UC San Diego

Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH served as an Executive Director for the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness and as associate vice chancellor (AVC) for health sciences at UC San Diego and was a tenured professor in the Department of Psychiatry until the Fall of 2020. He is the Executive Vice President for University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Sciences and Chief Executive Officer of the UNM Health System.

A distinguished physician-scientist and leader in the field of addictive disorders research, he was recruited to UC San Diego in 2017. For 10 years prior he was chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and president of UMass Memorial Behavioral Health Services. Under his leadership, his department became one of the largest in the country, with over 375 faculty supported by 2,000 staff, and substantial growth in research, clinical services, and education.

Dr. Ziedonis is internationally recognized for his research in co-occurring mental illness and addiction, especially tobacco addiction and recovery-oriented interventions. His research has been continuously funded for more than 25 years and received over 110 grants (28 as principal investigator), resulting in over 300 publications and scholarly works. He serves on multiple editorial boards, including The Scientific World Journal and the Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry. He is active in global initiatives, including current research in the UK, China, Latvia, Italy and Denmark.

Katie Witkiewitz, PhD is a Regents’ Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked extensively on the development of a theoretical model of biopsychosocial influences on substance use disorder and recovery. She has conducted numerous grant funded studies on the efficacy and effectiveness of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, prediction of relapse following treatment for alcohol and drug use disorders, and mechanisms of change following mindfulness-based interventions. She currently trains and supervises providers who deliver mindfulness-based relapse prevention groups in community-based treatment programs for substance use disorders.

Michael Waupoose (Māēc-mahwāēw), LCSW is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. He is an 8-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Michael began his meditation practice in 2009 after being introduced to MBSR through the University of Wisconsin (UW) Health Mindfulness Program. He has been teaching in the UW Mindfulness Program since 2012, offering adult MBSR classes, MBSR classes for the BIPOC community and a MBSR Teacher Training Intensive, which he developed. He also teaches mindfulness classes on the Reservation of Menominee Indian Tribe.

Michael has completed teacher training with the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. Michael is a certified MBSR teacher through the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. His interests include offering classes for the BIPOC community, exploring the benefits for mindfulness for overall wellness and quality of life, and how mindfulness can support skillful responding to the harm and impact of racial and social injustice. Michael resides in Madison, WI with his husband, whom he has enjoyed life with for over 25 years.

Zayda Vallejo, Mlitt was born in Colombia, South America. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and a Master’s degree in Political Economy at Oxford University. She has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1978. Her keen interest in meditation took her to Japan, India, Burma, and Nepal, where she lived for three years.

Zayda is an adjunct faculty member at Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC). She is a mindfulness instruct or, trainer , and part of the team that developed the Mindfulness Training for Primary Care Group Leadership Manual. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University School of Public Health. For the past 18 years Zayda has served as a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor, teacher, and supervisor of professionals who aspire to teach MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (CFM). From 2007-2015 she taught MBSR for The Lazar Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital for research purposes.

Zayda has taught mindfulness programs and developed curricula at The Garrison Institute, Mindful Kids Miami, University of Southern California, and other organizations. In 2014 she co-founded The Heartwell Institute, a non-profit community organization in Worcester, MA dedicated to foster contemplative practices and wellness education. Zayda leads 5-day and 7-day silent retreats.

Anne Twohig lives in Ireland in the beautiful seaside town of Greystones, where she enjoys long walks by the sea and hiking in the hills of County Wicklow. She is a certified MBSR teacher and teacher trainer. She is the founder of the Centre for Mindfulness Ireland, which she established in 2007. Anne trained with the University of Massachusetts Medical School Center for Mindfulness (UMass CFM), and has been a member of their professional teaching faculty since 2014. During her years as a teacher trainer with UMass CFM, Anne has been the host for professional teacher trainings in Ireland as well as teaching with CFM in Ireland, Europe and in the US. Anne has extensive experience teaching mindfulness across a range of areas, including healthcare, education, non-profit organizations, prison services, and the corporate and banking sectors. She was the recipient of a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland award for her work in Mindfulness in Education.
Anne is passionate about offering support and guidance to the community of qualified MBSR teachers in Ireland and around the world. She is committed to encouraging ongoing teacher development in the form of mentoring, supervision and continued education. She is excited to be on the teaching faculty at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness and looks forward to being part of their professional teacher trainings in Europe.

Website: https://www.cfmi.ie/

John Taylor is a Certified MBSR Teacher with a long meditation and retreat practice. He is committed to fostering a more mindful awake world. John is also an active member of the Greater Richmond community where the primary focus of his work has been on racial equity and reconciliation initiatives, as well as facilitated community dialogues. He is currently serving on the board of the Richmond Peace Education Center, One Common Unity based in Washington D.C. and an advisory committee for the Chrysalis Institute where he teaches Mindfulness. John's work has primarily been in the non-profit sector where he served for many years at the National office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and as a Program Officer for the Bonner Foundation. John has also been a food security activist who initiated urban farming programs in Newark, New Jersey. John is a graduate of the College of Wooster and lives in North Chesterfield, VA with his wife, three children (and three dogs).

Elena Stein, PhD is a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Her research and clinical interests focus on mindfulness-based approaches for addictive behaviors and co-occurring mental health conditions. Elena has a particular interest in working with diverse populations with mindfulness-based approaches and incorporating contextual and cultural considerations. She facilitates training in Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for multidisciplinary mental health clinicians and has implemented mindfulness-based approaches in a wide range of settings including state agencies, community mental health clinics, VA hospitals, randomized clinical trials, and in both individual and group formats.

David Spound, MEd is the Director of Valley Mindfulness in Northampton, Massachusetts, a company he founded in 2006. He teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and other in-person and online programs based on these two groundbreaking courses. He also creates specialized programs for individuals and organizations, and he leads silent meditation retreats. David trained, and was certified, as a teacher of MBSR by the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School, the organization founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn. David worked at the UMass Center for Mindfulness from 2006–2013 where he served as a member of the MBSR teaching staff and coordinated the MBSR teacher training and certification program.
David trained, and was certified, as a teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion by the UCSD Center for Mindfulness. Besides teaching MSC, he works on new projects and courses on behalf of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, the organization founded by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer.
For David, his work as a teacher and mentor is a true labor of love. He looks forward to each unique and special opportunity to serve as a mentor for others who feel called to this work. Please feel free to be in touch with David if you have any questions about working with him.

Website: www.valleymindfulness.com

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a mindfulness and Dharma teacher who also practices corporate real estate law. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice when, after law school, he found himself working at high-powered law firms where the job was extremely stressful.

Gullu completed the four-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Gullu is core faculty in the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training, the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, and a mentor for the Sounds True Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He is also a core teacher and board member for Sacred Mountain Sangha, a senior teacher at InsightLA, and a member of the guiding teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

Gullu is deeply inspired to share meditation as an antidote to stress, a path to well-being and a way to inject more sanity, compassion, and wisdom into this world.

Korantema Pierce Williams is a Certified MBSR Teacher who has long served as a bridge between traditional and modern practice through consultancy at ConjureWorks, the health and wellness practice she co-owns in Richmond, Virginia. With degrees from Howard University (BS) and Saybrook University (MS, Mind-Body Medicine), Korantema facilitates MBSR training and Mindfulness classes at the InnerWork Center, Richmond, VA where she serves as Board member and faculty. Additionally, Korantema provides teacher trainer facilitation for both MBSR and MBSR Teacher Training at UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. As a Spiritualist by training, Korantema is also known as Nana Korantema, priest in the Akom Tradition of Ghana, W. Africa for more than 20 years. Through that lens, Korantema offers leadership through healing rites for individuals and collectives; workshop facilitations imparting concepts of self-advocacy; and transformational growth and development teachings for self-preservation in both dominant and marginalized communities. Korantema facilitates audiences young, seasoned, and all ages in between, leaning into mindfulness and MBSR facilitation as impactful approaches to stress reduction, surviving trauma, and disrupting stagnant actions and thoughts.