Nicholas T. Van Dam

Dr. Nicholas Van Dam joins us to speak about the recent paper “Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation”.

Several years ago, thanks to the kindness of a friend, I was fortunate enough to be included in a gathering sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute. Present were many old friends, and soon-to-be new friends, to discuss a shared interest in the state of scientific study of mindfulness. After collaboration, disagreement, partnership, and even loss, the resulting paper has been published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. Today the lead author joins us to give voice to the intention, and call to action, we hope will come of this work.

Nicholas T. Van Dam is a Research Fellow (Assistant Professor equivalent) at the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds an appointment of Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Nicholas completed a B.S. in Neurobiology and Psychology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After deciding medical training would not fulfill his career objectives, Nicholas joined the laboratory of Dr. Harriet de Wit at the University of Chicago as a post-baccalaureate research assistant. He subsequently completed an MA & PhD under the supervision of Dr. Mitch Earleywine in Clinical Psychology at the University at Albany, SUNY. During his 3rd year of PhD training, Nicholas joined the laboratory of Dr. Jin Fan as a visiting scholar at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to learn neuroimaging. Prior to completing his PhD in Clinical Psychology, Nicholas did a pre-doctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at Yale University with Dr. Rajita Sinha. He subsequently worked at New York University and the Nathan Kline Institute with Drs. Don C. Goff and Michael P. Milham. Nicholas then returned to Mount Sinai to help establish a neuroimaging arm to the Mood and Anxiety Disorders program under the supervision of Drs. James Murrough and Prantik Kundu.

Special thanks to Dr. Cathy Kerr. Without her care, initiative, and love, this project would not have come to fruition. Cathy, this is dedicated to you. You are sorely missed.

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Web Links

• Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation
• Nicholas Van Dam
• Altmetric

Music for This Episode Courtesy of Rodrigo Rodriguez

The music heard in this podcast is from Rodrigo Rodriguez. You can visit his website to hear more of his music, get the full discography, and view his upcoming tour dates.