JOHN TEASDALE received his first degree in psychology from the University of Cambridge. Subsequently, he studied for his Ph.D. in abnormal psychology, and trained as a clinical psychologist, at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, where he then taught for a number of years. After working as a National Health Service clinical psychologist in the University Hospital of Wales, he began a thirty year period of full- time research, supported by the Medical Research Council, first in the Department of Psychiatry, Univeristy of Oxford, subsequently in the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge.
The continuing focus of this research has been the investigation of basic psychological processes and the application of that understanding to the relief of emotional disorders. Initially this involved the development and evaluation of behavioral therapies for anxiety disorders, subsequently the exploration of cognitive approaches to understanding and treating major depression, and, most recently, the development of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a program that is effective in substantially reducing future risk of major depression through an integration of mindfulness training and cognitive approaches.
Dr. Teasdale has published more than a hundred scientific papers and chapters, and co-authored three books. He has received a Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Psychological Association, and has been elected Fellow of both the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is currently retired, pursuing personal interests in meditation and mindfulness training.
ESTHER M. STERNBERG received her M.D. and Rheumatology training at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and was on the faculty at Washington University, St. Louis, MO, before joining the National Institutes Health in 1986. Currently Chief of the Section on Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Sternberg is also Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH and Co- Chair of the NIH Intramural Program on Research in Women’s Health.
Dr. Sternberg is internationally recognized for her discoveries in brain-immune interactions and the brain’s stress response in diseases including arthritis: the science of the mind-body interaction. She publishes numerous original scientific articles, reviews and textbook chapters in leading scientific journals and authored the popular book The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions.
She has received the Public Health Service Superior Service Award; Arthritis Foundation William R. Felts Award; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services PHS Staff Recognition Award; FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation; NIMH Director’s Merit Award; was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a committee of the Institute of Medicine; testified before Congress; was a World Health Organization Advisor and member of the National Library of Medicine’s Literature Selection Technical Review (Medline) Committee.
Dr. Sternberg lectures and chairs conferences nationally and inter nationally, including the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.), Nobel Forum (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm); is past-President of the International Society for Neuroimmunomodulation; co-directed the NLM Exhibition on “Emotions and Disease” (1996) and is featured in the NLM’s Exhibition on Women in Medicine (2004-05).
RALPH SNYDERMAN is Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine. He is currently a visiting professor in the Global Health Science Center of the University of California at San Francisco. From 1989 to July 2004, he served as Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. During this period, he oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System, one of the few fully integrated academic health systems in the country, and served as its Chief Executive Officer. The health system provides not only leading edge care, but is also developing tomorrow’s models of health care delivery.
Dr. Snyderman has been a leading proponent of a new approach to health called “Prospective Care.” This model envisions each individual receiving a personalized health plan based on their own risks and needs. This will give people far more control of and responsibility for their own health as well as opportunities to improve it. Prospective Care combines the best in science and technology with humanistic medical practice and relies on integrative medicine to do this.
Dr. Snyderman is the recipient of numerous honors, including the highest awards in the field of inflammation research, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arthritis Foundation and the first Bravewell Leadership Award for outstanding achievements in the field of integrative medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and American Academy of Arts & Sciences, past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges and immediate past president of the American Association of Physicians.
JOHN F. SHERIDAN is Professor of Immunology and Director of the Comprehensive Training in Oral and Craniofacial Biology program. He currently holds the George C. Paffenbarger Alumni Endowed Research Chair, and is the Associate Director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University.
He received a B.S. degree from Fordham University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University. He did postdoctoral training in microbiology/immunology at the Duke University Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is a founding member and past president of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society.
His major research interests include neuroendocrine regulation of gene expression in inflammatory and immune responses, stress-induced susceptibility to infectious disease, viral pathogenesis and host immunity. Current studies seek to define key cellular and molecular mechanisms by which social behavior affects immunity and resistance to infectious disease. To date, these studies have demonstrated the importance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in viral pathogenesis, resistance to infectious disease, effectiveness of vaccination, and tissue repair/wound healing.
DAVID S. SHEPS received his M.D. from the University of North Carolina (1969), completed his residency in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital (1972) and completed a fellowship in cardiology at Yale University School of Medicine (1974). He has an MSPH in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina (1988).
Dr. Sheps is Professor and Associate Chair in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine and is a staff cardiologist at the Gainesville VA Medical Center. He is Director of Nuclear Cardiology at the University of Florida. Effective January 2002, Dr. Sheps was recognized for his accomplishments in behavioral medicine by being appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the Psychosomatic Medicine Journal.
Dr. Sheps is a well-recognized expert in the field of the effects of psychological stress in patients with coronary artery disease and mental stress ischemia and has a strong track record of publications and grants in this area. Dr. Sheps has been principal investigator on numerous grants funded by the NIH, the Health Effects Institute, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and pharmaceutical groups.
