Ram Dass and Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach via his website.

Rachel  is clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal. She is one of the pioneers of integrative medicine and relationship-centered care. As a clinician, she was a therapist to end-of-life people and their families for more than 30 years. Dr. Remen is the founder and director of The Healer’s Art curriculum for medical students, which is now taught in more than half of American Medical schools and medical schools in 7 countries abroad.

She is co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Retreat Program, one of the first integrative care support groups for cancer patients in America. Dr. Remen’s bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal and My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging, have more than a million copies in print and have been published in 21 languages.