian Heart Award from the Institute of Heartmath.