We look at the whole picture, the entire lived experience that influences health.
Our work examines health through many lenses that intersect, and it often helps people who are underserved or experiencing trauma — for example, veterans suffering from PTSD, children with serious illness, low-income residents grappling with systemic racism and neglect, and others.
Brian Berman is President of the Nova Institute for Health; Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine; founding Director, Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Co-Director, Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field.
“In challenging times there are also great opportunities to reach beyond boundaries and fundamentally shift how we think about well-being at all scales.”
Yuria Celidwen (Nahua/Maya) is an Indigenous scholar and consultant on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature. She studies the experience of transcendence and its prosocial behaviors (ethics, compassion, kindness, awe, love, and sacredness) across Indigenous contemplative traditions. www.yuriacelidwen.com
“Let the rivers flow and sprouts will follow.”
Rick Scott is Chief Operating Officer of the Nova Institute for Health. He has been a student and teacher of contemplative practices and wisdom traditions since the early 1990s.
“I have a passion for seeing the health and vitality in people, and encouraging them to awaken to a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and joy in their lives.”
Susan Prescott is Director of the Nova Network. She is a Professor of Paediatrics at University of Western Australia, Director of the ORIGINS project, Editor-in-Chief of Challenges, and a Scholar at the Nova Institute for Health in Baltimore. She is an artist and an author.
“My passion is connecting people and ideas to create new opportunities.”
Nalini Nadkarni is a Professor of Biology at the University of Utah, doing research on rainforest canopy biota. She leads programs on engagement of public groups who do not or cannot gain access to science and nature in traditional learning venues.
“My passion is to connect all people to the benefits of nature and inspire them to protect it.”
Samuel Myers is the founding Director of the Planetary Health Alliance, and a Principal Research Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He studies the human health impacts of accelerating disruptions to Earth’s natural systems, a field recently dubbed Planetary Health.
Sandro Galea is Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. He has been named an epidemiology innovator by Time, a top voice in healthcare by LinkedIn, and is one of the most cited social scientists in the world.
“I aspire to change the conversation on health.”
Monica Gagliano is Research Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, Director of the Biological Intelligence [BI] Lab at Southern Cross University. She focuses on ecological processes by which organisms gather information from their environment to thrive.
“I pioneered the field of plant bioacoustics and extended concepts of plant cognition, to reignite discourse on plant subjectivity, sentience and ethical standing.”
Rutendo Ngara is an African Indigenous Knowledge Systems practitioner and transdisciplinary researcher, who has traversed clinical engineering, healthcare technology management, socio-economic development, mathematics, leadership, and fashion design; to the interface between science, culture, cosmology, and paradigms of healing.
“I have a passion for weaving art, science, and spirituality towards healing of the Collective and restoration of the Whole.”
Nadine Clopton is creating a Regenerative Health program at the Rodale Institute, and Vice President of the the Global NGO Executive Committee, the youngest person to ever serve in this capacity. She is an innovative change-maker determined to amplify the voices of youth and communities; ecosystems that are often excluded from decision-making bodies. She founded Conscious Consulting, LLC and volunteers with Caring & Living As Neighbours as an NGO Youth Representative to the United Nations.
CHAIR: Susan Prescott, Director of Nova Network, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Western Australia
Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Program: Bow Seat is a Boston-based nonprofit that has engaged nearly 30,000 students worldwide to use art to advocate for our environment: More here!
Rick Scott is Chief Operating Officer of the Nova Institute for Health. He has been a student and teacher of contemplative practices and wisdom traditions since the early 1990s.
“I have a passion for seeing the health and vitality in people, and encouraging them to awaken to a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and joy in their lives.”
Blake Poland is a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and Director of the Collaborative Specialization in Community Development. His work focusses on community resilience and the contributions of citizens and social movements to sustainability transition.
“I love learning & sharing about alternative ways of seeing and living, inner & outer change work.”
Daniel Hires is Director of Partnerships at the Inner Development Goals. Co-creator of the global youth movement for social innovation MakeSense, Daniel is a relationship builder and connector – and works between ecosystem building and community weaving.
“It’s not enough to change WHAT we do, we need to address HOW we do it.”
Kirk J. Schneider is Adjunct Faculty, Saybrook University & Teachers College, Columbia University; President of the Existential-Humanistic Institute.
“This psychology tradition has inspired my work on existential-integrative psychotherapy, cultivation of awe toward life, and the fostering of life-enhancing anxiety—that enables us to live with and make the best of the depth and mystery of existence.”
Nova Institute Media Advisory Council, Scholars, and Fellows
Susan Magsamen is founder and executive director, International Arts+Mind Lab (IAM Lab), a pioneering initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and co-director of NeuroArts Blueprint.
“My new book ‘Your Brain On Art: How the Arts Transform Us’ is a journey offering proof that physical and mental health can be transformed through art and aesthetic experiences, while also building stronger communities.”
Marie Studer is the Senior Program Manager at the Planetary Health Alliance. Her career has focused on public accessibility and understanding of science through government and public policy positions.
“I am interested in creating awareness of and action focused on a regenerative society where all people can thrive.”
See other members of the PHA TEAM
Diane Giroux is a Project Developer. In 2017, she received the Sesquicentennial Medal from the Senate of Canada. Diane recently developed the ‘Giiwe Project’ at M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre.
“Through Giiwe, I nurture meaningful relationships between Indigenous and non- Indigenous organizations.”
Wendy Ellyatt is a futurist and changemaker who is working with organisations worldwide to accelerate positive change. She is the founder of the Flourish Project, a Global Council member of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) and a board director of Kinship Earth.
“Through honouring our essential unity, we can become the change that we want to see.”
We also thank Mona El-Sherbini, Vanessa Goes, Bwalya Lungo (ACOPPHE executive team), and Elder Menzi Maseko for a ceremonial offering
A message from the children of Pleasant Hope Academy in Kenya
Ricardo Rozzi is a Chilean ecologist and philosopher whose research combines ecology and philosophy. He is Professor at Department of Philosophy & Religion, University of North Texas & at University of Magallanes; V/P, Center for Environmental Philosophy, USA; Director, Cape Horn International Center, Chile. He coined the terms biocultural conservation, biocultural homogenization, and biocultural ethics.
CHAIR: Susan Prescott, Director or Nova Network, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Western Australia
Rick Scott is Chief Operating Officer of the Nova Institute for Health. He has been a student and teacher of contemplative practices and wisdom traditions since the early 1990s.
“I have a passion for seeing the health and vitality in people, and encouraging them to awaken to a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and joy in their lives.”
Terry Tempest Williams is currently writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School. She is known for her impassioned prose and lyrical writing focusing on how environmental issues are social issues and ultimately, issues of justice. She is the author of over 20 books in creative nonfiction including the environmental literature classic, Refuge – An Unnatural History of Family and Place; Finding Beauty In A Broken World; When Women Were Birds; The Hour of Land – A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks; and most recently, Erosion – Essays of Undoing. Ms. Tempest Williams is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenship Fellowship and a Lannan Literary Award in creative nonfiction. Her work has been translated and anthologized worldwide. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Matthew Browning is an Associate Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, where he directs the Virtual Reality and Nature Lab.
“I envision a world where everyone has access to safe, restorative natural environments and where visits them daily for the health and happiness of our planet and society.”
Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen is a Professor and Director of Urban Planning, Environment & Health and Air Pollution & Urban Environment programs at ISGlobal Barcelona; President, International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (2020-21); ISEE John Goldsmith Award recipient for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Epidemiology (2018); and ranked Number 1 Scientist in Urban Health (2021)
Giselle Sebag is the Executive Director of the International Society for Urban Health. She is a globally recognized urban health leader with 15 years of experience advising governments, multi-laterals, NGOs and private sector companies to develop sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities that promote and enhance resident health.
“My passion is improving urban health and well-being by design.”
Katherine Irvine is a Senior Researcher in Environment, Wellbeing and Behaviour at the James Hutton Institute in Scotland. Working across disciplines and sectors, she works to build bridges between issues of human health/well-being, environmental quality and sustainable behaviour.
“I am passionate about understanding and finding ways to heal the split in the reciprocal relationship between people and nature.”
Anthony Abbagnano is the founder of Alchemy of Breath, one of the world’s most respected breathwork schools. He is also the founder of ASHA in Tuscany, Italy, a centre dedicated to community health and emerging consciousness.
“My vision is to co-create a sustainable path for living in harmony with nature and each other.”
Jenni Lehtimäki is senior researcher at Finnish Environment Institute. She actively searches and tests new ways to link microscopic and macroscopic biodiversity and human health.
“When I became mother, I started to understand all the complexities influencing on healthy development, which made me think that green environment could solve a lot.”
Jake Robinson is a microbial ecologist and researcher at Flinders University. He is a member of the UNFCCC resilience frontiers team, working to restore ecosystems and optimise human health. His debut book Invisible Friends is about how microbes shape our lives and the world around us.
”I work across disciplines with the aim of ‘joining the dots’ to promote healthy ecosystems.”
Marja Roslund (PhD) is an environmental scientist at Natural Resources Institute Finland with a focus on connections among biodiversity, urbanization, microbiome, and the environment and human well-being.
“My passion is to improve the planetary health.”
Precious Blood Girls High School, Riruta, Kenya
Entries from the Nova Art Awards
Brian Berman is President of the Nova Institute for Health; Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine; founding Director, Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Co-Director, Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field.
“In challenging times there are also great opportunities to reach beyond boundaries and fundamentally shift how we think about well-being at all scales.”
Rick Scott is Chief Operating Officer of the Nova Institute for Health. He has been a student and teacher of contemplative practices and wisdom traditions since the early 1990s.
“I have a passion for seeing the health and vitality in people, and encouraging them to awaken to a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and joy in their lives.”
Helene M. Langevin, MD, is the Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). She was previously Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“NCCIH funds and conducts research to help answer important scientific and public health questions within the context of whole person health.”
Carley Riley is Associate Professor, Attending Physician, and Co-Faculty Lead of Population and Community Health at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She is also a Fellow with the Nova Institute and Co-Founder and Director of The Collective WELL, whose mission is:
“To cultivate thriving populations and communities through research, policy, and activism.”
Natasha Rooney is a PhD Candidate at the Alfred Deakin Institute of Globalisation and Citizenship, Deakin University, Melbourne (Australia).
“My research is on the circulation of epigenetic and postgenomic models of life in India.”
Peter Wayne is a researcher, practitioner, and instructor of mind-body therapies. He is Director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and leads its Mind-Body-Movement Lab.
“My passion is facilitating healing connections: between mind, body & spirit; science and society; and individuals with one another and nature.”
Aterah Nusrat is Director of Programming in Integrative Medicine & Planetary Health at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has 20+ years experience as a practitioner of direct path awakening in individual and group settings.
“I am passionate about the spiritual roots of planetary health.”
Christopher A. Lowry is an Associate Professor of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Military and Veteran Microbiome: Consortium for Research and Education.
“My passion is advancing understanding of the microbiome-gut-brain axis and applying that knowledge to prevention and treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders.”
Africa Mentoring Research Network (ACOPPHE): Mona El Sherbini, Vanessa Goes, Tajudeen Yusuf Amuda, Habeebullah Oladipo,
Samuel Abimbola, Chanelle Mulopo, Ntirenganya Elie, Aishatu Muhammed, Menzi Maseko, Joe Payne, Kajelcha Fikadu1, Nightingale Wakigera, Nathaniel Uchtmann
Chris D’Adamo is Director of Research, University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, and a Fellow at the Nova Institute. He is an epidemiologist with interests in the synergistic effects of healthy lifestyle practices and genetics on human health, as well as outcomes evaluations of multi-modality, whole-practice integrative health interventions and programs.
Zoë Rozar is a Multidisciplinary Creative Product and Service Developer at the Institute Bon Pasteur, with a passion for Education in Cultural Formation, Transformation and Transition towards Planetary Health. She is an artist and composer.
“This life, this death, no repeat, no rewind, no pause. Life is no burden but a privilege. What are we waiting for?”
Our ‘live’ program is much shorter this year, so we have not been able to include all our abstract submissions in the virtual sessions. Please enjoy the following additional abstracts, presented in video form (4-5 minutes each). There are opportunities to discuss these abstracts, and much more, on our new Nova Integration Hub.
Lisa Gibson is a Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth Australia and the stakeholder management lead for the ORIGINS project.
“I am an ardent supporter of involving consumers and community in research as it needs to improved outcomes and impactful results.”
Fabienne Pradella is an economist at the Chair of Statistics and Econometrics at the University of Mainz. Her research focuses on prenatal impacts on health through fetal programming, in combination with postnatal exposures.
“I am fascinated by how interconnected life on the planet is, and convinced that strong causal evidence is crucial for decision-making.”
Yusuf Tajudeen is a microbiologist, a graduate student at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and an Executive Director and Coordinator of Research at Africa Community of Planetary Health and Environment Mentorship Research Network. Yusuf is a zoonotic infectious disease researcher.
“I am passionate about healthy people and healthy planet.”
Katie Singer writes about technology’s impacts on nature. She has nearly finished her next book, Mapping the Technosphere—to reduce technology’s impacts on nature. Her other books include An Electronic Silent Spring and The Garden of Fertility www.OurWeb.tech and www.ElectronicSilentSpring.com. She lives in New Mexico, USA.
Abdul-kareem Aisha is a MSc student, Department of Psychology, Health and Professional Development, Oxford Brookes University UK. She is a member at the Mentoring Research Network (MRN), Africa Community of Planetary Partners for Health and Environment ACOPPHE.
“I am passionate about contributing my quota towards achieving a planetary health.”
Ralf Klemens Stappen is Executive Secretary of the Francis of Assisi Academy for Planetary Health and a member (Acad.) of the International Academy of Science. He led the first sustainability project in Europe which was awarded as a national project by the Federal President 1995. Professionally, he implemented over 500 sustainability projects in the public sector.
“I support the church and religions to protect our Earth on different levels.”
Jacqueline Davis is the Senior Program Manager for the ORIGINS Project in Perth, Australia and a PhD candidate in the School of Medicine (Paediatrics) at the University of Western Australia.
“My passion is prevention and early intervention in chronic conditions, particularly in vulnerable communities, to enable the best quality of life for everyone.”
Deanna Minich is a health educator, nutrition scientist, artist, and author with more than twenty years of experience in nutrition, mind-body health, medical science, and functional medicine.
“My passion is bringing forth a colorful whole-self approach to nourishment and bridging the gaps between science, soul, and art in medicine.”
Jake Robinson is a microbial ecologist and researcher at Flinders University. He is a member of the UNFCCC resilience frontiers team, working to restore ecosystems and optimise human health. His debut book Invisible Friends is about how microbes shape our lives and the world around us.
“I work across disciplines with the aim of ‘joining the dots’ to promote healthy ecosystems.”
Jake Robinson is a microbial ecologist and researcher at Flinders University. He is a member of the UNFCCC resilience frontiers team, working to restore ecosystems and optimise human health. His debut book Invisible Friends is about how microbes shape our lives and the world around us.
“I work across disciplines with the aim of ‘joining the dots’ to promote healthy ecosystems.”
The Nova Integration Hub is a web-based forum created to empower a transdisciplinary community to share new ideas and ways of thinking, put research findings into practice and policy, and spark creativity, collaboration, and solutions for health and well-being.
Sign up for periodic Nova Institute news updates and event invitations.
Over the past thirty years, we’ve been part of a movement to shift the primary approach to health from a focus on disease to a more complete approach. As reflected in our tagline, “For Health of People, Places, and Planet,” how we are building on “person health” and looking at the context of peoples’ lives and communities as well as the health of the planet we all share.
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Healing is facilitated through safety, persistence, and trust.
Resources support us as we heal. They include reframing, responsibility, and positivity. “Making connections enabled participants to acquire and refine resources and skills that were essential in their healing journey. People also brought their own personal strengths to the journey.”
“Connection to others was an essential part of all the healing journeys.” Humans are social creatures, and even the most introverted of us need close relationships. Friends and family add meaning and value to life and help support us, in good times and bad.
When we experience relational trauma, relationships can feel scary, but reestablishing safety and trust in relationships is where the healing happens. (To be clear, we do not mean reestablishing safety and trust with abusers, but rather finding other healing relationships.)
“When safety and trust had been established, people were able to connect with helpers. The nature of the behaviours of helpers that fostered healing ranged from small acts of kindness to unconditional love.”
Healing probably means different things to different people, but one definition that emerged from the study is: “The re-establishment of a sense of integrity and wholeness.”
Healing was an emergent property that resulted from each individuals’ complex healing journey, a result of bridged connections between resources and relationships. “…they gradually found relief from suffering and began to exhibit emergent characteristics: a sense of hope, self-acceptance, and a desire to help others—the immediate precursors to healing.”
In varying degrees, “they were able to transcend their suffering and in some sense to flourish.”
Suffering is the ongoing pain from wounding.
There is debate about whether or not one actually needs to experience suffering on the path to healing.
Wounding happens when we experience physical or emotional harm. It can stem from chronic illness or by physical or psychological trauma for which we do not have the tools to cope, or a combination of those factors.
“The degree and quality of suffering experienced by each individual is framed by contextual factors that include personal characteristics, timing of their initial or ongoing wounding in the developmental life cycle and prior and current relationships.”
Characteristics: How predisposed someone may be to wounding/how many tools and resources someone may have to deal with trauma/illness.
Lifestages: Developmental timing plays an important role in the impact of trauma — young children often do not have the same resources as older adults.
Relationships: Relationships can provide solace and support for those suffering, while lack of healthy relationships can prolong suffering.
