Jon Kabat-Zinn (Virtual Appearance)

For decades, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the developer and founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been an exponent of bringing the ancient Buddhist meditation practice known as mindfulness (in its most universal articulations as both a formal meditative discipline and as a way of being) into the mainstream of medicine, health care, science, and beyond — not merely for individuals, but as an effective way to heal and transform the world.

Jon was inspired in part to found MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (now UMassMemorial Health) by the 1979 US Surgeon General’s Report, Healthy People. Since that time, an entire field of scientific research has documented remarkable changes at the level of the body, the mind, and society more broadly that take place via the cultivation of mindfulness. Since the early 2000s, that research endeavor has been growing exponentially (see graph), and is presently a world-wide phenomenon. In 2022, he discussed this original inspiration, and the role of mindfulness in public health with U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.

*Jon will be joining us virtually*