Staff

Program Directors

Ronald Epstein, MD, FAAHPM

Professor of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Oncology, and Medicine
Director, Center for Communication and Disparities Research
Co-Director, Mindful Practice in Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Dr. Ron Epstein has been passionately devoted to promoting physician self-awareness, mindfulness, and effective communication in clinical practice. He is a family physician and palliative care physician and now devotes most of his time teaching, researching, and writing about communication and mindfulness in clinical care.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Epstein has developed innovative educational programs in mindful practice, communication skills, the patient-physician relationship, physician self-awareness and assessment of professional competence. His seminal 1999 JAMA paper, Mindful Practice, opened the door to exploring how clinician mindfulness can positively influence the clinician-physician relationship, resilience, and quality of care.

Dr. Epstein is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences on medical education, communication, and mindfulness, and has published over 300 articles and chapters. His first book, “Attending-Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity” was released in 2017.

He enjoys playing the harpsichord, cooking, and cycling and cross-country skiing.

Mick Krasner, MD, FACP

Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Family Medicine
Co-Director, Mindful Practice in Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Dr. Mick Krasner practices primary care internal medicine in Rochester, New York and co-directs the Mindful Practice programs at the University of Rochester and has been teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to patients, medical students, and health professionals for more than 21 years, involving nearly 4,000 participants, and over 1500 health professionals. His research includes investigations into the effects of mindfulness practices on the immune system in the elderly, on chronic psoriasis, and with caregivers of Alzheimer’s patient.

He was the project director of Mindful Communication: Bringing Intention, Attention, and Reflection to Clinical Practice reported in JAMA in September, 2009. His current efforts focus on working with practicing physicians and medical educators on the cultivation of Mindful Practice, with a focus on the connection between health professional well-being and the effectiveness of the healing relationship.

Dr. Krasner graduated from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in 1987 and completed his residency in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester. He has shared his work in peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, scientific assemblies, workshops, visiting professorships, and intensives in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, focusing primarily on the roots of Hippocratic medicine.

As the fifth of six children whose father was the seventh of seven children, Mick uses his chaotic upbringing as his motivation to make sense of human flourishing. For fun he enjoys walking–to nowhere in particular.

Advanced Teacher Program Graduates

Dr Jonathan Starke, MBChB, MSc, MMed, FCPsych(SA), FRANZCP

• Consultant Psychiatrist, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Australia

Richard Szuster, MD

• Assistant Clinical Professor Department of Psychiatry, John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii

Olivia Tse, MDCM, FRCPC

• Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, McGill University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Dr Beth Whelan, PhD

• Associate Professor & Training Director Memorial University Student Health and Wellness Centre, St. John’s, NL.
• Cross Appointment, Discipline of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL.
• Faculty Associate Department of Psychology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL.
• Research Curriculum Development, Medical students’ professional identity formation during hospital practice (PROFMED), University of Bergen, Bergen Norway.

Barbara Wolf, PhD

• Clinical Health Psychologist
• Corporate Director Behavioral Health Education & Physician Wellness McLaren HealthCare Corporation
• Associate Professor, Michigan State University Colleges of Human and Osteopathic Medicine

Venus P. Y. Wong, PhD, MSocSc, BSocSc

• Senior Lecturer, The University of Hong Kong

Martin S. Zand, MD, PhD

• Dean’s Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences
• Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research
• Co-Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
  University of Rochester Medical Center
  
• Senior Lecturer, The University of Hong Kong