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Leah Weiss Ekstrom – TEDx Traverse City 2012
Leah Weiss Ekstrom is a Contemplative Educator whose research and teaching focuses on the application of meditation in secular contexts. Leah has engaged in extensive retreat practice in the Kagyu/Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. She is also trained as a clinical social worker, having worked with refugees in India, Nepal, and the United States.
She has taught clinicians in a variety of settings including Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the National HIV/AIDS Conference. In 2008, Leah co-founded the Foundation for Active Compassion, a nonprofit organization that offers meditation practices to people involved in social service and social change work in an effort to provide tools for prevention and healing from burnout and compassion fatigue.
Currently, Leah is Director of Compassion Education at Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). She is on the cusp of completing her doctoral degree in Theology and Education.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxTraverseCity, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxTraverseCity event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
Lectures: Michael W. Kraus
Michael W. Kraus presenting his talk, “Noblesse Oblige? Empathy, Compassion, and Social Class in America.”
Lecture: Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo
“Heroic Transformations from Violence to Peace Healing and Compassion in Wounded Communities,” presented by Dr. Yotam Heineberg, Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo, Dr. Rony Berger, and Mr. Rudy Corpuz Jr.
Festival of Faiths
Sacred Silence: Pathway to Compassion combines an interest in contemplative practice within an interfaith forum to explore the nature of sacred silence. The goal of this exploration is to provide an opportunity for spiritual growth for the largest possible assembly of people.
For more information and registration click here.
James R. Doty, MD, speaks at Zócalo Public Square
Location: Los Angeles, CA
CCARE’s Founder & Director, James R. Doty, M.D., will participate in a Zócalo Public Square series on healthy living. Panelists will discuss the latest in medical science and altruism and what the findings mean for us all.
See event website for more information.
Wisdom 2.0 Youth
Location: Computer History Museum, 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA
Raising or working with children today is no easy task. Technology pervades our (and their) lives. We struggle to find our own balance, and at the same time navigate their use of cellphones, social networks, and computer games.
Our challenge is to harness the power of technology as parents and educators, while supporting wellness and balance that are essential for a healthy child and a sane society.
Join Wisdom 2.0 Youth September 17th in Silicon Valley for the first ever Wisdom 2.0 Youth Conference. Together we will explore living consciously and supporting wellness, wisdom, and mindfulness in young people today.
Read more or Register today
TEDx Hayward
The theme for this year’s TEDxHayward is Peace Innovation where we cast a spotlight on how technology and emerging social behaviors and insights are promoting new paths to global peace. We hope you will join us, the Stanford Peace Innovation Lab, CSU East Bay Peace Innovation Lab, and Associated Students Inc. of CSU East Bay @ TEDxHayward. Remember to reserve your space (tickets are free!) by clicking on the Tickets link above! http://tedxhayward.org/
Request Dr. Weiss as a Speaker
Leah Weiss, PhD, LCSW
Director of Education
Want Dr. Weiss to be a speaker at your next event? Send her a request below.
Request Dr. Seppala as a Speaker
Emma Seppala, PhD
Associate Director, CCARE
Want Dr. Seppala to be a speaker at your next event? Send her a request below.
Request Dr. Doty as a Speaker
James R. Doty, MD
Director and Founder, CCARE
Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University
Want Dr. Doty to be a speaker at your next event? Send him a request below.
Request a Speaker
Want a member of CCARE to be a speaker at your next event? Send us a request below.
Al’ai Alvarez, MD
Interim Director
Al’ai Alvarez, MD (@alvarezzzy) is a national leader and educator on wellness, diversity, equity, and Inclusion. He is a member of the inaugural cohort of ambassadors for CCARE’s Applied Compassion Training and has successfully completed various other programs, including Compassion Cultivation Training and Awakening Humanity at Work.
• Clinical Professor, Stanford Emergency Medicine (EM)
• Director of Well-Being, Stanford EM
• Co-lead, the Human Potential Team, Stanford EM
• Fellowship Director, Physician Wellness Fellowship, Stanford EM
• Chair, Physician Wellness Forum, Stanford WellMD/WellPhD
• Director, Physician Resource Network (PRN) Support Program, Stanford WellMD/WellPhD [Stanford’s peer-to-peer support for faculty and trainees]
His work focuses on humanizing physician roles as individuals and teams by harnessing the individual human potential in the context of high-performance teams. This includes optimizing the interconnectedness between Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Recruitment (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion). He is one of the 2021-2022 Faculty Fellows at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.
Dr. Alvarez was the assistant/associate residency program director (APD) at the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program [2016-2021], focusing on the intersectionality of residency well-being with performance improvement on patient experience, quality and patient safety, diversity, equity and inclusion, and medical education. Dr. Alvarez co-founded and co-chaired the largest diversity mentoring initiative in Emergency Medicine through ACEP and EMRA.
Dr. Alvarez gives several grand rounds and national/international conference lectures and workshops on relevant topics in self-compassion, physician well-being, and high-performance teams, including increasing leadership capacity and mentorship to enhance diversity and inclusion.
Dr. Alvarez received the 2019 ACEP DIHE Distance and Impact Award, the 2020 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) Outstanding Academician Award, the 2020 CORD Academy for Scholarship in Education in EM Academy Member Award on Teaching and Evaluation, the 2022 John Levin Leadership Award at Stanford Health Care, and the 2024 Physician Leader of the Year of the Sharp Index Awards.
James R. Doty, MD
December 1, 1955 - July 16, 2025
James R. Doty, MD was the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford, of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. Dr. Doty was a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who was on the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Neurosurgery Department. Most recently, his academic focus was on meditation, compassion, and self-compassion for which he lectured throughout the world.
Dr. Doty attended U.C. Irvine as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed neurosurgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Doty served 9 years on active duty in the U.S Army attaining the rank of major. He completed fellowships in pediatric neurosurgery and electroneurophysiology.
He was an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He held multiple patents and was the former CEO of Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ). Dr. Doty provided support to a number of charitable organizations supporting peace initiatives and providing healthcare throughout the world. Additionally, he supported research, provided scholarships, and endowed chairs at multiple universities.
Dr. Doty was a consultant to medical device companies and was an operating partner and advisor to venture capital firms. He served on the Board of a number of non-profits and was the vice-chair of the Charter for Compassion International and the former chair of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He was on the Senior Advisory Board of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions and served on the Board of Governors of Tulane University School of Medicine and the President’s Council at Tulane University.
James R. Doty, MD was the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discovery the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart now translated into 40 languages. Dr. Doty was also the senior editor of the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. His final book, Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything was published by Penguin Random House in May of 2024.
History
CCARE was envisioned by Dr. James Doty, a Stanford neurosurgeon, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Dr. Doty had a longstanding interest in the fundamental motivations of individuals to do good. He originated the concept of a rigorous multi-disciplinary scientific effort at Stanford directed at understanding the neural, mental, and social bases of compassion and altruism, and he provided the initial funding for the endeavor.
This interest was further spurred by the historic visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Stanford University in October of 2005, a visit hosted by the Stanford School of Medicine, through the leadership of Dean Philip A. Pizzo, and the Stanford Office of Religious Life, headed by Rev. Scotty McLennan. A high point of this visit was a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Stanford scientists from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine. This dialogue, moderated by Dr. William Mobley, former Professor of Neurology and former Director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, had the important consequence of recognizing that a deep engagement between science, especially in the cognitive science disciplines of neuroscience and psychology, and Buddhism and other contemplative traditions could make significant contribution towards a deeper understanding of many important aspects of the human mind and emotion.
Recognizing the historic nature of the initial dialogue held at Stanford between scientists and the Dalai Lama, Dr. Doty organized an informal group of individuals with similar interests to further explore these areas. Subsequently, he provided the funding for Dr. Thupten Jinpa, a noted contemplative scholar and translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to come to Stanford as a Visiting Scholar and join Project Compassion as the principal contemplative scholar. As the group expanded, it became evident that there was serious interest in formalizing what was informally called “Project Compassion.”
With the encouragement of Dr. Mobley and Dr. Gary Steinberg, Chairman of Neurosurgery and Director of the Stanford Institute of Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences, Dean Pizzo created The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford (CCARE). Thus, CCARE came into being with Dr. Doty as Director, Dr. Mobley (who has since left Stanford to work as Chair of Neuroscience at UCSD) as Co-Director, and Mr. Tenzin Tethong (Distinguished Scholar, Tibetan Studies Initiative at Stanford) and Dr. Steinberg serving as members of the founding Executive Committee.
Courses
Learn to develop the qualities of compassion, empathy and kindness for oneself and for others lorem
Videos
Research
Compassion as Human Potential
For more than a decade, CCARE has advanced compassion as a rigorous, evidence-based field. Drawing on neuroscience and related disciplines, we study compassion as a measurable capacity that helps people lead effectively, work together efficiently, and create healthier learning and care environments.
What we study
- Compassion as a measurable human capacity
- How interaction quality shapes performance, resilience, and decision-making
- The role of listening, trust, and stress regulation in complex systems
- Individual, interpersonal, and systems-level processes
How we translate this work
- Strengthen relational quality in teams and organizations
- Examine how compassion shapes attention, judgment, coordination, and collective problem-solving
- Develop practical approaches that strengthen trust, reduce friction, and support high performance
Why it matters
- Clearer judgment, stronger teamwork, healthier cultures
- Reduced costs from burnout, conflict, and miscommunication
- Impact from individuals to teams to entire institutions
Work with us
We partner across research, health care, education, technology, industry, sport, and public leadership to meet complexity with skill and humanity.
📩 Inquire about research partnerships
Featured Research: Dual-Brain Neuroscience in Real-World Teams
CCARE applies dual-brain (inter-brain) neuroscience to examine how compassion and coordination emerge in real time during high-stakes interactions.
🎥Explore dual-brain research in action
Press
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The True Meaning of Christmas and its Implications for Our Health
Even if you don’t consider yourself religious, there’s no denying the impact Jesus’ example of compassion continues to have for our health.
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Compassion Curriculum
Most English speakers who have attended the teachings of the Dalai Lama have actually heard his wisdom through the voice of Thupten Jinpa, who has served as translator for His Holiness since 1985. A highly trained Buddhist scholar and practitioner in h …
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Tulane Medical Students Learn Healthy Cooking, Pass It On
“Obesity is the most important public health problem facing this country… To understand nutrition has become critical and to teach it in conjunction with culinary science is a new way to reinforce the education of physicians.â€
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How the Stress of Disaster Brings People Together
Written by Emma Seppala. Ever feel that stress makes you more cranky, hot-headed or irritable? For men in particular, we think of stress as generating testosterone-fueled aggression – thus instances of road rage, or the need to “blow off steam” after w …
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Yoga, Deep Breathing Used to Address Soldiers’ Post-Traumatic Stress
Rich Low dreamed of Iraq long after he returned home from the war.
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A Passion for Compassion
Why, in a country that consumes 25% of the world’s resources (the USA), is there an epidemic of loneliness, depression, and anxiety? Why do so […]
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Can a Compassionate Outlook Drive Our Professional Life?
The Charter for Compassion is an open and collaborative effort. In Fall 2008, people of all nations, all faiths, all backgrounds, submitted their own words for inclusion in the Charter.
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Mass Murder and the Science of Empathy
Written by Lynn E. O’Connor Ph.D. I’m in Telluride Colorado, where I attended stellar scientific meetings, held by The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford U., while the nation has been watching the massacre in Aurora, Co …
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How Practicing Compassion Could Ease or Eliminate Chronic Stress
Written by Lia Steakley. In a post today on the Huffington Post, Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford, explores how practicing compassion could prove effective in reducing or eliminating chronic str …
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Got Time for Compassion Tomorrow?
Last minute notice about the free Compassion Research Day at Facebook tomorrow (July 11th). Among the presenters and panelists are the good folks from Cal’s Greater Good Science Center and as…
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Meditation, Happiness and Compassionate Altruism
Written by Lynn E. O’Connor Ph.D. I’m about to take off for a meeting organized by the Stanford University-based CCare, The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, in Telluride Colorado. We’re presenting results from our current rese …
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Can Meditation Impact Entrepreneurship and the World? Google’s Happiness Guru Thinks So
Chade-Meng Tan hopes his book, Search Inside Yourself, can bring about the conditions for world peace.
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Stanford Studies Monks’ Meditation, Compassion
Stanford neuroeconomist Brian Knutson is an expert in the pleasure center of the brain that works in tandem with our financial decisions – the biology behind why we bypass the kitchen coffeemaker to buy the $4 Starbucks coffee every day. Looking to the future, neuroscientists wonder whether compassion can be neurologically isolated, if one day it could be harnessed to help people overcome depression, to settle children with hyperactivity, or even to rewire a psychopath. People who meditate show more left-brain hemisphere dominance, according to meditation studies done at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Effect on agingThe most comprehensive scientific study of meditation, the Shamatha Project led by scientists at UC Davis, indicates meditation leads to improved perception and may even have some effect on cellular aging. Volunteers who spent an average of 500 hours in focused-attention meditation during a three-month retreat in 2007 were better than the control group at detecting slight differences in the length of lines flashed on a screen. Dalai Lama donationKnutson’s study is funded by Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, which was started with a sizable donation of seed money from the Dalai Lama after his 2005 campus visit to discuss fostering scientific study of human emotion. Extending compassionNext Knutson asked the Buddhists to practice a style of meditation called "tonglen," in which the person extends compassion outward from their inner circle, first to their parent, then to a good friend, then to a stranger and last to all sentient beings.
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Stanford Professor Says Compassion is Essential to Health
The story goes something like this: Years ago, a man living in the Middle East made some startling discoveries having …
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Vacation Sabotage: Don’t Let it Happen to You!
With time off so scarce, why is fully enjoying it so hard? Eight rules for getting the most out of your next break. (Hint: Start practicing now.)
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This is Your Brain on Compassion: Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
The Charter for Compassion is an open and collaborative effort. In Fall 2008, people of all nations, all faiths, all backgrounds, submitted their own words for inclusion in the Charter.
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Programs on the “Science of Altruism” are Gaining Notice on Today’s College Campuses
Altruism is taking hold on today's college campuses. Not only are programs on the "Science of Altruism" gaining strength, but students are demonstrating that altruism and compassion are values to be taken seriously.
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Science of Compassion and Altruism: Talks @ Facebook
Last week, Facebook invited national experts to its Palo Alto campus to share the science behind compassion and altruism. In the audience, myself and other engineers listened intently to ideas about humanizing interactions.
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Opening the Heart at Stanford, Google and Beyond
Written by Margaret Cullen. Five years ago, a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford had a revolutionary idea: open a center dedicated to compassion right in the middle of the university. Today, the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Educat …
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Facebook Tackling Online Conflicts with Compassionate Touch
Written by Suzanne Bohan. Facebook wants to grow more heart. The social media giant copes with a flood of complaints about objectionable photos, bullying hateful comments and other postings. The company doesn’t release data on complaints, but it is a “ …
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Compassion Curriculum – an Interview with Geshe Thupten Jinpa
Written by Margaret Cullen. Most English speakers who have attended the teachings of the Dalai Lama have actually heard his wisdom through the voice of Thupten Jinpa, who has served as translator for His Holiness since 1985. A highly trained Buddhist s …
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Keltner Explores Compassion from Evolutionary View
Breaking news from the Farm since 1892
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Charity, with Entrepreneurial Spin
Written by Stu Woo. Pierre Omidyar founded online marketplace eBay Inc. and still serves as its chairman. But these days, he would much rather talk about Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm he started after leaving day-to-day duties at e …
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Pay it Forward Parties
When Paige McCarthy begin planning her annual dinner party for a small group of friends, she knew she wanted to create something unique, something with lasting impact. “I was really interested in how I could make something bigger out of the little that …
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The Service of Democratic Education
Written by Linda Darling-Hammond. At the commencement ceremony for Columbia University’s Teachers College on May 18, Stanford education professor Linda Darling-Hammond—a nationally renowned leader in education reform and former education adviser to Bar …
About
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Pay it Forward Parties
When Paige McCarthy begin planning her annual dinner party for a small group of friends, she knew she wanted to create something unique, something with lasting impact. “I was really interested in how I could make something bigger out of the little that I have and create a good experience for everyone,” says McCarthy, a Portland, Ore., advertising executive.
Could she, McCarthy wondered, create an entire party around the notion of doing good deeds for others as payback for those received? That question sparked her to create a Pay It Forward Party, which, in the course of a few hours, transformed a small dinner party into a life-changing event for the guests and people throughout the community.
Preparing to give
The Pay It Forward philosophy was popularized in a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde in 2000, and in a subsequent movie. Yet, the idea has been around since the days of Ancient Greece when a play first talked of the concept of passing on kind acts. Benjamin Franklin wrote about it too, in a letter drafted in the late 1700s.
But, on that night in November 2010, McCarthy’s dinner guests knew little about what she had in store. After they arrived at her home, each of the four couples received $100 and partial instructions, plucked like leaves from a centerpiece cleverly designed as a giving tree. When combined with the instructions of the other guests, the group discovered that they were to use the money to help others.
To read the full article, click here.