Our Mission: To cultivate well-being and relieve suffering through a scientific understanding of the mind

Our Vision: A kinder, wiser, more compassionate world

About the Center for Healthy Minds:
Faced with mental and physical health challenges at a global scale, we conduct rigorous scientific research to bring new insights and tools aimed at improving the well-being of people of all backgrounds and ages.

Our research, rooted in neuroscience, comes down to one basic question: What constitutes a healthy mind?

Under the leadership of renowned neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson, we're examining contemplative practices and qualities of mind we suspect affect well-being, including attention, resilience, equanimity, savoring positive emotions, kindness, compassion, gratitude and empathy. A part of UW–Madison, one of the world’s top research institutions, we benefit from cross-disciplinary collaborations in the arts and humanities, the physical and natural sciences, and the social sciences. 

The Center recently founded a non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc., which takes the discoveries and insights gleaned from Center research and transforms them into tools and services that allow for larger data collection and new ideas for additional research to continually inform the neuroscience of well-being.

Neuroscience

Psychology

Social Impact

Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Richard J. Davidson

Yogesh Prabhu

Tammi Kral

Samantha Eckhardt

Matthew Hirshberg

Lisa Wesley

Cortland Dahl

Chris Borland

Charles Raison

Chad McGehee

Brittany Thomson

Heather Harris

The Research Team at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison conducts pioneering scientific studies to understand and enhance well-being. Under the direction of neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson, the team investigates the effects of contemplative practices and mental qualities such as attention, resilience, and compassion. By leveraging cross-disciplinary collaborations, the team seeks to uncover insights that can be transformed into practical tools and services through the Center's non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc.

Research Team

Research Team

About

Team members