Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher internationally known for his work in bringing mindfulness practices, especially Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), into the mainstream of medicine, health care, and society. He is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (in 1995). He is also the founder (in 1979) of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and of UMass Medical School's world-renowned MBSR Clinic.
In 1971, Kabat-Zinn received his doctorate in molecular biology from MIT with the Nobel Laureate in physiology and medicine, Salvador Luria. Kabat-Zinn’s research between 1979 and 2002 focused on mind/body interactions for healing; on various clinical applications of mindfulness meditation training for people with chronic pain and/or stress-related disorders; on the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the brain and how it processes emotions, particularly under stress, and on the immune system; and on the use and effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness meditation with women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer; on patients undergoing bone marrow transplant; with prison inmates and staff; in multicultural settings; and on stress in various corporate settings and work environments.
A Founding Fellow of the Fetzer Institute and a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founding convener of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, originally a network of deans, chancellors, and faculty at major United States medical schools engaged at the creative edges of mind/body and integrative medicine. For many years he served on the board of the Mind and Life Institute, a group that organizes dialogues between the Dalai Lama and Western scientists and scholars to promote deeper understanding and harnessing, for beneficial purposes, different ways of knowing and probing the nature of the mind, emotions, and reality.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is author of Full Catastrophe Living; Wherever You Go, There You Are; Coming to Our Senses; Arriving At Your Own Door; Letting Everything Become Your Teacher; Mindfulness for Beginners; and The Mind’s Own Physician: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama on the Healing Power of Meditation. He is also coauthor of Everyday Blessings (with his wife Myla) and The Mindful Way Through Depression (with Williams, Teasdale, and Segal), and coeditor, with Mark Williams, of Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on its Meaning, Origins, and Applications. Coming to Our Senses is now published as four new books: Meditation is Not What You Think; Falling Awake; The Healing Power of Mindfulness; and Mindfulness for All. Jon Kabat-Zinn's books are in print in more than 40 languages.
