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The Buddha the Scientist 2026 Speakers
- SCIENTISTDr. James FlomanDr. James L. Floman is an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He received his PhD at the University of British Columbia, where he studied the effects of mindfulness and compassion meditation on teacher emotion regulation and prosocial behavior with Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl. He received his MA in Psychology at Rutgers University, where he studied appraisal theory and discrete positive emotions with Dr. Ira Roseman.Dr. Floman has three core research streams: 1) The assessment of dynamic social-affective processes (i.e., developing and validating EI and well-being measurement tools); 2) EI, mindfulness, and well-being training (i.e., developing, optimizing, and scaling EI and well-being-enhancement interventions for real-world applications); and 3) Affective neuroscience (studying mental training-induced changes in ‘emotional brain’ function and structure). Dr. Floman’s research aims to foster healthy developmental trajectories in adults facing high emotional labor by drawing on innovations from psychology, affective science, education, philosophy, and neuroscience. Read
- DHARMA TEACHERMeena SrinivasanMeena Srinivasan/True Seal of Peace (she/her) is a lay Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism and has been an active member of the community for nearly two decades. She serves on the working board of the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, is a founding board member of the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing and is a resident of Simplicity Hamlet at Deer Park Monastery. An internationally recognized leader in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and mindfulness in education, she is a former public school administrator and National Board Certified Teacher.Meena is the author of Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom and SEL Every Day: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms, named one of the best books for educators by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She also authored the Integrating SEL into Every Classroom Quick Reference Guide.A Hemera Foundation Contemplative Education Fellow, Meena serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social and Emotional Learning, the leading journal for SEL policy, research, and practice. She teaches graduate-level SEL courses at UC Berkeley and is a sought-after keynote speaker.Her TEDx talk, “Unlocking the Secret Powers of Tenderness,” sharing the story of her first encounter with Thich Nhat Hanh, became one of the most-watched TEDx talks of 2024 with over two million views. Meena is the Founding Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL), where she pioneered a fellowship for educational leaders that centers personal growth as a catalyst for systemic change. She was honored as one of Mindful magazine’s Ten Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement and recognized by Educational Leadership magazine for insights into mindful leadership and the benefits of meditation for school leaders.Learn more at meenasrinivasan.com.Read
- PeopleDiane Gilbert-DiamondDiane Gilbert-Diamond, ScD, is a Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine and Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Her research lab focuses on genetic and environmental factors related to human health behaviors, including eating behavior. Diane received her doctorate in Nutritional Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in bioinformatics at Geisel. Diane has developed and teaches a well-received undergraduate course at Dartmouth titled, “Mindful Physiology” where students study biological content integrated with mindfulness practice. She is conducting research in mindfulness interventions in the Plum Village Tradition. She has been a lead organizer for mindfulness events at Dartmouth with monastics from Deer Park, Magnolia Grove, and Blue Cliff monasteries, including the 2025 The Buddha The Scientist Symposium.Read
- SPEAKERFadel ZeidanFadel Zeidan is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in the Center of Pain Medicine and is Director of the Pain Health and Mindfulness Laboratory at UC San Diego. He is also the inaugural Endowed Professor of UC San Diego's Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. He is also a Co-Founder and Director of Neuroscience at the UC San Diego Center for Psychedelic Research. Fadel’s research is also focused on how psychedelics, cannabis and meditation can alleviate suffering and promote a kinder world. His research is focused on identifying the neurobiological mechanisms supporting the modulation and cultivation of empathy and compassion.His research is currently funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to conduct placebo controlled clinical trials to assess if and how mindfulness affects chronic pain. His research program has expanded to investigate the effect and mechanisms involved in the modulation of pain and health by natural products like psilocybin, DMT and cannabis. His team just discovered for the first time that psilocybin can produce dramatic improvements in chronic pain, trauma, depression and well-being.He is an active mentor of more than 20 undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral trainees. His work has also been featured in traditional media outreach (CNN; NPR; Time Magazine, CBS and others), Tedx and personally presented his work to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Mongolia. Fadel was also awarded the 2014 National Institutes of Health Mitchell Max Award for Research Excellence.Read
- SPEAKERElli WeisbaumDr. Elli Weisbaum, BFA, MES, PhD is an endlessly curious human, which has led to her love of teaching and research. She has worked internationally facilitating mindfulness workshops and retreats within the sectors of education, healthcare and business. She is based at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor (teaching stream) in the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program (BPMH), with a joint appointment to the Department of Psychiatry, in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She is cross-appointment to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in their Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME).Her work draws upon research from the fields of neuroscience, education, healthcare and the workplace to explore how the scientific evidence base for mindfulness is being integrated and operationalized across key sectors of society. Previous and ongoing collaborations include working with the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Engineering, Rotman School of Management, Physical Therapy Department, the Ontario Hospital Association, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to integrate mindfulness into programming for faculty, staff, clinicians, patients, and students. In 2024 she was awarded a grant from the Ontario Medical Foundation (OMF) to continue her innovating research on the Applied Mindfulness Program for Medical Personnel to explore how to cultivate healthy environments within healthcare and education where everyone in the community can flourish and thrive. She attended her first retreat with Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh just after her tenth birthday, and has continued to train with his international Plum Village community. Elli’s novel background in both academic research and traditional mindfulness practice provides a distinct approach to her ongoing work teaching and researching in the field.Read
- SPEAKERDavid VagoDavid Vago, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist and renowned expert in integrative health, mind-body medicine, and the neurobiology of self-transformation. With over two decades of experience, David Vago’s research explores the neural mechanisms underlying mindfulness, meditation, and spiritual health, focusing on their impact on mental health and well-being. As a thought leader, David Vago bridges contemplative wisdom with cutting-edge neuroscience, offering actionable insights into how perception, mindset, and behavior influence brain function and health. David Vago has authored close to 100 peer-reviewed publications, is cited over 15,000 times, and has been featured in outlets such as The Huffington Post, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and NPR. David Vago has held leadership roles at Harvard Medical School, Vanderbilt University, and the Mind & Life Institute.Read
- SPEAKERAna María VelásquezAna María Velásquez is a full professor in the Faculty of Education at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. She holds a B.A. in Psychology, a M.A.in Education from Universidad de los Andes, and a Ph.D. degree in Developmental Psychology from Concordia University, Canada. Her areas of expertise are related to social and emotional development, classroom social climate, teacher wellbeing and social and emotional learning programs. Dr. Velasquez has participated in the design and evaluation of the social and emotional learning program Classroom in Peace (Aulas en Paz). Also, she has been involved in the design and implementation of a strategy to integrate social and emotional learning in undergraduate programs at Uniandes. She has been the author of several peer-reviewed and invited publications on these topics and she participated as a co-editor of the book “Citizenship Competencies: From the standards to the classroom”. Read
- PeopleBrother Pháp LưuOrdained as a monk since December 13, 2003, Brother Chân Pháp Lưu (Brother Stream) received Transmission of the Lamp from Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh to teach in 2011. He helped start Wake-Up, the international movement for young people, as well as the Happy Farm, Plum Village’s organic farming community, and has been working with Wake-Up Schools since its inception in 2012 to bring mindfulness to schools. He has served as a monastic editor several of Thích Nhát Hạnh’s books including Happy Teachers Change the World, Stepping Into Freedom, Cracking the Walnut, The Admonitions and Encouraging Words of Master Guishan, and How to Focus. Brother Phap Luu leads mindful backpacking retreats in nature around Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California and recently co-authored a book with Brother Phap Xa called Hiking Zen.Brother Stream has been working lately with scientists at Dartmouth College and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to develop research on the effect of Plum Village mindfulness practices on children. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Thích Nhát Hạnh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.He is the 201st disciple of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and belongs to the 43rd generation of the Lâm Tế lineage and the 9th generation of the Liễu Quán school.Read
