Diego Hangartner, Pharm, D., Chief Operating Officer, Mind and Life Institute, completed his studies in pharmacology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, specializing in psychotherapeutic and psychoactive substances. Having worked with drug addiction, he became interested in understanding the workings of mind and consciousness. After encountering Buddhism, he then spent 11 years in Dharamsala, India, where he first learned Tibetan and then studied for 7 years at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. During those years, he did several retreats and worked as a translator and interpreter, translating Tibetan into English, German, French and Spanish. After returning to Europe in 2003, he taught widely, was General Secretary and project manager of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visits in Switzerland 2005 and in Hamburg 2007. He has been associated with Mind and Life since the late 1990's. Presently, he is the General Secretary of Mind and Life International, based in Zurich, Switzerland, and is Mind and Life Director of Program, Research and International.