Dr. Raghu Kiran Appasani is a Psychiatrist, Neuroscientist, Mental Health Advocate, and Social Entrepreneur focused on bridging the gap between western and eastern practices to create a wholesome society. His vision is to create a world in which anyone, anywhere can access the mental health resources they need whilst being supported by a society full of empathy, compassion, and love. He is the Founder & CEO of The MINDS Foundation, a mental health nonprofit, for which he has been recognized as a One Young World Delegate Ambassador, StartingBloc Fellow, Nexus Global Delegate, EchoingGreen, MassChallenge, and Kellogg Innovation Network Delegate. Through his extensive scientific research, he has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and edited six books. He has given over a 100 talks on mental health, entrepreneurship, global health, and consciousness in parallel with authorship for ThriveGlobal, The Better India, and The Huffington Post. He has been recognized by CNN, Vogue, [...]

Matthew S. Goodman, Ph.D. is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. His clinical and research interests lie at the intersection of mental and physical health. Dr. Goodman is trained in health psychology and has expertise in Primary Care-Behavioral Health Integration. He is Board Certified in Biofeedback. His research focuses on the relationship between central and autonomic nervous system functioning, and how practices such as meditation and biofeedback facilitate cognitive, emotional, and physiological homeostasis. Dr. Goodman provides training and consultation to USC faculty and organizations on mindfulness, self-compassion, and other stress-reduction practices. Dr. Goodman is Director of the documentary film, "On the Path: Meditation, Spirituality, and the Dark Night of the Soul," which examines adverse experiences associated with meditation. He hopes to create more dialogue around the challenges, or "dark night," sometimes elicited through contemplative practice and the role this [...]

Dr. Marc J. Weigensberg, MD, is a holistic physician specializing in the mind-body treatment of youth with diabetes and other chronic health conditions.  On the medical faculty at USC Keck School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, he serves as the Director of Pediatric Endocrinology at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, and as the Director of the USC Institute for Integrative Health. On the national level, he serves on the steering committee of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.  Beyond his conventional medical training in pediatric endocrinology, he is certified in the mind-body modality of Interactive Guided ImagerySM, which he uses in his medical practice to help his patients reduce stress, improve lifestyle behaviors, and promote a state of wholeness and well-being by fully integrating their chronic diseases into their sense of self.   His extensive activity in integrative biomedical research has utilized guided imagery, along with other [...]

Dr. Benjamin Houltberg is the Director of Research at the USC Performance Science Institute. Benjamin is a developmental scientist by training and is widely published in topics such as emotion regulation under stress, transcendent motivation and purpose, promoting resilience through adversity and the importance of virtue development for high performance. He is also a licensed counselor that conducts applied research to inform training for entrepreneurs, athletes, and community members, while informing theories on mindset and performance. Dr. Houltberg discovered the power of mindfulness after completing a Mindfulness Based Stressed Reduction course, which activated his own practice and empirical curiosity towards understanding mindfulness in the context of high performance.