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.