WHO WE ARE
Chodo Robert Campbell Sensei, GC-C
NYZC Co-Founder, Vice President, & Guiding Teacher
Zen teacher, non-profit co-founder, and grief counselor Chodo Robert Campbell is a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety. With his husband, Koshin Paley Ellison, he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care and contemporary medicine. Through Chodo’s leadership and vision, NYZC has developed transformational, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today, New York Zen Center’s teachings and practices are internationally recognized — and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
Chodo is a dynamic, grounded, and visionary leader and teacher: he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S instructing in various institutions. He has also spent many hours dedicated to bearing witness to the suffering of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Chodo’s public programs have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the living and dying. Sixty-thousand people listen to his podcasts each year. His passion lies in bereavement counseling and advocating for change in the way our healthcare institutions work with end of life support and care.
Chodo is widely recognized as a trailblazer and authority on contemplative care. Chodo and Koshin were featured in Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death, a documentary about how we face our mortality and are also the focus of a forthcoming documentary about Buddhism in American for Dutch television.
His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle, Parabola and other media outlets. He is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher with the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Academic Appointments
Chodo is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling with NYZC’s educational partner, University of the West. He is also on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine in San Diego.
Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei, MFA, LMSW, DMIN
NYZC Co-Founder, President, & Guiding Teacher
Author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist Koshin Paley Ellison is recognized as one of today’s most thoughtful and trusted leaders in the contemplative medicine movement. With his husband, Chodo Campbell he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care with contemporary medicine. Through Koshin’s leadership and vision, NYZC has developed transformational, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today, New York Zen Center’s teachings and practices are internationally recognized — and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
As a renowned thought leader in contemplative care, Koshin’s work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. Koshin and Chodo were featured in Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death, a documentary about facing our mortality and are also the focus of a forthcoming documentary about Buddhism in America for Dutch television.
Koshin is the author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion (Balance/Hachette, 2022); Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications, 2019), and the co-editor of Awake at Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016).
Koshin began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
He has completed six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center. Koshin has served as the co-director of Contemplative Care Services of the Department of Integrative Medicine and as the chaplaincy supervisor for the Pain and Palliative Care Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where he also served on the Medical Ethics Committee for eighteen years.
Koshin is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, on Faculty of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and he is the visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School. Koshin is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling with NYZC’s educational partner, University of the West.
Melissa Avalo
Administrative Coordinator
Melissa serves as the Administrative Coordinator of the New York Zen Center, supporting not only the operational aspects of the organization, but also providing a warm and energetic presence to all of our community members. Prior to NYZC, she held administrative roles in both non-profit and academic settings. Melissa is a vinyasa yoga instructor and is passionate about sharing yoga with various communities in NYC. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Queens College, CUNY. Melissa is a commuter cyclist and loves to cook vegan meals from different cultures.
Lola Davis, ma
Director of Operations
In her role as Director of Operations for the Zen Center, Lola is tasked with implementing mission aligned procedures and protocols that enhance the quality of NYZC offerings while easing the resource burden on staff. For more than 10 years, she has worked in a variety of Buddhist non-profit organizations, focused in organizational administration and leadership, online and residential curriculum development, program management, internal systems, and training. Most recently, Lola managed the successful delivery of a robust annual online and residential retreat program calendar for Dharma Ocean Foundation, where she was also involved with strategic planning and the implementation of organizational streamlining initiatives. She holds an MA in Mindfulness Based Transpersonal Psychology: Art Therapy and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, both from Naropa University.
BARBARA DOSHIN ENDE, MA
Contemplative Educator and Chaplain
As Contemplative Educator and Chaplain, Doshin facilitates Contemplative Resilience, is mentor to Chaplaincy Interns and Volunteers, oversees community support programs and provides individual spiritual support and grief counseling. She has a Masters in Psychology and a Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling and completed 5 units of Clinical Pastoral Education with NYZC. Doshin coordinated services in adult group homes for the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities for thirty-three years and was a member of both the Ethics Committee and Incident Review Committee. During that time she also consulted as a Behavioral Specialist providing direct counseling to people with developmental disabilities and psychiatric illness living in the community. Doshin continues working in the field, providing guardianship advocacy to individuals with disabilities living in nursing facilities and community care homes. Doshin is a formal Zen student and grounds her work in her practice and work with her teacher, Chodo Campbell Sensei.
Mahyar Hassid
Online Programs and Digital Content Manager
Mahyar Hassid serves as Online Programs and Digital Content Manager for NYZC. Mahyar is certified as an Emergency Medical Technician and was a Project Manager in the medical industry before joining the NYZC. He was also a founding member of a wellness/mindfulness podcast as part of the marketing and finance start-up team. Mahyar was born in Iran, raised on Long Island and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He loves rock climbing and has taught and inspired others to scale vertical heights.
David Iozzi
Executive Vice President
David serves as the Zen Center’s Executive Vice President, overseeing the development of our educational and training programs and ensuring that they are delivered to the highest standards. As a longtime student and teacher deeply practiced in a Vajrayana Buddhist lineage (Dharmasagara) and an experienced organizational leader, he brings his commitment and expertise in transmitting the dharma with warmth, precision, and integrity to our team. He has been leading residential retreats and online programs, guiding communities of practice, and mentoring individuals around the world since 2006. In the same year, he also developed a meditation program for Battelle Memorial Institute, a large, non-profit research institute where he worked as a principal research scientist. In his seven year tenure as Battelle’s meditation instructor, he designed and led in-person and online multi-week courses, one-day workshops, and seminars for beginning and advanced meditators and provided one-on-one meditation instruction, mentoring, and executive coaching. He has served on multiple Buddhist non-profit boards, and most recently served as Executive Director for the Dharma Ocean Foundation from 2013 to 2020. During this time he led all aspects of the organization’s operations, programming, and fundraising, overseeing the growth of their residential retreat center in Crestone, CO, and the strategic development of their online programming.
Susan Kline
Education Administrator
Susan Kline is the Zen Center’s Education Administrator. She is a graduate of our Foundations In Contemplative Care program and a hospice volunteer. Prior to entering the non-profit sector, Susan was a Web Production Manager in the world of science publishing. She has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Baruch College CUNY and is a member of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in psychology.
Andi Lichtenfeld
Growth & Communications Consultant
Andi Lichtenfeld serves as a Growth & Communications Consultant at NYZC, where she leads the Zen Center’s fundraising, marketing, and communications efforts. Andi is an integrated marketing and communications professional who champions mission-driven leaders and organizations at the intersection of media, philanthropy, culture, and content.
Since 2018, Andi has partnered closely with political commentator, changemaker, and social entrepreneur Van Jones as his Creative & Communications Director. In this role, she supported Jones in founding, branding, and promoting multiple organizations (REFORM Alliance, Dream.Org, and Dream Machine Innovation Lab). Additionally, she produced multiple award-winning media projects and campaigns for his production company, Magic Labs Media.
Prior to her time with Jones, Andi spent a decade working in advertising at respected agencies (Deutsch LA and TBWA\Chiat\Day), where she drove campaigns for major brands like Volkswagen, Taco Bell, Nintendo, Nissan, Sprint, and more through traditional, digital, and experiential media. She also worked closely with agency leadership to enhance organizational culture and employee experience, health, and wellness.
Andi graduated magna cum laude from Boston University with a B.S. in Communications, a minor in Business, and a concentration in Philosophy.
Wade Mitchell
Assistant to the Guiding Teachers
As an Assistant to the Guiding Teachers, Wade offers logistical and administrative support to the Teachers as they lead courses, training, and practices at the Zen Center. Under the supervision of the Guiding Teachers, communicates with their Formal Zen Students, students in our courses, and members of the wider sangha. Wade has a PhD in Philosophical and Theological Studies from Drew University’s Graduate Division of Religion and earned his Masters of Divinity Degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. As an undergrad, he was a collegiate student athlete at the University of South Dakota. He has served as an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Manhattan College and currently lives with his family of five in Washington Heights. Wade enjoys reading, jazz, sports, motorcycles and his friends.
Chodo Robert Campbell Sensei GC-C
NYZC Co-Founder, Vice President, & Guiding Teacher
Zen teacher, non-profit co-founder, and grief counselor Chodo Robert Campbell is a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety. With his husband, Koshin Paley Ellison, he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care and contemporary medicine. Through Chodo’s leadership and vision, NYZC has developed transformational, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today, New York Zen Center’s teachings and practices are internationally recognized — and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
Chodo is a dynamic, grounded, and visionary leader and teacher: he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S instructing in various institutions. He has also spent many hours dedicated to bearing witness to the suffering of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Chodo’s public programs have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the living and dying. Sixty-thousand people listen to his podcasts each year. His passion lies in bereavement counseling and advocating for change in the way our healthcare institutions work with end of life support and care.
Chodo is widely recognized as a trailblazer and authority on contemplative care. Chodo and Koshin were featured in Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death, a documentary about how we face our mortality and are also the focus of a forthcoming documentary about Buddhism in American for Dutch television.
His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle, Parabola and other media outlets. He is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher with the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Academic Appointments
Chodo is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling with NYZC’s educational partner, University of the West. He is also on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine in San Diego.
Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei, MFA, LMSW, DMIN
NYZC Co-Founder, President, & Guiding Teacher
Author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist Koshin Paley Ellison is recognized as one of today’s most thoughtful and trusted leaders in the contemplative medicine movement. With his husband, Chodo Campbell he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care with contemporary medicine. Through Koshin’s leadership and vision, NYZC has developed transformational, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today, New York Zen Center’s teachings and practices are internationally recognized — and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
As a renowned thought leader in contemplative care, Koshin’s work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. Koshin and Chodo were featured in Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death, a documentary about facing our mortality and are also the focus of a forthcoming documentary about Buddhism in America for Dutch television.
Koshin is the author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion (Balance/Hachette, 2022); Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications, 2019), and the co-editor of Awake at Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016).
Koshin began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
He has completed six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center. Koshin has served as the co-director of Contemplative Care Services of the Department of Integrative Medicine and as the chaplaincy supervisor for the Pain and Palliative Care Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where he also served on the Medical Ethics Committee for eighteen years.
Koshin is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, on Faculty of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and he is the visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School. Koshin is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling with NYZC’s educational partner, University of the West.
Austin Charles
Austin is a certified yoga and meditation instructor, nationally sought speaker, and practicing attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Contemplative practice has woven its way through Austin’s entire life. His father began teaching meditation to fellow E.R. Doctors in the early ‘90s; Austin joined him on the cushion at age six. This early introduction led to a lifetime of exploration. As his life has unfolded, yoga, energy movement, and meditation have remained a constant every step of the way.
In 2007, he began training Ashtanga yoga under Swami Ambikanada and Pekiti Tersia under Sifu Chris Ash. Yoga and martial arts did not come easily to him, it took years of work to achieve confidence in both practices. With patient instruction from these two great teachers, he found a home in these physical practices. In 2012 he received his 200 hour certification from Shanti Yoga, and in 2014 earned his black belt from Ocean Martial Arts Academy.
Austin attended Furman University for his undergraduate degree. At Furman, he double majored in Asian Studies and History and focused his research on contemplative practice, specifically Qi Gong, an ancient form of Chinese energy movement. Studying energy movement led him to China and then Japan where he studied Ki Aikido and Zen meditation at the Shinshin Toistsu Aikido world headquarters.
Convinced he would benefit from a more grounded career, he enrolled at Georgia State College of Law in 2015 – contemplative practice quickly found him once again. In his first week of law school, he realized his peers were consumed by stress. Knowing meditation could help, he founded the national Mindfulness in Law Society – Student Division (MILS) at the College of Law. Law schools around the country took note, three short years later there were MILS chapters at 22 law schools across the country. This work allowed him to share mindfulness practice with law students around the country, presenting at law school conferences and law schools such as Columbia Law School and the American Association of Law Schools conference. He remains on the board of MILS and currently serves as the Chair of Fundraising.
Upon graduating from law school he began his legal practice at a boutique real estate finance law firm before joining the Investment Funds team at Alston and Bird. At Alston & Bird he founded A&Be Mindful, a weekly mindfulness session which is attended by lawyers and staff from their offices across the globe. A&Be Mindful was featured in People Magazine’s 50 Companies that Care 2020.
He sees his role as an attorney as counselor first. Leaning on his training in contemplative practice, he encourages his clients to step back from their legal questions and help them address underlying concerns concurrently with their technical questions. His practice areas include corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and alternative dispute resolution.
Jaquelyn English, DO, MPH
Dr. Jacquelyn English, Board Member of the NYZC, is a Family Medicine Physician located in Long Island, NY. She is a graduate of the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship and a long time student of various meditation and mindfulness practices. She has a Masters in Public Health from Emory University and a Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem, NY. Jacquelyn is also a licensed acupuncturist from the Tri-State College of Acupuncture, which she incorporates into her work as a medical doctor on a daily basis. She uses an integrative approach to healing, marrying Contemplative and Eastern medicine practices with traditional Western medicine. In addition to owning and running her own medical practice, Jacquelyn owns a strength training gym in Long Beach, NY, and also serves as the Course Director for the Clinical Systems course in the Department of Primary Care at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine.
In addition to a rich professional life, Jacquelyn has two small children, James and Juliette, the light and joys of her life. She enjoys yoga, strength training, time in the sun with her kids, and travel to spend time with family abroad in Switzerland. She is grateful to remain committed to the work of the NYZC and to serve on the Board, as she is particularly passionate about supporting other Physicians throughout their careers through the work of the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship and beyond.
Michael Goodwin
Michael Goodwin is the founder and managing partner of a privately held securities trading firm in New York City. He grew up in the Midwest where he developed a deep appreciation for nature and the benefits of community. He attended Western Michigan University and became a Certified Public Accountant while at Arthur Andersen in Chicago, Illinois. His career path shifted to the trading floors in Chicago, which eventually brought him to New York. While there he ran trading desks for Morgan Stanley, and also Deutsche Bank, focused primarily on derivatives. In 2001 Michael founded Bluefin, which now has over 100 employees and has offices on three continents and is headquartered in New York. He has long been interested in Eastern philosophy and ancient wisdom and healing modalities. Michael enjoys studying Buddhist philosophy and practices several kinds of meditation, with Vipassana as the cornerstone. He has served on the board of the Mount Kisco Child Care Center and has advised numerous local charitable organizations with a focus on achieving sustainable operations. He lives in New York with his youngest of four children.
Jason Harris
Jason is the co-founder & CEO of award-winning creative advertising agency Mekanism, co-founder of the Creative Alliance, author of national bestseller The Soulful Art of Persuasion and host of The Soul & Science Podcast. Harris works closely with brands through a blend of creativity and performance, calling this approach Soul + Science. Iconic brands include Peloton, Ben & Jerry’s, Jose Cuervo, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab and OkCupid, among others.
Under his leadership, Mekanism was named Independent Agency of the Year by The Drum, and ranked by the Effie Index as a top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the United States. Mekanism has also been named to Ad Age’s Agency A-list and twice to their Best Places to Work.
Harris was named 2021 CEO of the Year by The Drum, a recipient of the 4A’s 100 People Who Make Advertising Great, and a 2020 Campaign US 40 Over 40 honoree for his noteworthy contributions to the advertising & marketing industry. His methods are studied in cases at Harvard Business School.
RACHEL KLAUBER-SPEIDEN
Chair
Rachel received a B.A in Creative Writing and Contemporary Literature from Columbia University. She worked as a fiction editor at Henry Holt and Company, where she pursued her fascination with the stories we tell ourselves. After five years in publishing, she pivoted to a role in marketing for Cisco Systems, where she oversaw her team’s profit and loss statements, managed a team of 30, and spearheaded inter-departmental initiatives targeting the business decision-maker with the company’s 23 other marketing groups. When she became a parent, she volunteered in the fundraising groups for three different schools over nine years, served as the New Parent Welcome Ambassador at two schools over eight years, and currently assumes responsibility for Cushing’s Island Events and Community Chair on the island’s Executive Committee. Throughout her life, she has worked with vulnerable populations and served as a care-partner for close family members, pursuits that led her to the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. There, she completed the Foundations in Contemplative Care Training program serving the patients and staff at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, and she has completed her second year as a Chaplain Intern through the Zen Center’s Clinical Pastoral Education program. A Formal Zen Student of Sensei Chodo Campbell, Rachel has found the teaching and work at the NYZC inspirational and transformative. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, her children, Lucinda and Becket, and her little dog, too.
Gerry McConnell
Treasurer
Gerry has significant experience in the fields of investment banking, private equity and venture capital with a special focus on socially responsible investing. Gerry’s professional experience includes being a senior partner at a large private equity firm which pursued a strategy of supporting and partnering with organized labor to invest in U.S. based manufacturing companies, a founding partner in a fund which invested in renewable and sustainable energy companies in the U.S. and Brazil and a founding partner in a fund which focused on growth companies controlled by women and minority owners. Gerry has also been involved as an investor, board member and advisor to a range of early-stage and start-up companies. Gerry has served on the boards of several private and public companies, including: Trimas, Inc., Springs Industries, Inc., Springs/Coteminas SA Brazil, GMTI Inc., Collins and Aikman, Inc., Brenco, SA Brazil(Brazilian Renewable Energy Corp.), Cilion, Inc, AFA Foods, Inc., The Aspire Network, Inc., The Amalgamated Bank, Inc, YMF Media, Inc. and Soul Train Media, Inc. He also served as the founding Chairman of the Board of New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and served as Treasurer at NYZC from 2009–2014. Gerry has been a meditator and student of Buddhism for over 20 years.
Sara Meltzer
Sara Meltzer recently completed her master’s degree in Mental Health and Wellness Counseling through the Department of Applied Psychology at the Steinhardt School of New York University. She is an Associate Psychotherapist at The Soho Center, a private practice in Manhattan, where she works with a robust caseload of clients for individual therapy. She currently serves on the board of (NAMI) National Alliance for Mental Illness – Metro NYC.
Prior to embarking on her new career in the mental health field, Sara was a professional in the contemporary art world who worked closely with galleries and non-profit visual arts organizations. Sara owned a contemporary art gallery for over thirteen years that specialized in the work of emerging and mid-career artists of all media from all over the globe. Sara currently co-owns a company, weR2 (www.weR2-studio.com), that produces home and personal accessories in collaboration with contemporary artists; products are sold via luxury boutiques and museums across the United States as well as directly online. Sara has served on the non-profit boards of Artists Space and Storefront for Art and Architecture, both organizations serve visual artists, architects and designers and are based in New York City. Sara holds a double BA in Fine Arts and Art History from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in Arts Administration from New York University and is the proud mother of sixteen-year-old boy girl twins.
Cynthia I. Rivera, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Cynthia (she/her) is an Infectious Diseases specialist for Midway Specialty Care Center Miami Beach and the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. She is also the Program Director for the Infectious Diseases fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Dr. Rivera is a graduate of University of Nebraska Medical Center. She then moved to Miami to complete an Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. After a year as Chief Medical Resident and another year specializing in medical education, she started her Infectious Diseases fellowship, also at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. Her interests include medical education, treatment and prevention of HIV, maintenance of overall sexual health, wellness and burnout initiatives for medical trainees and treatment of patients with hepatitis C, both mono-infected and co-infected with HIV.
In July of 2022, she completed the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship at the New York Zen Center, along with many other clinicians nationally and internationally. In addition, she serves as the President of Mindo Futures, a 501c3 organization dedicated to health and educational initiatives in rural Ecuador and elsewhere. She directs the Well-Being and Cognition curriculum for physicians-in-training at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
Robert Schiller, MD, ABFP
Robert (Red) Schiller is Senior Vice President, Clinical Affairs; Chair, Graduate Medical Education; Chair, Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine at Mount Sinai/Beth Israel. He attended the New York University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in family medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, where he also completed a one-year fellowship in family medicine. He has a professional interest in homeopathy, acupuncture, and other alternative therapies that complement conventional medical care, as well as a strong interest in the integration of alternative medicine into primary care training. Dr. Schiller is the recipient of several awards including the Park-Davis Award for Teaching Medicine. Shiller is known for his leadership and innovation as a physician and administrator, serves on NYZC’s Advisory Board, and has worked closely with Koshin and Chodo on the biennial Symposium as well as on other projects.
Craig D. Blinderman, MD
Dr. Craig D. Blinderman, M.D., is currently the director of the Adult Palliative Medicine Service at Columbia University Medical Center and serves on the advisory board for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. He was previously an attending physician on the Palliative Care Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital and directed the MGH Cancer Pain Clinic. Dr. Binderman received his M.A. in philosophy from Columbia before earning his medical degree from Ben Gurion University in Israel. He completed both a residency in Family Medicine and a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in NY. He then went on to complete a medical ethics fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Blinderman has published articles and chapters on early palliative care in lung cancer patients, medical ethics, existential distress, symptom assessment and quality of life in chronic lung and heart failure patients, as well as pain management in hematology and oncology patients and patients with a history of substance abuse. He is currently the section editor for Case Discussions in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. His academic interests include: decision-making at the end of life, the role of palliative care in public health, medical ethics, and the integration of palliative care in critical care medicine. He also has a strong interest in teaching and developing programs to improve students and residents’ skills in communication and care for the dying.
Ira Byock, MD
Ira Byock, MD is a leading palliative care physician, author, and public advocate for improving care through the end of life. He serves as Chief Medical Officer for the Institute for Human Caring of Providence Health and Services, based in Torrance, CA. Dr. Byock is Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He served as Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire from 2003 through July 2013. Dr. Byock has authored numerous articles on the ethics and practice of care. His research led to conceptual frameworks for the lived experience of advanced illness, subjective quality of life measures, and effective life-completion counseling. His leadership in development of groundbreaking prototypes for concurrent care of people through the end of life has been foundational to advancing patient-centered care. Byock’s first book, Dying Well, (1997) became a standard in the field of hospice and palliative care. The Four Things That Matter Most, (2004) is used as a counseling tool widely by palliative care and hospice programs, as well as within pastoral care. The Best Care Possible (March 2012) tackles the crisis that surrounds serious illness and dying in America and his quest to transform care through the end of life. More information is available at Ira.Byock.org
ANTHONY EDWARDS
Edwards served on the Board of Trustees of Cure Autism Now, an organization that directly funds Autism research and advocates on behalf of families dealing with autism, from 1995 to 2001. He has also served, from 2007 to 2015, on the Board of Trustees of Shoe4Africa, an organization dedicated to both improving health and empowerment through sport in East Africa. The most significant accomplishment was building the first public children’s hospital in Kenya. Edwards has had a career as an actor in both film and television since 1978. He is best known as Dr. Green in the ER television series from 1994 – 2002, and as Goose in the film Top Gun. He continues to work in film, television and theater. He recently directed the independent dark comedy, My Dead Boyfriend. Edwards lives in NYC and is the father of four children.
JOE FISHER
Joe Fisher’s interests lie at the intersection of mindfulness, the arts, and person-centered care. He cofounded Renewal Care Partners, an organization that provides holistic home health care and social services to seniors and people with disabilities. At Renewal Care, Joe pioneered the development of culturally-competent home care and nursing services for LGBT seniors. Joe received his bachelor’s degree in art history and his master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University. He resides in New York and Chicago.
SEZELLE GEREAU, MD
As a Visiting Attending at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Sezelle Gereau brings a unique approach to diseases of the ear, nose and throat. She started her medical career as a National Public Health Corps physician at a community health center in East Harlem NY, where she crafted fitness and nutrition programs as a part of her medical treatment of patients. “This is where I learned what being a doctor is all about. Caring for the sickest patients in a medically underserved community with dedicated, holistic physicians.” She credits her first medical director, Dr. Steven Tamarin, as setting the tone for her approach to patients – to listen, meet patients where they are and treat within the context of what is important to them. During her 22 years as a surgeon Dr. Gereau tackled all varieties of disorders of the ears, nose and throat, both inside the OR and out, but she found herself constrained by standard allopathic medicine. It failed to allow her to fully incorporate the whole-person approach with which she started her career. In 2002, Dr. Gereau graduated in the first class of associate fellows of The Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Under the tutelage of Dr. Andrew Weil, she trained in new methodologies to restore wellness. She has since obtained additional training in allergy immunotherapy, herbs and supplements, craniosacral and myofascial therapies and homeopathy. These methodologies allow her to assess and treat many of the same illnesses that she previously approached with a scalpel – only now with diet, herbs, supplements, allergy management and myofascial manipulation. She maintains an academic presence, recently completed a chapter on integrative approaches to migraine and presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy on integrative approaches to allergy. She is teaching faculty at the Weill Cornell Allergy Course. Dr. Gereau is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, an associate of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy and an associate fellow of the Program in Integrative Medicine of the University of Arizona.Treasurer
Craig Harwood
Craig Harwood was a successful parking and real estate developer for 20 years when he began producing and writing award winning documentaries, plays and screenplays. These include, “The Most Famous Woman in the World,” based on the life of the first famous transsexual Christine Jorgensen, “Hunting Paradise” based on the life of Huntington Hartford, the heir to the A & P fortune and PATERNAL INSTINCT, the story of two gay men who have a child with a surrogate mother, which premiered on HBO/Cinemax. Craig signed Wendy Kram as his manager in 2012. In addition, Harwood is an activist who sits on the board of The Lantern Group, the largest organization in NY providing low income housing and The Threshold Foundation, a community of individuals who mobilize money, people and power to create a more just, joyful and sustainable world.
Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, FAAHPM
Director Emerita and Strategic Medical Advisor, Center to Advance Palliative Care
Co-director, Patty and Jay Baker National Palliative Care Center
Professor, Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
Catherine Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Diane E. Meier, FACP, FAAHPM, is Director Emerita and Strategic Medical Advisor of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, a national organization devoted to increasing access to quality health care in the United States for people living with serious illness. Under her leadership the number of palliative care programs in U.S. hospitals tripled since 2002.
Widely regarded as a preeminent change agent, Dr. Meier has received numerous awards that recognize and celebrate her achievements. In September 2008, Dr. Meier was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (MacArthur Genius Award). She was named one of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better in the United States” by HealthLeaders Media in 2010, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. In 2017 she received both the Gustav O. Lienhard Award of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Hospital Association’s HRET TRUST Award. Dr. Meier served as a Health and Aging Policy Fellow in Washington, DC, in 2009–10, working on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) and at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Meier has published more than two hundred works in peer-reviewed medical literature. Her most recent book, Meeting the Needs of Older Adults with Serious Illness: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Health Reform, was published by Humana in 2014. She has in the media numerous times, including the PBS NewsHour Brief But Spectacular and the New York Times Magazine.
Bruce (B.J.) Miller, MD
Dr. BJ Miller brings unique compassion to his role as Senior Director and Advocate of Zen Hospice Project. An electrical shock sustained while a Princeton undergraduate nearly cost him his life. He miraculously survived but lost both legs below the knee and half of one arm. By all accounts, BJ has developed an extraordinary sense of presence and understanding that he shares freely with patients, community and the Zen Hospice Project he leads. As executive director of this non-profit organization since 2010, BJ oversees its pioneering integration of social and medical services founded in spirituality. Working from the belief in death as a part of life, he is also actively engaged in cultivating a re-examined dialogue about this universal experience – as much through ZHP’s own human-centered model of care as through exploratory work with the international design firm IDEO, participation in various healthcare policy initiatives, including San Francisco’s Palliative Care Task Force, and through public speaking including the culminating talk at TED2015, all helping to make compassionate end-of-life care available to all. Following undergraduate studies in art history at Princeton, BJ received his MD at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as a Regents’ Scholar and completed his internal medicine residency at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA, where he served as chief resident. He also completed a fellowship in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, with clinical duties split between Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. BJ also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and is an attending specialist for Palliative Care Service at UCSF Medical Center and the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, a groundbreaking outpatient palliative care clinic.
Russell Portenoy, MD
Dr. Russell Portenoy is Chief Medical Officer of MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care and Executive Director of the MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care. He is a Professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Prior to joining MJHS, Dr. Portenoy was founding Chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care and the Gerald J. Friedman Chair in Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York. Dr. Portenoy is past-president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and past-president of the American Pain Society. He previously chaired the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Leadership Award of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; the Galen Miller Leadership Award of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization; the Wilbert Fordyce Award for Lifetime Excellence in Clinical Investigation and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Pain Society; and the Founder’s Award by the American Academy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Portenoy has been Editor‑in‑Chief of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management for more than two decades, co-edits the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, and is editor for the palliative care section of The Oncologist. He has written, co-authored, or edited 21 books and more than 525 papers and book chapters on topics in pain and symptom management, opioid pharmacotherapy, and palliative care.
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors, and has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Sharon’s latest book is The Force of Kindness, published by Sounds True. She is also the author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, published by Riverhead Books; Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World, both published by Shambhala Publications; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate (audio), from Sounds True. For more information about Sharon, please visit: www.SharonSalzberg.com.
Sebene Selassie
Sebene Selassie is a meditation teacher and certified Integral Coach®. She has been studying Buddhism since majoring in Comparative Religious Studies as an undergrad at McGill University. For over 20 years she worked with children, youth, and families nationally and internationally for small and large not–for–profits. Her work has taken her everywhere from the Tenderloin in San Francisco to refugee camps in Guinea, West Africa. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Sebene is a breast cancer survivor.
Gina Sharpe
Gina Sharpe was born in Jamaica and immigrated to New York at the age of 11. She has an A.B. in Philosophy from Barnard College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Before practicing law, she worked for the New York City government (the Lindsay Administration), in the motion picture industry (as Assistant to the Producer of feature length films Little Big Man, Paper Lion and Alice’s Restaurant), as well as conducting research in public not-for-profits. As a lawyer, she practiced as a corporate litigator and then as a corporate lawyer. She also served as an executive in the fields of venture capital and mergers and acquisitions.
After retiring from the practice of law, she co-founded New York Insight Meditation Center. Trained as a retreat teacher in a joint Teacher Training Program of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society, she teaches at various venues around the United States including Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, Vallecitos Mountain Refuge, Mid America Dharma, Garrison Institute, Asia Society, Tibet House, the New York Open Center, the Katonah Yoga Center and a maximum security prison for women. She has been teaching the Dharma since 1995. She has served on the boards of directors of several not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.
TEACHERS
Chodo Robert Campbell SENSEI, GC-C
In 2007, Chodo Robert Campbell Sensei GC-C, co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care — a non-profit organization that focuses on the teaching of Zen and Buddhist practice with the goal to make them more accessible to people all around the world. The center delivers contemplative approaches to care through education, carepartnership, and meditation practice. To better expand the reach of the program, Chodo co-developed a carefully structured protocol: the Foundations in Contemplative Care Training Program. Today, New York Zen Center’s methodologies are internationally recognized—and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
Chodo is a dynamic, grounded, and visionary leader and teacher: he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S instructing in various institutions. He has also spent many hours dedicated to bearing witness to the suffering of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Chodo’s public programs have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the living and dying. Sixty-thousand people listen to his podcasts each year. His passion lies in bereavement counseling and advocating for change in the way our healthcare institutions work with the dying.
Chodo is widely recognized as a trailblazer and authority on contemplative care; His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle, Parabola and other media outlets. He is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher with the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Academic Appointments
Chodo is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Master in Pastoral Care and Counseling at NYZC’s education partner, New York Theological Seminary. He is also on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine in San Diego.
Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei, MFA, LMSW, DMIN
Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei, MFA, LMSW, DMIN, is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and Certified Chaplaincy Educator. After more than a decade as a chaplain and psychotherapist, Koshin co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. The non-profit center offers contemplative approaches to care through education, personal caregiving, and Zen practice. Today, New York Zen Center’s methodologies are internationally recognized—and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals.
Koshin is a renowned thought leader in contemplative care; his work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle among other publications. He is the author of Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications, 2019). And the co-editor of Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016).
Koshin began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
He has completed six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center. He is an ACPE Certified Educator, chaplain, and Jungian psychotherapist.
Academic Appointments
Koshin has served as the co-director of Contemplative Care Services for the Department of Integrative Medicine and as the chaplaincy supervisor for the Pain and Palliative Care Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where he also served on the Medical Ethics Committee.
He is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, on Faculty of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and he is a visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School.
Visiting Zen Teachers
Genyu Kojima Roshi
Genyu Kojima Born in Chokokuji Temple in Gifu, Japan. Genyu Kojima is now the 20th Abbot of Chokokuji Temple, where he offers memorial ceremonies and Zen practice and dharma talks. He graduated from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, with a BA in International Relations. After graduation, he worked as a steel trader at Metal One Corporation in Tokyo and Singapore for 6 years. At the age of 30, he went to one of Soto Zen’s Head Temples, Daihonzan Eiheiji, in Fukui prefecture, practicing Zen for 18 months. After his training at Eiheiji, Genyu-san, relocated to Bukkokusan Zuioji Temple, in Ehime prefecture, for 18 months of training and practice. In February, 2016, he returned to his home temple where he is now currently serving as a Chief Priest/Abbot of the temple since March, 2020.
Dorothy Dai En Friedman SENSEI
Dorothy Dai En Friedman Sensei (November 16, 1928—), Dai-en’s spiritual journey began in the 1960s when she was forced to seek help for a back injury which ended her career as a professional dancer. This event proved to be a wonderful preparation for her eventual immersion 20 years later in Buddhist Vipassana practice at Insight Meditation Society. After she established her Vipassana practice, she then began her journey into Zen practice. Her core teachers include her transmitting teacher Peter Muryo Mathiessen Roshi, as well as Joseph Goldstein, Matt Flickstein, and Maureen Stuart Roshi. Dai-en is now a Sensei at Ocean Zendo, located on Eastern Long Island. She is honored to teach with Koshin and Chodo, her first dharma heirs, in the wonderful healing work of New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, for the benefit of all beings, as we live and die.
Myozen Joan Amaral Sensei
Myozen Joan Amaral is the Founder and Guiding Teacher of the Zen Center North Shore. Joan is a dharma heir of Zenkei Blanche Hartman in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi. Joan trained at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery for six years. While in residency at San Francisco Zen Center, she formed a dharma group – Dharma en Español – devoted to studying Suzuki Roshi’s Zen Mind, Beginners Mind in Spanish (Mente Zen, Mente de Principiante), in order to provide the opportunity for native Spanish speakers to hear the dharma in their own language.
Issho Fujita Sensei
Issho Fujita is currently based at the Chizanso Retreat in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan where he conducts research and offers instruction in zazen. He is the second head director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco. He wrote “Modern Lectures on Zazen: The Path to Shikantaza” and is the co-author of “Buddhism 3.0: An Update.” He has also translated numerous works into Japanese including Stephen Batchelor’s “Buddhism Without Beliefs,” David Brazier’s “The Feeling Buddha,” and Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Zen Keys.”
Jose Shinzan Palma Sensei
Jose Shinzan Palma Sensei was born in Veracruz, Mexico, He is an ordained Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax, roshi. In 1996 in Mexico City, he met a Korean Zen teacher, Ven. Samu Sunim and trained in the Buddhist Maitreya Seminar while living in the Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple until 2005. He was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest by Ven. Samu Sunim in 2004. Shinzan arrived at Upaya Zen Center in 2006 where he lived and trained for over 8 years as a resident and student of Joan Halifax, Roshi. He received Dharma transmission from Joan Halifax, Roshi in January 2015 before relocating to San Diego, CA. He is the founder of the Open Gate Zen Collective in San Diego, CA. He co-teaches teen retreats in the US for IBME, and is a guest teacher at Upaya Zen Center in New Mexico, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, and Zen Groups in México City and Bogotá, Colombia. His vision is to continue to mentor and teach young men and women and to create a Zen Hispanic community in the USA and Mexico.
Gyōkei Yokoyama Sensei
Gyōkei Sensei completed his training at Eiheiji, one of the head temples of Sōtō Zen, in 2000 before graduating from Sophia University in Tokyo, where he majored in intercultural communication and was involved in the interfaith community. He worked as a paralegal translator for a few years in Tokyo. While serving as a priest in his hometown, he taught English to children from kindergarten to high school level. He also worked for a Japanese Brazilian and Peruvian community during the recession in 2008 and advocated for the city program for their children with linguistic challenges as a city councilor. He was a vice bishop of Iwoji temple from 2006 to 2011 and a bishop from 2011 to 2013. Currently, he is assigned to work for the Long Beach Buddhist Church and Montebello Sozenji Buddhist Temple as a minister and the Sōtō Zen North America Office as the secretary.
LAY SENIOR STUDENTS
Shishin Falk, LMSW, MA
Shishin Falk was born and raised in Japan as a Pure-Land Buddhist. After receiving a B.A. from University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, she moved to the U.S. She earned her MSW from New York University. She also holds M.A.’s in Applied Linguistics and General Psychology and she taught Japanese language and culture to toddlers and children at the Sol Goldman 14th Street YM-YWHA of the Educational Alliance. Shishin completed Foundations in Contemplative Care in 2017 and is currently enrolled in the Clinical Pastoral Education at NYZC. Her clinical experiences include serving at the bedside at a major medical center and a nursing home residence. She is a Formal Soto Zen Student of Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison. She received Jukai, a dharma name and is studying Zen Buddhism and chaplaincy with Sensei Koshin. Her Zen Buddhist and chaplaincy practice are sustained and inspired by The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts and Jizo’s Vow. Shishin is a New York State licensed social worker and a committed Zen practitioner. She lives in Manhattan with her husband Jake and her tricolor Tibetan Spaniel Tārā.
Jyoshin Stewart, MA
Jyoshin Stewart, MA, a life-long New Yorker, first came to the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care to practice zazen with Senseis Koshin Paley Ellison and Chodo Robert Campbell. In the midst of a life of service to public schools, public policy, and non-profit organizations, she found inspiration in the Zen Center’s practice of contemplative care. Deborah completed the Foundations in Contemplative Care program serving patients and staff at Lenox Hill Hospital. She completed four units in the Zen Center’s Clinical Pastoral Education, serving as a contemplative chaplain intern at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, and she formally studies Zen Buddhism with her Zen teacher, Sensei Koshin. She is co-steward of the NY Metro Circle of Zen Peacemakers and is a board member of the Hunts Point Alliance for Children. She received an MA in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Jim Mintz, and always has a home for their children, Hannah and Jack.
VISITING TEACHERS AND FACILITATORS
Alua Arthur
Alua Arthur is a death doula, recovering attorney, and the founder of Going with Grace, an end of life planning and death doula training organization that exists to support people as they answer the question ‘What must I do to be at peace with myself so that I may live presently and die gracefully?’ Through private end of life consultations to online coursework, she is tirelessly committed to bringing awareness to death and dying which she believes can inspire the way people live. A jewelry addict, Alua is also a life lover, donut fanatic, and an avid international traveler to places off the beaten path. She sits on the End-of-Life Doula Council of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and is inspired by the gift of LIFE itself.
Craig D. Blinderman, MD
Dr. Craig D. Blinderman, M.D., is currently the director of the Adult Palliative Medicine Service at Columbia University Medical Center and serves on the advisory board for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. He was previously an attending physician on the Palliative Care Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital and directed the MGH Cancer Pain Clinic. Dr. Binderman received his M.A. in philosophy from Columbia before earning his medical degree from Ben Gurion University in Israel. He completed both a residency in Family Medicine and a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in NY. He then went on to complete a medical ethics fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Blinderman has published articles and chapters on early palliative care in lung cancer patients, medical ethics, existential distress, symptom assessment and quality of life in chronic lung and heart failure patients, as well as pain management in hematology and oncology patients and patients with a history of substance abuse. He is currently the section editor for Case Discussions in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. His academic interests include: decision-making at the end of life, the role of palliative care in public health, medical ethics, and the integration of palliative care in critical care medicine. He also has a strong interest in teaching and developing programs to improve students and residents’ skills in communication and care for the dying.
Ira Byock, MD
Ira Byock, MD is a leading palliative care physician, author, and public advocate for improving care through the end of life. He serves as Chief Medical Officer for the Institute for Human Caring of Providence Health and Services, based in Torrance, CA. Dr. Byock is Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He served as Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire from 2003 through July 2013. Dr. Byock has authored numerous articles on the ethics and practice of care. His research led to conceptual frameworks for the lived experience of advanced illness, subjective quality of life measures, and effective life-completion counseling. His leadership in development of groundbreaking prototypes for concurrent care of people through the end of life has been foundational to advancing patient-centered care. Byock’s first book, Dying Well, (1997) became a standard in the field of hospice and palliative care. The Four Things That Matter Most, (2004) is used as a counseling tool widely by palliative care and hospice programs, as well as within pastoral care. The Best Care Possible (March 2012) tackles the crisis that surrounds serious illness and dying in America and his quest to transform care through the end of life. More information is available at Ira.Byock.org
Marie Howe
Marie Howe was born in 1950 and received her MFA from Columbia University in 1983. Her debut volume, The Good Thief, was selected by Margaret Atwood as winner of the 1987 Open Competition of the National Poetry Series, published in 1988 by Persea Books. Since then, she has published two more collections, What the Living Do (W. W. Norton, 1998) and The Kingdom of the Ordinary (2008). In 1995, she edited (with Michael Klein) the anthology In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic. About her work, the poet Stanley Kunitz has said, “Marie Howe’s poetry is luminous, intense, and eloquent, rooted in an abundant inner life.” Her awards include a fellowship at the Bunting Institute, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She has served on the faculty of several schools, including Tufts University and Dartmouth College. She currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence, New York University, and Columbia University in New York City, where she lives with her daughter. In August 2012 she was named the State Poet Laureate of New York State.
Rev. Leslye Noyes, PsyD, MDiv, LP, LMHC
Rev. Leslye Noyes, PsyD, MDiv, LP, LMHC, is a certified Jungian Analyst in private practice in NYC. Leslye sees individuals and couples and supervises therapists interested in learning how to work symbolically. She graduated from Union Theological Seminary and is an ordained UCC minister. She was awarded the Post. M.Div. Mission Fellowship from the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, which she used to develop visual art as a ministerial tool. Leslye completed training programs at Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy, Blanton Peale Institutes for Religion and Mental Health and the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association. She is a certified Pastoral Counselor and a Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She currently serves as the Dean of Candidates at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association.
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama’s work centres around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. Working fluently on the page and with groups of people, Pádraig is a skilled speaker, teacher and group worker. He is the author of four volumes of poetry: Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, In the Shelter, Sorry for your Troubles, and Readings from the Books of Exile. From 2014-2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community. He is based in Belfast, Ireland.
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors, and has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Sharon’s latest book is The Force of Kindness, published by Sounds True. She is also the author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, published by Riverhead Books; Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World, both published by Shambhala Publications; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate (audio), from Sounds True. For more information about Sharon, please visit: www.SharonSalzberg.com.
Sebene Selassie
Sebene Selassie is a meditation teacher and certified Integral Coach®. She has been studying Buddhism since majoring in Comparative Religious Studies as an undergrad at McGill University. For over 20 years she worked with children, youth, and families nationally and internationally for small and large not–for–profits. Her work has taken her everywhere from the Tenderloin in San Francisco to refugee camps in Guinea, West Africa. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Sebene is a breast cancer survivor.
The Contemplative Care Advisory Committee of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care is a group of interdisciplinary professionals, who offer advice and counsel for our Contemplative Care CPE Chaplaincy Training Program in regards to planning, development and program evaluation. This helps insure our program is well integrated within the organization and provides feedback for quality assurance.
Rande Gail Brown
Rande Gail Brown, LCSW, was a founding board member and formerly the Executive Director of the Tricycle Foundation, publisher of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, America’s leading Buddhist magazine. With a degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University, Rande lived for many years in Japan, where she was Associate Director of the International Division of the Institute for Religion and Psychology in Tokyo. Upon returning to the U.S., she founded East West Communications, a leading force in cross-cultural programming between Japan and the United States for over 20 years. A well-known translator of Japanese spiritual and cultural texts, Rande co-authored the New York Times bestseller Geisha, A Life with Mineko Iwasaki (Atria, 2002). Rande is a proud graduate of the first Foundations Course of the NYZCCC (2008). Her experience as a volunteer chaplain inspired her to become a licensed psychotherapist with a specific interest in the intersection of Buddhism, spirituality, and psychology. She is currently a candidate in the Psychoanalytic Training Program of the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology and has a private practice in Greenwich Village.
Marty Ehrlich MD, MPH
Martin Ehrlich MD MPH has practiced medicine in NYC for over 30 years. A graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he began his career at Harlem Hospital at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic with a focus on preventive care, residency training and patient-physician communication. With a lifelong interest in Integrative Medicine, a field that emphasizes the importance of lifestyle, mind-body relationship, and the wisdom of ancient healing traditions he was the Director of the Beth Israel Center for Health and Healing from 2008 to 2016. Acutely aware of the inadequacies of the care of people with serious chronic illness near the end of life he was one of the founding board members of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. In 2016 he began fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine with Metropolitan Jewish Hospice Service. He lives in New York with his wife Yoana Baraschi, two beautiful daughters, two amazing cats and a python.
Rabbi Hanniel Levenson, MS, RYT
Rabbi Hanniel Levenson, was born in Haifa, Israel and his formative years were shaped in Manhattan, NYC. Hanniel received a B.A. in Religion & Art from New York University, a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Bard College, and Rabbinical Ordination from The Academy for Jewish Religion. Hanniel was also a competitive gymnast for 15 years and is now a yoga teacher, painter and Surfer. Hanniel asks all free seekers and spiritual warriors to join him on the body-mind-soul train. Life is a journey in practices of playfulness, liberation, and cosmic wonder. Drawing upon the wisdom masters of the world’s traditions and cultivating the ritual architect potential in all. Hanniel is currently the Head Rabbi at Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights.
Evan Zazula, DMin
Evan has been Chaplain with The Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute based at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for six years. He began his training with New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care in 2010 in the Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care Program, subsequently completing four units of Clinical Pastoral Education with NYZC at Mount Sinai, supporting its palliative care and oncology patients and families. Evan has been practicing Tibetan Buddhism/Dzogchen for twenty years and is grateful for his ever-deepening Zen education with Dai-En, Koshin and Chodo. He received his Doctor of Ministry from Hebrew Union College after completing his Master of Arts in Pastoral Care and Counseling: Buddhist Track at New York Theological Seminary. For the past twenty-five years he has consulted for international businesses, organizations, and professionals. Evan has co-established the endowment for Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in India and is also a cofounder and adviser of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives, a U.S. not-for-profit 501(c)(3).
