Dr. Davidson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology and has been at Wisconsin since 1984.  He has published more than 440 articles, numerous chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of The Emotional Life of Your Brain published by Penguin in 2012 and the co-author, with Daniel Goleman, of Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, published by Penguin Books in 2017.

Dr. Davidson is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including the William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society as well as the year 2000 recipient of the most distinguished award for science given by the American Psychological Association-the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. In 2006, Dr. Davidson was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. He has also served on the Scientific Advisory Board at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences from 2011-2019 and was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Mental Health 2014-2018.  In 2017 he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and in 2018 appointed to the Governing Board of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

Outside of his work in publishing and advising, Dr. Davidson, a friend and confidante of the Dalai Lama, has been the innovative founder and leader of the Center for Healthy Minds with his groundbreaking work studying emotion and the brain. His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. Studies have centered on people across the lifespan, from birth through old age. In addition, he’s conducted studies with individuals with emotional disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience. His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods.

In 2014, Dr. Davidson, realizing that the neuroscientific research of the Center would not allow the widespread dissemination of the wellbeing practices proven in the lab, launched a nonprofit, Healthy Minds Innovations. Offering accessible products like the freely available Healthy Minds Program app, Dr. Davidson has been able to leverage his years of research to take these key learnings out of the lab and into the palm of your hand. 

All of his work is in service of his greater vision, to create a kinder, wiser, more compassionate world.

At HMI, Dr. Tatar headlines the initiative to cultivate and translate the science of wellbeing into scaleable public resources. Prior to her role as CSO and COO, she served as Director of Assessment and Analytics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Tatar is also the co-founder and CFO of Robbu Group, a Brazil-based organization revolutionizing the way people and businesses stay connected.

Dr. Tatar’s experience is composed of over 15 years of diverse scientific experience, including epidemiology, public health, affective sciences, trauma and coping, and health psychology. She received her Master’s in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Master’s and PhD from the University of California Irvine. In her previous roles, she has spearheaded projects in assessment and complex scientific research, policy analysis and strategic direction, program development and administration, and data-driven policy development.

Dr. Tatar has a strong personal commitment to bringing science to life through evidence-based interventions, and assessing and applying their results to rebuild public trust in science and to scale wellbeing.
With over 15 years of diverse scientific experience, from epidemiology, public health, affective sciences, trauma and coping, and health psychology. She received her Master’s in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Master’s and PhD from the University of California Irvine. In her previous roles, she has spearheaded projects in assessment and complex scientific research, policy analysis and strategic direction, program development and administration, and data-driven policy development.

Raquel has a strong personal commitment to bringing science to life through evidence-based interventions, and assessing and applying their results to rebuild public trust in science and to scale wellbeing.

Dr. Cortland Dahl is a scientist, translator, author, and meditation teacher with a lifelong interest in the science of flourishing. His journey began in the early 1990s when he first learned to meditate. His passion led him on a journey around the world, from monasteries in Burma to zendos in Japan, as well as eight years living in Tibetan refugee settlements in Nepal and India.

During his travels, Dr. Dahl became fluent in Tibetan and became a prolific translator and scholar, receiving a master’s degree in Buddhist studies and publishing twelve volumes of translations. He went on to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was mentored by the renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard J. Davidson and received a Ph.D. in Mind, Brain, and Contemplative Science, the first ever degree of its kind awarded by the university. He has since published numerous scientific articles, including a new scientific framework for the cultivation of well-being, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

As part of his Ph.D. dissertation, Dr. Dahl created the Healthy Minds Program, now a free mobile app that has been downloaded more than a million times and featured by the New York Times, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications. More recently, he authored A Meditator’s Guide to Buddhism and the forthcoming Born to Flourish: How to Thrive in a Challenging World, with Dr. Richard J. Davidson. He is a frequent public speaker and leads meditation retreats and courses on the science of flourishing around the world.

Dr. Dahl currently serves as Executive Director of Tergar International, which oversees a global network of meditation centers, and is a senior meditation instructor for the Tergar community. He is also Chief Contemplative Officer for Healthy Minds Innovations and a scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds.

Dr. Dahl and his wife divide their time between Madison, Wisconsin and the boundary waters of Northern Minnesota. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, meditating in retreat, and spending time with family.

As Director of Learning and Development, Stephanie helps to build a culture of learning and continuous improvement for our clients, Healthy Minds Program community, and the HMI team. She was a part of the first cohort of coaches to become National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC) through the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching. Her additional areas of study and certification include Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, the neuroscience of change, plant-based nutrition, Tiny Habits, and ATD e-Learning Instructional Design. 

In addition to her work at HMI, Stephanie is a teacher for the Tergar Meditation Community, where she guides meditation programs and supports a Meditation Teacher Program, helping students develop the skills needed to become certified meditation teachers. She is a long-time meditator and student of Tergar Meditation Community founder Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Before joining HMI and Tergar, Stephanie was the Executive Director of Global Education at Aveda Corporation, where she oversaw the development, implementation, and management of large-scale educational programs for Aveda employees globally on topics like leadership, coaching, teaching skills, productivity, and customer service. 

Stephanie’s interest in wellbeing and meditation led her to obtain her Master of Arts degree in Integrative Health and Wellbeing Coaching from the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the  University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she studied behavior change theories, motivational strategies, and health education and promotion theories during her graduate program. Her capstone project explored the intersection between community support and behavior change. Stephanie’s affiliation with the Center for Spirituality and Healing continued after graduation as a coach for graduate students enrolled in the program and as a former teaching faculty member. 

Stephanie lives in Minneapolis with her husband of 27 years. She loves meditating, learning, and volunteering in her meditation community, cooking new plant-based recipes, knitting, weightlifting, and reading.

Since joining HMI in 2017, Andrew has been using skills of human centered design, to build sustainable revenue, by delivering engaging and impactful products and services to market. He strives to understand an organization’s wellbeing challenges and meet their needs by combining scientific measures, contemplative training and expert guidance into unique services that enrich the employee experience and create impact at scale.

For most of Andrew’s career, he has been a design engineer, including 25 years at renowned design firm IDEO where he was a partner and ran the Chicago studio. His areas of focus were consumer and medical products, creating surgical tools, insulin pens and a novel kidney transporter that was admitted to the MOMA collection. He is named as inventor on more than 20 utility patents. He also worked on service design for low income energy customers, helping them reduce defaults and making payment systems more user-centric. In 2007 he published a book entitled Everyday Engineering full of intriguing observations about the world around us.

Andrew likes to keep busy by bringing old things back to life including houses, vintage sports cars and 1960s Hi Fi equipment. When he’s not in the workshop, he’s in the garden growing tomatoes or in the kitchen baking bread. For recreation, he enjoys mild doses of running and biking, but his main hobby for the past few years has been ballroom dancing. Andrew is married to Michelle and they have 3 grown children, a dog and several cats.

With a unique blend of leadership expertise, Christina leads the greater mission and holistic direction of HMI. Prior to joining the organization, she served as Chopra Global’s Vice President of Growth & Strategy, where she led initiatives of global impact, including partnerships with Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, and J. Balvin. She has also served as Managing Director for strategic intelligence firm Elia Intel, and directed research efforts on multi-million-dollar initiatives for management consulting practice EHS Partners. Christina is an original co-founder of Saambaa—a community-bridging software platform featured by Apple and Mashable, and founded multimedia global education initiative Minds Wide Open.

Christina’s commitment to global wellbeing began early. She earned a master of international affairs with a concentration in human rights from Columbia University, and a bachelor of science in communication and social change from Cornell University. She launched her career in consulting and mission-focused work for the United Nations (Integrated Regional Information Networks, Millennium Development Goals), International Organization for Adolescents (in Bosnia Herzegovina), Search for Common Ground (in the Democratic Republic of Congo), Digital Divide, and The Advertising Council.

When she’s not scaling wellbeing with the team at HMI, Christina commits strategic and advisory time to complementary organizations like spiritual wisdom multimedia company Sounds True. She is an avid world traveler, and started attending Burning Man in 2005, where she contributes to the award-winning collective light performance art of the UCBW. Originally from New York, she now spends most of her time in San Diego.

Steve is a volunteer director and the Chairman of the Board at Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. He has a Ph.D. from California Institute of Integral Studies and also serves on the boards of a number of other nonprofit organizations including, The George Lucas Foundation, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Enlearn, and the New Mexico School for the Arts. He also chairs the Advisory Council for the Character Lab, and is an advisor to LEAP Innovations. His prior work experience includes senior positions in the software and digital media industry and as a co-founder of a venture capital firm.

As Chairman, Steve's duties include attending and presiding over board meetings and voting on board decisions.