Scholars in mind-body science have linked many personality, social psychological, and cognitive factors to physical health.  Yet mind-body researchers, even when their own training was in one of these fields, rarely attend the conferences or read the journals of basic researchers in these areas. The reverse is also true.  There are many findings in the mind-body area of relevance to cognitive, personality, social, and emotion researchers. Yet, these researchers often remain unaware of the findings and rarely include indices of health as outcome measures in their studies. The goal for the visiting scholars program is simple. It is to facilitate communication between mind-body scholars and prominent scholars in basic research areas of relevance to mind-body research. The visiting scholars program will bring to Pittsburgh cutting-edge basic researchers in areas of relevance to mind-body research.  Areas most intensely targeted will be those with greatest relevance to our Center model linking common pathways to diverse disease endpoints. While in Pittsburgh, visiting scholars will interact with local Center members and mind-body scholars. The goal is for these traditional scholars to educate our mind-body faculty and students regarding innovations in their own field, and simultaneously for the mind-body scholars to provide these more traditional scholars with the sort of exposure to mind-body research that might attract some of them to becoming involved in such work. Throughout the program, emphasis will be placed on the development of long-term collaborations with mind-body researchers.

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The first Visiting Scholars program took place in February 2006. The theme of the program was Thinking about Emotion: Its Assessment, Expression, Regulation, and Valence. Pictured (from left to right) are Margaret Clark (Conference Organizer), Visiting Scholars Presenters- Annette Stanton, Barbara Fredrickson, Nancy Eisenberg, Lisa Feldman Barrett - and Michael Scheier (Conference Organizer & PMBC Co-Director) Click on Photo to Enlarge - Click Here for more info. The second Visiting Scholars program focused on, "The Nature of Social Relationships," and was held in June 2007. Pictured (from left to right) are Michael Scheier (Conference Organizer & PMBC Co-Director), Visiting Scholars – Steven Asher, Jeffry Simpson, Nicki Crick, W. Andrew Collins, Margaret Clark (Conference Organizer), and program participant. Click on Photo to Enlarge - Click Here for more info. Faculty Development Main-Page Seminars, Workshops & Colloquia Visiting Scholars Program Clinical Scholars Program

5/6/2008  MS / tc/la