Join us for the next free, virtual Nova Campfire on September 24 at 11 am ET (8 am PDT/ 3 pm GMT/5 pm CEST) exploring the leadership needed for a changing world. The complex, interrelated challenges of our time require more than technical expertise. They call for leadership at every level: the ability to bridge perspectives, listen deeply, collaborate across disciplines, and inspire meaningful action amid complexity and uncertainty.
In this Campfire, we will examine leadership as a creative, relational, and ethical practice. Together, we will explore transformative and inclusive approaches that bring out the best in others, foster trust, and build shared purpose. The discussion will also examine how the liberal arts, storytelling, imagination, emotional intelligence, and reflective inquiry can cultivate these capacities beginning in early life. These unique qualities can help us hold complexity, respond courageously, and create flourishing futures together.
This event is hosted by the Center for Planetary Consciousness and Global Flourishing. As with all Nova Campfires, this is an interactive and transdisciplinary gathering with short opening reflections followed by space for shared inquiry and emergence.
Program and Panelists
An introduction from Susan Prescott, director of the Center for Planetary Consciousness and Global Flourishing, and Brian Berman, president and founder of the Nova Institute for Health, will be followed by a general welcome and brief meditation from Rick Scott. Panelists are invited to present for approximately seven minutes, weaving their narrative threads to provide the fabric for discussion that all attendees were invited to contribute to.
Programming and panelists subject to change.
Welcome
Professor Brian Berman, MD, is the president and founder of the Nova Institute for Health and professor emeritus at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he was director of the Center for Integrative Medicine. He is one of the most highly funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers in the field of integrative and complementary medicine. A pioneer in the field and founder of the first U.S. academic medical center-based program for integrative medicine in 1991, he received two Bravewell Collaborative awards in leadership and service. He continues to conduct NIH-funded research at University of Maryland and promote a broad vision of health through leadership at Nova Institute for Health.
Relational Intelligence in an AI World: Shaping the Future of Human Connection
Susan Prescott is director of the Center for Planetary Consciousness and Global Flourishing at the Nova Institute for Health, as well as director of the Nova Network. She is a professor of planetary health at University of Western Australia, editor-in-chief of Challenges—Journal of Planetary Health, and a Scholar at the Nova Institute for Health in Baltimore. She is a pediatrician, immunologist, artist, and award-winning author, internationally recognized for cutting-edge research into early environmental determinants of health and disease. Her global work promotes awareness of the interconnections between personal and planetary health in ways that inspire creative, integrated, and wise approaches, grounded in reciprocity, for social and ecological justice and flourishing futures.
Special Welcome: Preparing Citizen Leaders for a Complex World: Liberal Arts, Public Service, and Civic Courage
Former Governor Larry Hogan, an American politician and businessman who served as governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023, will provide recorded remarks to kick off our discussion. During two terms in office, Governor Hogan oversaw a $60 billion annual budget and led a workforce of more than 60,000 state employees. Governor Hogan also chaired the National Governors Association from 2019 to 2020, where he helped coordinate national efforts on infrastructure and public health. He also served as chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and co-chair of No Labels, a national organization focused on bipartisan collaboration. He is now helping advance the new Hogan Institute, a nonpartisan initiative focused on principled leadership, civic engagement, civil discourse, and preparing the next generation of citizen leaders to work across differences in service of the common good. The Hogan Institute is based at Washington College, a historic liberal arts institution in Chestertown, Maryland.
Cultivating Evolutionary Leadership for Civilizational Transition: Learning Ecosystems for Collective Transformation
Pavel Luksha, PhD, is a system scientist, change catalyst, and international leader in education futures, systems change, and regenerative transformation. He is the founder of Global Education Futures and the School of Evolutionary Leadership and co-founder of The Weaving Lab and Living Cities Earth, among other initiatives. His work spans more than two decades of international collaboration, policy development, and educational leadership, influencing strategies across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He is also known for co-developing the Rapid Foresight methodology, which has been applied in more than 20 countries. His work focuses on transformative learning, future skills, and the redesign of learning ecosystems to support more human- and planet-centered futures.
Planetary Health Leadership: Essential Human Capacities for an Era of Global Challenges
Elizabeth (Lisa) Cerceo, MD, is a professor of medicine and executive director of climate health at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, associate program director of the internal medicine residency, and chair of physician engagement at Cooper University Health Care. She completed her medical degree at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania along with a Diploma in Climate Medicine through the University of Colorado. She is a board-certified general internist in the Department of Hospital Medicine where she oversees faculty development and research. As the executive director of climate health, she is responsible for integrating climate health content throughout the four years of medical school, into residency and faculty development. She is the course director of the selectives in the medical humanities.
Reimagining Leadership Through the Creative Wellspring: Inner Resources for Complex Times
Daryn H. David, PhD, PCC, is a licensed clinical psychologist, academic, and leadership development coach at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). She is the director for leadership development and coaching initiatives in the YSM Offices of Academic & Professional Development (OAPD) and Collaborative Excellence (OCE). An assistant professor in the Yale Child Study Center, she leverages her expertise to help academics and health care providers actualize their fullest professional potential. She promotes the educational mission of Yale University by coaching high-impact global leaders through the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program. Daryn holds a Bachelor of Arts in social studies from Harvard University and a PhD in psychology from Yale University.
Transformative Leadership from the Inside Out: Consciousness, Connection, and the Future of Human Flourishing
Bianca Briciu, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Transformative Leadership and Spirituality at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. Her work bridges scholarship and practice at the intersection of leadership, spirituality, and human development. With a background spanning cultural mediations, film, and gender studies, and lived experience across multiple cultures, she brings a rich global perspective to her teaching and research. Dr. Briciu focuses on cultivating multidimensional intelligence—cognitive, embodied, emotional, and spiritual—and on exploring how mindfulness, empathy, and compassion can foster resilience and transformation. Her current projects emphasize transformative education, preparing leaders to advance justice, equity, and flourishing communities.
Colin Pascal is the executive director of the Hogan Institute at Washington College, and he will take additional questions and comments on behalf of the Hogan Institute and former Governor Hogan. He leads efforts to develop principled citizen leaders, strengthen democratic institutions, and promote constructive engagement across political differences. A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, he served for 20 years, including 17 years in military intelligence, and completed five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His assignments included battalion command, service as an assistant Army attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and leadership of counterintelligence and human intelligence operations in support of the campaign against ISIS.
Pascal writes regularly on national security, Maryland politics, leadership, and democratic reform, with work published by The Baltimore Sun, The Hill, and other outlets. He is also a senior fellow at the Orion Policy Institute, founder and CEO of Annapolis Development Group, and a certified leadership mentor. He holds a Master of Public Administration from American University, a Master of Military Art and Science from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Bonaventure University.
