Edward Bezkor

REACH




Dr. Gene "Rusty" Kallenberg is Emeritus Professor of Family Medicine and the Founding Director of UC San Diego Centers for Integrative Health (a member of the Academic Consortium of Integrative Health and Medicine). He was the Chief of the Division of Family Medicine and Vice Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego From 2001 to 2020. He is currently a Co-PI of the NCCIH UCSD REACH Center for Translational Science in Whole Person Health. Dr. Kallenberg’s interests include new models of primary care, population health, integrative medicine, integrated behavioral health, medical informatics learning health systems, undergraduate/graduate medical education in competency assessment in communication skills, doctor-patient-family relationships and professionalism.


Dr. Ryan Bradley is an Associate Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, a member of the Center for Integrative Health Research and a faculty member and mentor in the Integrated Cardiovascular Research T32 program. Dr. Bradley’s clinical research focuses on natural products, mind-body practices, and models of Whole Person Health care delivery. In addition to his clinical research, he is a cardiovascular and nutritional epidemiologist, having investigated cannabis- and nutritional-associated cardiovascular risk in multiple longitudinal cohort studies.
He received his Doctor of Naturopathy degree from Bastyr University and his Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of Washington, where he also completed a 5-year KL2 clinical research training program in the Division of Cardiology. He has published over 115 peer-reviewed research articles and has been an investigator or director on 11 NIH grants, including over 12 years as a director of research training programs. In addition to his roles at UC San Diego, he is a member of the Board of Governors and co-chairs the Strategy Committee of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine at UC San Diego. Her research focuses on mindfulness-based interventions, spirituality and health, and transformative experiences that support emotional well-being.
Cassandra Vieten is Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine at UC San Diego. She is also Director of Research at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD. She is Senior Advisor of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation where she served as Executive Director from 2019-2023, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019.
Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader.

Dr. Cinnamon Bloss is a Professor of Public Health, Psychiatry, and Medicine at UC San Diego and Founding Director of the Center for Empathy and Technology within the Institute for Empathy and Compassion. Her interdisciplinary research examines social and behavioral aspects of emerging information and biotechnologies and has been funded by NIH, DARPA, and philanthropic sources. She serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and has held national leadership roles, including Chair of the NIH Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee.
Dr. Cinnamon Bloss is a tenured Professor of Public Health, Psychiatry, and Medicine at the University of California San Diego. She is the Founding Director of the Center for Empathy and Technology, situated within the UCSD Institute for Empathy and Compassion, where she also serves as Associate Director. Dr. Bloss conducts interdisciplinary research focused on social and behavioral phenomena related to emerging information and biotechnologies. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and philanthropic donations. In 2021, Dr. Bloss was appointed by the NIH Director to serve as Chair of the Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee that provides recommendations to the NIH Director and a public forum for the discussion of scientific, safety, and ethical issues associated with emerging biotechnologies. Prior to assuming the chairpersonship of the committee, she served as Co-chair of the Gene Drives in Biomedical Research Working Group. Dr. Bloss was recognized by the Western Societies of Medicine with the Carmel Prize for Research Excellence and has published over 100 papers. She was honored by the American Society of Human Genetics as the recipient of the 2022 Mentorship Award and has mentored over 50 trainees. She has received multiple teaching awards at UCSD, where she also founded a new concentration in Technology and Precision Health for the Master in Public Health degree. Dr. Bloss is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health. For over a decade, she was a California-licensed clinical psychologist.
The UCSD-REACH Center thrives through collaboration. Our partner institutions bring diverse expertise, resources, perspectives, and communities that strengthen our shared mission to advance whole person health research and training.
Together, we:
Co-develop innovative pilot projects and research studies
Share expertise, tools, and training opportunities
Build multi-site collaborations that extend the impact of whole person health science
Create pathways for scholars, clinicians, and community members to engage in research
This collective effort ensures that discoveries made within REACH are more rigorous, inclusive, and impactful. By working hand-in-hand with our partners, we accelerate translation from scientific insight to real-world application—improving health outcomes and shaping the future of integrative care.

Program Director
James Mathews, PT, DPT, PhD
Research Director
Ed Bezkor, PT, DPT, PHD

Program Director
Nicole Wadsworth, DO
Research Director
Jordan Keys, DO

Program Director
Malcolm Youngren
Research Directors
April Paniagua, Deborah Reuss

Program Director
Melanie Henriksen, ND, LAc, CNM
Research Directors
Heather Zwickey, PhD

Program Director
Tami Hendriksz DO, FACOP, FAAP
Research Director
Nathalie Bergeron, PhD

Program Director
John Scaringe, DC, EdD
Research Director
Steffany Moonaz, PhD, C-IAYT