Empathy and Compassion Research Presentation Series Kickoff

The Empathy & Compassion Research Presentation Series highlights the work of the Sanford Institute's awarded researchers and their investigations of empathy and compassion as concepts within healthcare and medical education. Each presentation provides a forum for open discussion and connection, as well as explore a new research area within empathy and compassion – keeping attendees at the forefront of the field. This Fall 2022 presentation launch featured moderator Jyoti Misha, PhD, as moderator, and Satish Jaiswal, PhD, and Lindsey Powell, PhD, as our esteemed speakers. Watch to view the following presentations: Brief Digital Mindfulness and Compassion Intervention for Physician Trainees | Satish Jaiswal, PhD • In this longitudinal study, we implemented a brief digital mindfulness and compassion program, “WellMind”, for physician trainees and compared behavioral and neural outcomes relative to a no-contact control group. WellMind participants showed significant increase in self-compassion and state-mindfulness outcomes, with improvements in self-compassion sustained at follow-up. These changes were not observed for the control group. Neural data showed significant suppression of default mode network (DMN) activity at post versus pre-intervention, exclusively in the WellMind group, which further related to improvements in self-compassion. Infants' Experience and Understanding of Empathy | Lindsey Powell, PhD • Empathy and compassion have origins early in human development, but there are still many unanswered questions about how the cognitive and brain systems that support empathy emerge. I will talk about two projects, one that is currently investigating the neural basis of empathy in toddlers and another that looks at infants' expectations about empathy in others.