Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health 20th Anniversary Lecture Series

Dr. Zindel Segal is Distinguished Professor in Mood Disorders at the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough. He is also a co-creator of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, an intervention that has been internationally recognized and integrated into health systems worldwide.

Dr. Norman Farb is Associate Professor, at the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, where he directs the Regulatory and Affective Dynamics laboratory. His current research explores online interventions to support wellbeing, and the neuroimaging of interoception—our sense of the body’s internal state.

Mridula Sathyanarayanan, a 4th year undergraduate student pursuing programs in neuroscience, philosophy, and Buddhist psychology. Mridula was able to combine her own research with aspects of Dr. Segal and Dr. Farb’s work into a meditative museum experience, now launching at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Elli Weisbaum, BFA, MES, PhD has worked internationally facilitating applied mindfulness workshops and retreats across 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), at New College, with a joint appointment to the Department of Psychiatry, in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She is cross-appointmented to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in their Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME).

Nho Anh Tran is a scholar of religion and ethics, and a negotiation instructor and consultant whose work bridges conflict resolution, moral philosophy, and leadership across academic, corporate, and civic contexts. She teaches courses in religion, Buddhist ethics, and negotiation at Harvard, and consults with organizations and leaders on interest-based negotiation, difficult conversations, and ethical decision-making. Her work integrates negotiation theory with moral and political thought, examining how power, identity, and institutional structures shape the possibilities for durable agreement.

Trained in Buddhist ethics and social conflict, Nho brings a cross-cultural, systems-oriented lens to negotiation, informed by years of lived experience across Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as prior training as a Buddhist monastic. She is a PhD candidate at Harvard University specializing in religion, ethics, and statecraft. Her scholarship and practice converge around a central question: how can negotiation function not merely as a transactional exchange, but as a method for structuring interdependent systems—enabling actors to communicate, coordinate, and cooperate in ways that generate clarity, legitimacy, and durable collective outcomes under conditions of asymmetry and change?