Founding Members

	Carol Gonsalves MD, FRCPC, MMEd is a clinician educator and assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, The Ottawa Hospital (University of Ottawa). She is a clinician investigator with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Her academic focus is on medical education, specifically in the areas of needs assessment and curriculum development. She received her Master of Medical Education in 2012. She has held a committee position in Faculty Wellness at the University of Ottawa since 2008, supporting a specific personal and professional interest in the benefits of mindfulness on student and physician health. She was a member of the Mindfulness Curriculum Working Group at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine, which launched a longitudinal curriculum in mindfulness in 2014. She has assisted in editing the course material and teaches in this curriculum. She is a co-founder of the Mindfulness in Medicine Journal Club at the University of Ottawa. Along with her colleagues, she has given well received workshops in mindfulness to faculty and practicing physicians in Ottawa and has presented at national and international meetings on physician wellness and medical education.
	Dr. Diana Koszycki is a registered psychologist and Full Professor of Counselling Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. She also holds a University of Ottawa Research Chair in Mental Health in partnership with Montfort Hospital. Dr. Koszycki research focuses on evaluating the efficacy of mindfulness and other contemplative practices in individuals with anxiety disorders and in promoting medical student wellness.
	Dr. Heather MacLean is an assistant professor of Neurology, a clinician investigator with the OHRI and the Director of Pre-Clerkship at the University of Ottawa School of Medicine. Her clinical focus is Multiple Sclerosis. She is a Distinguished Teacher and is passionate about medical education. She has spearheaded the development of a longitudinal Mindfulness Curriculum in UGME, has authored a book on mindfulness and is an investigator in several studies on mindfulness both within undergraduate medical education and in patients with MS.
	Dr. Millaray Sanchez-Campos is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. In 2012, she developed and piloted a three-hour mandatory workshop entitled “Mindfulness in Clinical Practice” for 3rd year medical students which is now part of the curriculum. She has significantly contributed to the development and implementation of the longitudinal undergraduate mindfulness curriculum launched in 2014. Dr. Sanchez-Campos is an investigator in several studies of mindfulness in medical education. She is experienced in the field of mindfulness and together with her colleagues at the University of Ottawa, she has given workshops in mindfulness for faculty development and has presented at national and international meetings on health care professional wellness and mindfulness curricula.
	Anne Vallely (PhD) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa since 2004. She is an Anthropologist of South Asian Religion whose research centers on asceticism, devotional practices, and death & mourning rituals in India, especially among the Jaina community. Her involvement with the AMCS stems from an interest in body-mind awareness disciplines, Philosophy of Mind, and in the use of mindfulness practices in teaching. Dr Vallely will be discussing the contemplative foundations of the Jain tradition at this year’s International Symposium for Contemplative Studies (ISCS) in San Diego.
	Dr. Andre Vellino is associate Professor of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa and adjunct Research Professor in the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University. He has practised mindfulness meditation for 30 years, in both the Buddhist tradition of the Thai Forest and the Vietnamese Rinzai Zen tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. He has been a member of the Order of Interbeing since 2002, and he received the authority to teach by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2014. Professor Vellino has taught mindfulness to the general public through evening classes at the Center for Continuing Education.