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Overview
A revolution is occurring in the Western science of longevity, regeneration, and health. This revolution is elucidating the potential for extended human lifespan in an optimal state of health, as well as the possibility of regeneration and even reversal of important aspects of aging. This investigation is being conducted on the molecular, cellular, physiological, and psychological levels. For centuries, Eastern traditional systems of health enhancement have made claims that the extension of human lifespan in a healthy condition is possible. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism claims that its core of meditative, yogic, and related practices can potentially produce dramatic enhancements of psychological and physiological functioning within practitioners, and recent preliminary research suggests that there may be a surprisingly extensive, fertile common ground for the Eastern and Western perspectives. A major focus in these Western scientific advances is on stimulation of the innate potential to achieve longevity, regeneration, and optimal health, and a new model has been developed which synthesizes and integrates the pioneering specialized research of leading Western scientists to attempt to reveal how Indo-Tibetan Buddhist and other traditional practices may stimulate this innate potential. This conference, co-hosted by Tibet House and the Columbia Integrative Medicine Program, will bring together researchers and scholars from the Indo-Tibetan tradition as well as leading Western scientists in the fields of longevity, regeneration, and health to discuss these advancements and to build a program of collaborative research which will advance our current understanding of longevity and health.  Key ParticipantsThe HostsRobert A.F. Thurman Ph.D., is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of the Tibet House U.S., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a non-profit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important texts from the Tibetan Tanjur. Professor Thurman is the translator of many philosophical treatises and sutras, and the author of numerous books including the national bestseller, Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness; Anger (the fifth book from a series on the "seven deadly sins"); and most recently, The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism. Thurman's other writings and lectures have examined Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization; and critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world's religious traditions. In 1997, Time magazine chose Robert Thurman as one of its twenty-five most influential Americans. Mehmet C Oz, MD, is a Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery, and a cardiothoracic surgeon, who incorporates Integrative Medicine into his practice. Dr. Oz is a graduate of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Wharton School of Business. Dr. Oz is the author of Healing from the Heart: A Leading Heart Surgeon Explores the Power of Complementary Medicine, published in 1998, the #1 New York Times Bestseller You: The Owner's Manual (An Insider's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger), published in 2005, and the New York Times Bestseller You: The Smart Patient (An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment), published in 2006. Guest of HonorHis Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Presenters Announced to DateElizabeth Blackburn, PhD, is the discoverer of telomerase, which is emerging as an important, potentially health-enhancing and life-extending substance in the body. As such, she is one of the most important figures in contemporary biology. Educated in Australia and at Cambridge and Yale, she is a member of the prestigious Royal Society of London, the exclusive National Academy of Sciences (USA), and has been the President of the American Society of Cell Biology. She is also the recipient of many awards including the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor, the Alfred P Sloan Award, and Honorary Doctorates of Science from Universities including Yale and the University of Chicago. Daniel Brown, PhD, is the Director of The Center for Integrative Psychotherapy in Newton MA, and an Associate Clinical Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown has taught hypnotherapy for 35 years. His books on hypnosis include a standard textbook on clinical hypnosis, Hypnotherapy and Hypnoanalysis (with E. Fromm), Hypnosis and Behavioral Medicine (with E. Fromm), and Creative Mastery in Hypnosis and Hypnoanalysis, on the permissive style of hypnotherapy. He has written two books on developmental psychopathology—a book on affect development, Human Feelings, and a book on self development from a cross cultural perspective, Transformations of Consciousness. Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law, a textbook on memory & trauma, was the recipient of awards from 7 professional societies including the 1999 Manfred S. Guttmacher Award given jointly by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law for the "outstanding contribution to forensic psychiatry." He has served as an expert witness in the courts in over a hundred lawsuits on issues such as: psychological damages from trauma and abuse, memory for trauma, reliability of childrens' reports of abuse, and evaluating claims of suggestive psychotherapy interviews, abuse investigative interviews, and police interrogations. His work as an expert witness or consultant on trauma and memory has included testimony before of International War Crimes Tribunal for the Prosecution of war criminals of the former Yugoslavia and two state Supreme Court cases on the reliability of children's testimony regarding sexual abuse. Dr. Brown has studied the Eastern meditation traditions for 35 years. He spent 10 years translating meditation texts from Tibetan and Sanskrit. His new book, Pointing Out the Great Way is a step-by-step manual of meditation practice following the preliminary practices, concentration meditations, ordinary insight meditations, and extraordinary insight practices leading to awakening the mind in the Tibetan Mahamudra tradition. As a Western psychologist he conducted outcomes research on beginning and advanced meditators for 10 years. For the past 15 years he has taught meditation retreats individually and as a team with Western teachers and Tibetan lamas. He is the co-author of two books based on dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Mary Charlson, M.D., is the William Foley Professor of Medicine, Chief of General Internal Medicine and the Program Chairperson for the Master of Science Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research at Weill Cornell Medical School. Dr. Charlson is a clinical epidemiologist and methodologist who leads the Research Methodology Core, a multidisciplinary group of faculty from different divisions and institutions engaged in numerous clinical trials, outcomes research and population based prospective studies. She has also developed new methods of improving prognostic stratification in acute and chronic illness, and new methods of measurement and methodology in clinical research, including her widely used comorbidity index. Tenzing Dakpa graduated first in his class from the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1991, and has served as the Resident Doctor of the Nizamuddin Branch Clinic in New Delhi, India, and in Pokhara, Nepal. He also worked as a lecturer at the Tibetan Medical and Astrological College and has traveled widely for seminars, conferences, medical consultations and lectures with the late Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, the senior personal physician to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dr. Dakpa is also co-editor of the Men-Tsee-Khang published Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine and an author of "Tibetan Medicine: Part One and Two" in The Principles and Practice of Integrated Medicine published by Tata Mcgraw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., New Delhi, India and the Science of Healing: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Root Tantra and Diagnostic Techniques of Tibetan Medicine. He was a Resident Tibetan Health Advisor at the Medicine Buddha Healing Center in Spring Green, WI, the Research Scholar in Alternative Medicine and an Honorary Fellow of the Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, and is a Tibetan Medicine Program Coordinator of Tibet Center, Chicago, IL. Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a physician and teacher at Duke University, is an expert in the fields of brain longevity, Alzheimer's disease prevention and clinical trials. Dr. Doraiswamy grew up in India and received his medical degree from the University of Madras. He joined the faculty at Duke in 1995 as the Director of Clinical Trials in the Department of Psychiatry and since then has served as the lead physician on numerous clinical trials focusing on brain aging and neuroprotection. He is the Head of the Division of Biological Psychiatry and a Senior Fellow at The Center for the Study of Aging, both at Duke University. Dr. Doraiswamy has received many awards for his research, has served on the National Scientific Advisory Committee for the American Federation for Aging Research and currently serves on the National Medical Advisory Board for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. He is on the Editorial boards of the two journals devoted to Alzheimer's disease, and has served as a consultant to the FDA and leading pharmaceutical companies on the development of anti-Alzheimer therapies. Elissa Epel, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, a faculty member in the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and director of research for the new UCSF Center on Obesity. Dr. Epel received her training in psychology from Stanford and Yale University, with a focus on health psychology and behavioral medicine. She has longstanding interests in the impact of stress physiology on 'metabolic health,' including food intake, insulin resistance, obesity, and premature aging at the cellular level. She aims to understand, from a psychobiological and molecular perspective, why some people are vulnerable and others resilient to exposure to chronic stress. Along with Elizabeth Blackburn and colleagues, she demonstrated novel links between stress and stress arousal with markers of cellular aging. With her collaborators, she is involved in clinical trials examining effects of stress reduction, including mindfulness meditation, on immune system aging. Her research has been acknowledged with several awards, including the Neal Miller New Investigator award. K. Anders Ericsson, PhD, is presently Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. After his Ph. D. in Psychology from University of Stockholm, Sweden, he collaborated with Herbert Simon at Carnegie-Mellon University on verbal reports of thinking and this work is summarized in "Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data" (1984/1993). Currently he studies the cognitive structure of expert performance in domains such as music, chess and sports, and how expert performers attain their superior performance by acquiring complex cognitive mechanisms and physiological adaptations through extended deliberate practice. He is a co-editor of "Toward a General Theory of Expertise" (1991), "The Road to Excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports, and games" (1996), and "Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance" (29th June, 2006). He is a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and of the American Psychological Association (Division 3). He has published in Science, American Scientist, Psychological Review, Annual Review of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences. His webpage is www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson.dp.html Diana Fosha, Ph.D., is the developer of AEDP (Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy), a healing-based, transformation-oriented model of psychotherapeutic treatment. She is the Director of the AEDP Institute, the author of The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change (Basic Books, 2000), and of papers on experiential process in dynamic psychotherapy and trauma treatment. She contributed chapters to Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body and Brain, edited by Marion Solomon and Daniel Siegel (Norton, 2003) and to The Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy., Volume 1: Psychodynamic and Object Relations Therapies, edited by J. J. Magnavita (Wiley, 2002). Throughout her career, she has been interested in exploring different aspects of the change process. Her work on transformational studies has focused on integrating recent developments in affective neuroscience, emotion theory and developmentally-based understandings of the dyadic regulation of affect into clinical work with patients. Most recently, Dr. Fosha has been exploring the role of positive affective experiences as wired-in somatic markers of precisely the kind of transformational processes that are involved in healing psychic suffering and in the fostering of flourishing and well-being. She is the Director of Training of the International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association (IEDTA), on the editorial board of several psychotherapy journals, and has done workshops, telecourses and trainings throughout North America, Europe, and Brazil. Diana Fosha teaches and is in private practice in New York City. Many of her papers are available through the AEDP website at www.aedpinstitute.com. Leonard Guarente, PhD, is Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT, and is recognized as one of the leaders in the new field of the genetic and molecular biology of longevity (see New York Times, 9/26/00, "Scientist at Work: Leonard Guarente," and 2/25/03, "Study Spurs Hope of Finding Way to Increase Human Life Span"). Dr Guarente's research has shed light on the most fundamental genetic and molecular mechanisms of aging, and how those mechanisms can actually be neutralized in model organisms. Ellen Heber-Katz, PhD is Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis at The Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania. Dr Heber-Katz has made an extraordinary series of recent discoveries of previously unknown regenerative capacities in mammalian wound-healing, heart regeneration, and spinal cord regeneration. Jean Jackson, PhD, Chair of the Anthropology Department at MIT, is a member of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and received her PhD in medical anthropology from Stanford University. She is a leading expert in the cross-cultural study of pain, stress, and disease. She has also conducted research on chronic pain in the U.S., therapeutic community, the mind/body interface, embodiment, chronic illness and stigma. Diane S Krause, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Associate Director of Stem Cell Processing at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr Krause is one of the discoverers of previously unknown innate sources of adult stem cells, and her work has contributed to recent revolutionary findings that adult mammals (including humans) possess "stem cells with the potential to differentiate into mature cells of the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, GI tract, skin bone, muscle, cartilage, fat, endothelium and brain" (Gene Therapy 2002, 9(11): 754-8). Bruce S McEwen, PhD, Alfred E Mirsky Professor and head of the laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at the Rockefeller University, is universally regarded as one of the leading figures in contemporary neuroscience. Dr McEwen has been the President of The Society for Neuroscience, is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and is a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. His work has demonstrated that chronic stress and resulting changes in lifestyle may accelerate aging and lead to remodeling of brain circuits underlying memory and emotions but in a reversible manner that opens the opportunity for positive emotions to have the opposite, brain regenerative effects. Lobsang Rapgay, Ph.D, is the Director of the Behavioral Medicine Clinic and Program at UCLA. He earned his PhD in Tibetan Medicine from Visva Bharati International University in India and his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. He is the Co-Founder of the Mindful Awareness Research Center, NPI, and serves as an Expert Consultant in the development of Mindfulness-Based Research projects. Dr. Rapgay is the author of numerous works including The Diagnosis and Treatment of Anxiety in Tibetan Medicine (in Primary Psychiatry, 2002), TheTibetan Book of Healing (Passage Press, 1996), and Eastern Wisdom for Modern Living (Macmillian Press, 1999). Gehlek Rimpoche Born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1939, Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche, a fully accomplished meditation master, is an incarnate Lama of Drepung Monastic University. Carefully tutored by some of Tibet's greatest living masters, Rimpoche received the scholastic degree of Geshe Lharampa, the highest degree given, at an exceptionally young age, and gained renown for his powers of memory, intellectual judgement and penetrating insight. A refugee in India since 1959, Gehlek Rimpoche gave up monastic life to better serve the lay community of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. He edited and printed over 170 volumes of rare Tibetan manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost to humanity, and continuously worked to preserve Tibetan culture during this time of communist persecution. In the late 1970s Gehlek Rimpoche was directed by both the Senior and Junior Tutors to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Ling Rimpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, to begin teaching Western students. Since that time he has taught Buddhist practitioners throughout the world. Coming to the U.S. in the mid-80's, Rimpoche later moved to Ann Arbor, MI and in 1988 founded Jewel Heart, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture and Buddhism. Today, Jewel Heart has chapters throughout the U.S. and in Malaysia, Singapore and the Netherlands. A member of the last generation of lamas to be born and fully educated in Tibet, he is particularly distinguished for his thorough knowledge of English, his familiarity with modern culture, and his skill as a teacher of Buddhism in the West. He is also the author of Good Life, Good Death: Tibetan Wisdom on Reincarnation (Riverhead Books, 2001). Paul J Rosch, MD is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at New York Medical College and President of the American Institute of Stress. He has worked closely and coauthored works with Hans Selye, who originated our current concept of "stress" and Flanders Dunbar, who introduced the term "psychosomatic" into American medicine. A Past President of The Pavlovian Society and New York State Society of Internal Medicine, Dr. Rosch has been the recipient of numerous honors including an "Award for contributions to our understanding of stress, health and disease" from Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, President of the American Society for Contemporary Medicine and Surgery, the IM Sechenov Memorial Medal of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Outstanding Physician's Award of the New York State Medical Society, and the Innovation Award of The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine. Dr. Rosch is also one of the world's leading experts on the emerging field of bioelectromagnetic medicine, a field of science crucial for understanding how communication takes place in the body that is fundamental for regenerative phenomena. George S Roth, PhD, CEO of GeroScience Corp, was formerly Chief of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Aging, and continues to be a pioneer in the study of human and nonhuman primate aging and longevity. Dr Roth has published over 300 papers in leading scientific journals on aging and longevity, was the Co-executive Director of the American Aging Association, and was awarded the Sandoz Prize for Gerontological Research, the most prestigious award in the field of aging research. Kevin J Tracey, MD is Director and Chief Executive of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Vice President for Research at the North Shore-LIJ Health System, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Molecular Medicine. A leading researcher in the study of immunology and infectious disease, Dr. Tracey discovered how the brain controls the immune system through a direct, nerve-based connection. It is now possible to consider whether cognitive-behavioral practices and meditation can activate signals in this nerve to counteract the damaging and potentially lethal effects of infections or other forms of inflammation that threaten human health. ModeratorsWilliam C Bushell, PhD is affiliated with the Anthropology Program at MIT and is currently a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University. Dr Bushell received his degrees in medical and biological anthropology from Columbia University with Honors, and was a Fulbright Scholar and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard. His research is focused on the health-enhancing effects of cognitive-behavioral (C-B) practices such as meditation cross—culturally and physiologically, and he recently presented a paper on C-B induced stem cell activation and regeneration at the Salk Institute. Dr Bushell co-directed a previous conference on the health-enhancing effects of meditation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1998). Joseph Loizzo, MD, PhD, is Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he researches and teaches mind/body health. He also teaches science and religion, the scientific study of religious experience, and Indo-Tibetan mind sciences at Columbia University. Dr. Loizzo is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Columbia-trained Buddhist scholar with over thirty years experience studying the beneficial effects of meditation on healing and learning. In 1998, Dr. Loizzo opened the Center for Meditation and Healing at Columbia-Presbyterian/Eastside, the first mind/body center in the United States to offer programs in stress reduction, self-healing, and lifestyle change based on the Tibetan health and mind sciences. In 2003, he moved these programs to the Cornell Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, to better test and refine their effectiveness. He founded Nalanda Institute of Meditation and Healing in Eastside Manhattan in 2005, to make these programs available to the community at large. Erin L Olivo, PhD, MPH, is a clinical psychologist who holds a joint faculty appointment in The Departments of Surgery and Psychiatry at Columbia University. Dr. Olivo is a graduate of Duke University, and holds master's degrees in both Public Health and Social Work from Columbia University. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Teachers CollegeColumbia University. Her clinical and research experience includes working with cardiology, oncology and psychiatric populations. She has both clinical and research interest in the use of mind-body strategies in both medical and mental health settings. In addition to directing the Integrative Medicine Program, Dr. Olivo maintains a private clinical psychology practice in which she specializes in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and clinical behavioral medicine. Neil Theise, MD a diagnostic liver pathologist and adult stem cell researcher, is Professor of Pathology and of Medicine at the Beth Israel Medical Center of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. His research revised understandings of human liver microanatomy which, in turn, led directly to identification of possible liver stem cell niches, the marrow to liver regeneration pathway and, with Diane Krause, is considered a pioneer of multi-organ adult stem cell plasticity. Subsequently, while continuing laboratory and clinical research, he has extended his work to areas of theoretical biology and complexity theory, defining a "post-modern biology." These ideas suggest that alternate models of the body, other than Cell Doctrine, may be necessary to understand non-Western approaches to the body and health. Current investigations focus on nerve-stem cell interactions in human livers, melatonin-related physiology of human liver stem cell and regenerative processes, and approaches to rescue from acute liver failure using medical administration of stem cell-related cytokines and hormones. DiscussantsRichard P. Brown, M.D., is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. After receiving his M.D. in 1977 from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Brown completed his Residency in Psychiatry and a Fellowship in Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology at New York Hospital. Known for lecturing on conventional psychopharmacology, Dr. Brown developed expertise in herbal medicine. In 1999 Dr. Brown introduced S-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e) for treatment of depression at the New York Academy of Medicine. He coauthored Stop Depression Now, presenting a holistic approach to depression. Dr. Brown's chapters include "Alternative Treatments in Brain Injury" in Neuropsychiatry of Traumatic Brain Injury (American Psychiatric Press 2004) and "Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Psychiatry," in Psychiatry Second Edition (2003). The American Botanical Council published a review by Drs. Brown, Gerbarg, and Ramazanov of the adaptogenic herb, Rhodiola rosea (2002). Dr. Brown lectured on Rhodiola rosea at the Columbia University Botanical Medicine course and co-authored The Rhodiola Revolution offering a fresh approach to the problems of stress and energy. His chapter on "Yoga in Psychiatry" will appear in the American Psychiatric Press publication, Clinical Manual of Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Psychiatry later this year. Dr. Brown has engaged in yoga and meditative practices including Zen meditation, yoga and breath practices for over 30 years. After studying Aikido for 15 years, he became a certified Aikido teacher (4th Dan). Three years ago he became a volunteer teacher of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga combining asanas, pranayamas, meditation, and yoga philosophy. Dr. Brown developed a comprehensive neurophysiological theory of the effects of yoga breathing on the mind and body, particularly its benefits in anxiety, depression, trauma, and violence. He presented this research at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences International Symposiums, the Aspen Masters Conference on Integrative Medicine, the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meetings, and many other conferences. Dr. Brown serves as the Co-Chair of the Research Committee of the Art of Living Foundation. He consults and designs research and advises PhD candidates on projects involving mind-body-spirit practices for populations affected by work stress, trauma, military service, mass disasters, cancer, HIV, and other illnesses. He is interested in a broadly based integrative approach to health and well-being. Patricia L. Gerbarg, MD is Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychiatry at New York Medical College and has maintained a private psychiatric practice for over 25 years. She completed medical training at Harvard Medical School in 1975, Psychiatry Residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston in 1979, and psychoanalytic training at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in 1992. Over the past ten years Dr. Gerbarg has been involved in research and writing about alternative and complementary medicine in psychiatry and has written numerous articles and book chapters with Richard P. Brown, MD, including the medical benefits of the adaptogenic herb, Rhodiola rosea (Herbalgram 2002), the The Rhodiola Revolution by Rodale Press (2004), "Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Psychiatry," in the textbook Psychiatry Second Edition (2003) by John Wiley & Sons, and "Alternative Treatments in Brain Injury" in Neuropsychiatry of Traumatic Brain Injury by the American Psychiatric Press (2004). Dr. Gerbarg and Dr. Brown also co-authored, "Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: Part I—Neurophysiological Model" in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (Feb 2005); Part II—Clinical Applications JACM (August 2005); and "Yoga: A Breath of Relief for Hurricane Katrina Refugees" in Current Psychiatry October 2005. Their chapter on "Yoga in Psychiatry" will appear in the Clinical Manual of Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Psychiatry edited by JH Lake and D Spiegel, to be published by American Psychiatric Publishing in 2006. Dr. Gerbarg's chapter on "Neuro-Psychoanalysis and Yoga" will be published in Body to Body: Beyond the Talking Cure by the Analytic Press in 2006. As Co-Chair of the Research Committee of the Art of Living Foundation, Dr. Gerbarg volunteers her time to provide psychiatric consultation and to facilitate the development of research projects on the neurophysiology and clinical benefits of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga. She assists in assessment of projects for at-risk children and teenagers exposed to loss, trauma, poverty, and mass disasters. Her interest is the integration of neuro-psychoanalysis, psychiatry, yoga and other mind-body practices, and medicinal herbs to develop mind-body-spirit approaches to healthy living, disease prevention, and the treatment of stress-related disorders. Ken Kamler, M.D., is a micro-surgeon trained at Columbia University Medical Center who practices surgery of the hand in New York but practices extreme medicine in some of the most remote regions on earth. He has treated bear bite in the Arctic and frostbite in the Antarctic. He has set fractures in the Andes and has performed surgery deep in the Amazon rain forest and in an undersea mock space capsule. He has been on six expeditions to Mount Everest as expedition doctor and climber. Four were with the National geographic Society deploying laser telescopes and global positioning satellite receivers to measure the exact height of Everest as well as the tectonic motion of the Asian continental plate. On his two most recent expeditions to Everest, he served as Chief High Altitude Physician for NASA-sponsored research on human physiological responses to extreme altitude, and monitored remote body sensors worn by climbers to provide real-time medical data as they ascended the mountain. Dr. Kamler himself has climbed to within 900 feed of the summit of Everest and was the only doctor during the infamous 1996 storm that claimed twelve lives. His treatment of the survivors was portrayed in the best-selling book, Into Thin Air, and in the IMAX film, Everest. Dr. Kamler is Vice President of The Explorers Club, a member of the Sigma Xi National Scientific Research Society, a consultant for National Geographic Magazine and for NASA, and a commentator for Outdoor Life network. New York Magazine recognized him in 2002 as one of the best doctors in New York. Dr. Kamler was recently honored at the National Boy Scout Jamboree as on of twenty of the Greatest Living Explorers. He currently writes a monthly column for National geographic Adventure Magazine. He is the author of two books on the physiological and psychological effects of extreme environments, both based largely on his personal experiences: Doctor on Everest (Lyons Press, 2000), and Surviving the Extremes (St. Martin's Press & Penguin Books, 2004). Josh Mitteldorf, Ph.D., studies evolutionary theory of aging using computer simulations. After earning a PhD in astrophysics, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, La Salle, and most recently, Temple University. His present research is under the auspices of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department of the University of Arizona. The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Dr. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care (exercise, meditation, and caloric restriction) and an activist for public health. Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder, president, and director of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, where he holds the Safeway Chair. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his medical training in internal medicine from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a B.A. in Humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address. For the past 30 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. He recently directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of prostate cancer. He is the author of five best-selling books, including New York Times' bestsellers Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease, Eat More, Weigh Less, and Love & Survival. Dr. Ornish is a member of the boards of directors of the U.S. United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the Quincy Jones Foundation, and the San Francisco Food Bank. He was appointed to The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and elected to the California Academy of Medicine. He is Chair of the PepsiCo Blue Ribbon Advisory Board and the Safeway Advisory Council on Health and Nutrition and consults directly with the CEO's of McDonald's, ConAgra, and Del Monte to make more healthful foods and provide health education to their customers in this country and abroad. He has received several awards, including the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contribution in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention from the International Academy of Cardiology, the "Pioneer in Integrative Medicine" award from California Pacific Medical Center, and a U.S. Army Surgeon General Medal. Dr. Ornish was recognized as "one of the most interesting people of 1996" by People magazine, featured in the "TIME 100" issue on alternative medicine, and chosen by LIFE magazine as "one of the 50 most influential members of his generation." PanelsPanel I: Foundations of Longevity Practices in the Indo-Tibetan Tradition Indo-Tibetan Buddhism claims that its meditative, yogic, and related practices can retard and even reverse aging, protect the body from deadly diseases and acute trauma, and dramatically enhance psychological and cognitive functioning. Longevity sadhanas, as performed by leaders and practitioners of the Indo-Tibetan tradition will be expounded, and the philosophical underpinnings and requisites of these practices will be discussed. Dr. Tenzing Dakpa will also present anti-aging therapeutics and their mechanisms as employed by the Tibetan Medical Tradition. This opening discussion will lay the foundational cultural, religious, and philosophical framework for achieving optimal health within this tradition, and set the stage for a more precise discussion of these practices as they relate to recent advancements in the Western sciences. Panel II: Longevity Advancements The lifespan-extension claims of the Indo-Tibetan tradition implicate a host of physiological processes which have been traditionally viewed as exceptional in humans, including resistance to the damaging effects of normal metabolic functioning. However, work in the biomedical sciences has recently begun to elucidate the potential biological bases of these claims. Leading researchers in the cellular biology of aging have demonstrated that strategies such as caloric restriction and extended between-meal fasting are effective in extending maximal lifespan by bringing about changes in the basic metabolic pathways determinant of cellular energetics. It is possible that similar metabolic effects are induced by the Indo-Tibetan ascetic diet as well as dietary regimens prescribed by the Tibetan Medical Tradition. Downloads
Panel III: Regeneration The longevity potential described by the Indo-Tibetan tradition necessitates the regeneration of damaged tissue in a fully functional manner. Such a postulation may not be so exceptional when considered alongside exciting work by Dr. Ellen Heber-Katz demonstrating the full regeneration of damaged heart tissue in the MRL/MpJ strain of mouse. Previous research in regenerative biology has focused on the extraordinary regenerative abilities observed in amphibians and other, "lower" animals, but this work suggests the presence of a genetically latent regenerative potential in mammals and possibly humans. Other researchers have come to recognize the regenerative capacities of human stem cells, especially those derived from bone marrow, based on their capability to differentiate into mature cells of organs as varied as the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, GI tract, skin, bone, muscle, cartilage, fat, endothelium, and brain. These developments indicate the existence of alternate pathways of aging, which make possible the persistence of the organism in a "youthful" state, and may indeed be activated by certain Indo-Tibetan meditative and yogic practices. Downloads Panel IV: Protection The Indo-Tibetan tradition maintains that proficiency in longevity practices can bring about extraordinary resistance to the effects of disease and forms of physical damage. In fact, a growing body of work in neuroendocrinology and psychoneuroimmunology is establishing a physiological link between the stress-reducing effects associated with Indo-Tibetan yogic and meditative practices and the inhibition of disease processes central to the issue of human lifespan extension. Excessive stress reactivity has been implicated as a biological mechanism of neuronal damage and brain aging; recent work by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and collegues has established very direct links between the experience of psychosocial stress, basic markers of cellular aging, and cardiovascular disease risk. Developments in psychoneuroimmunology have elucidated the role played by the autonomic nervous system in immune regulation and demonstrated the disregulating effects of psychosocial stress. The action of the immune system is also known to have considerable influence over the local signaling environment at the site of injury, as it coordinates the inflammatory response and subsequent wound healing. Yogic and meditative practices are known to induce autonomic modulation, and, as current research suggests, may be capable of enhancing the protective and regenerative aspects of immune function. Indeed, combined cognitive-behavioral stress reduction and aerobic-exercise training (which approximates aspects of Indo-Tibetan meditative and yogic practices) has been shown to prevent the negative effects of psychosocial stress upon immune regulation. Downloads
Panel V: Optimization The scientific research on Buddhist meditation has focused primarily on the ways in which mindfulness meditation is effective in reducing stress and improving health. Though far less attention has been given, research has demonstrated the potential of certain meditations to not only protect and help regenerate the brain, but also to profoundly enhance psychological and cognitive functioning by significantly improving emotional regulation, memory, learning, and analytic abilities. The Indo-Tibetan tradition possesses a system of highly refined meditative and yogic practices, which it claims are capable of positively transforming practitioners and enhancing their cognitive, physiological, and psychological faculties. This session will examine these practices in detail, and discuss how these exceptional cognitive abilities exhibited by advanced virtuoso meditators can be accessed and cultivated by normal individuals. Downloads Panel VI: Methodology This conference aims to mobilize greater understanding and creativity in our relationship to the aging process, through the recognition that potentially radically effective longevity-enhancing practices have been encoded in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. In order to sustain this dialogue, it is essential to devote careful consideration to the methodological issues inherent in any conversation between investigative practices that have emerged from divergent cultural contexts, especially those that bridge the traditionally expansive gap between Eastern and Western epistemologies. This session will raise several of the most pertinent methodological issues and panelists will be invited to present upcoming research programs for discussion in these areas. Downloads
Program
The conference included presentations by both acclaimed scientists and eminent Buddhist scholars. The New York Academy of Sciences will publish the conference proceedings. Please visit www.nyas.org for further details. If you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive announcements about upcoming lectures and conferences, please email Melissa Stewart (ms3073@columbia.edu). SponsorsThis conference is generously supported by the Foundation for the Advancement of Cardiac Therapies (FACT), Leila Hadley Luce, Ludwig Kuttner, Alex von Bidder, and Anonymous Donors.
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