INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE GRAND ROUNDS and The Passing of a Legend
Sad to report the passing of Dr. Herbert Benson on Feb 3, one of the pioneers in the field of integrative medicine. Without the pioneering work on the relaxation response of Dr. Benson the fields of mind/body and integrative medicine might well not exist. Read the tribute by Peter Wayne the director of Harvard medical Schools Osher Center for Integrative medicine.
https://oshercenter.org/2022/03/30/the-loss-of-a-pioneer-in-mind-body-medicine-herbert-benson-md/
Watch the Grand Rounds Video Neurospirituality: Science, Circuit, Soul
Presenter: Michael Ferguson, PhD,
Neurospirituality Research Director, Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Description: It is commonly assumed that medicine and spirituality are non-overlapping domains, but this segregation is a modern construction. For our March 1st Grand Rounds, using advanced brain circuit mapping techniques developed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Michael Ferguson demonstrated how neuroscience and spirituality are successfully being applied to study one another. He further identified ways that “neurospirituality” may translate into clinical opportunities for spiritual therapeutics.
Dr. Michael Ferguson is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, a Lecturer on Neurospirituality at Harvard Divinity School, and a course co-instructor on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Meditation at Harvard College. He earned his PhD in bioengineering at the University of Utah where he studied religious experience using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Dr. Ferguson completed postdoctoral fellowships in Cognitive Neuroscience at Cornell University and in Cognitive Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center before joining the Neurology faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Of historical note, he and his husband were the first same-sex couple legally married in the state of Utah. Additionally, Dr. Ferguson was the named plaintiff in Ferguson v. JONAH
which was the first and (to date) the only lawsuit in the United States to shut down a gay conversion therapy provider. Dr. Ferguson is thrilled to be at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is especially grateful for the tremendous encouragement he has received at the Brigham for integrating diverse methods from brain imaging and spirituality studies.
Watch the Video
The Psychedelic Renaissance in Psychiatry (Grand Rounds)
Event Date: April 5th, 2022
Franklin King, MD, Mass General Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics
Please join us for an exploration of some ground-breaking work in the field of psychedelic assisted therapy. For our April 5th Grand Rounds, Dr. Franklin King, Director of Training and Education at Mass General Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics, will be presenting ‘The Psychedelic Renaissance in Psychiatry.’ Watch the 1-minute preview below.
Dr. Franklin King is the director of training and education at the Mass General Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. His primary clinical and research interest is in the utilization of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to treat a variety of chronic psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders, and in strategies to optimize these interventions for different patient populations. In addition, Dr. King teaches and supervises residents and fellows at Mass General, and practices clinically as a staff psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders as well as on the Acute Psychiatry Service in the Emergency Department.
Dr. King received his MD from the University of Massachusetts and completed a residency in psychiatry at Mass General and McLean Hospitals, serving as the chief resident on the Consultation-Liaison Service. Following graduation, he completed a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry as well as a research fellowship with the Mass General Cardiac Psychiatry Research Program
Continuing on the theme of mind and body, we highlight the work of Jacklyn E. Foley, PhD, one of our current a T32 post-doctoral research fellows. Dr. Foley’s research interests focus on mindfulness interventions for improved health outcomes for HIV patients.
Watch a Preview
And finally, in memory of Dr. Herbert Benson, who sadly passed away last month, I invite you to read my tribute to this great pioneer.
With best wishes, Peter Wayne, PhD
Director Osher Center for Integrative Medicine