Joan Borysenko, PhD is a distinguished pioneer in integrative medicine and world-renowned expert in the mind/body connection whose work has been foundational in an international healthcare revolution recognizing the role of meaning and spiritual dimensions of life as integral to health and healing. After graduating magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and earning her doctorate in Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School, she completed post-doctoral training in cancer cell biology before her father’s death from cancer redirected her focus from disease to the person with the illness. Returning to Harvard for a second postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine under Herbert Benson, M.D.—who first identified the relaxation response and brought meditation into medicine—she completed a third fellowship in psychoneuroimmunology. In the early 1980s, she co-founded a Mind/Body clinic with Dr. Benson, became a licensed psychologist, and was appointed instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, culminating in her 1987 New York Times bestseller Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. Author of 17 books including the PBS special Inner Peace for Busy People, she is Founding Partner of Mind/Body Health Sciences, LLC in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Why their voice matters: Joan serves as a bridge between faith and reason, bringing scientific rigor to spiritual dimensions of healing while making rigorous research accessible and transformative. Her unique trajectory—from cancer cell biologist to behavioral medicine pioneer to psychoneuroimmunologist—gives her authority across disciplines that rarely speak to each other. As she describes herself: “I’m a longtime scientist, psychologist and spiritual seeker who just loves sharing what I’ve learned about health, happiness and soulful living.” Audiences consistently report that her teaching is a transmission—a living experience that transforms their lives.
