Mind & Life Wendy Hasenkamp – Widening the Aperture
Feb 27, 2026
Wendy Hasenkamp, neuroscientist and longtime Mind & Life science director, reflects on a career bridging neuroscience, meditation, and community building. She revisits dialogues between Buddhism and science, science education for monastics, the evolution of contemplative research, mind-body integration, interconnectedness with nature, and her new path into herbalism and holistic medicine.
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From Schizophrenia Labs To Meditation Imaging
- Wendy Hasenkamp described shifting from molecular schizophrenia research to neuroimaging and meditation after personal practice helped reduce irritability and clarified her thinking.
- She learned neuroimaging at Emory, began meditating during a difficult divorce, and noticed practical life changes that reignited her scientific curiosity.
Emory Journal Club Became An Incubator
- Wendy organized an interdisciplinary journal club at Emory to incubate meditation-science collaborations across psychiatry, nursing, psychology, and Buddhist studies.
- That local community led to a Varela grant, a postdoc with Larry Barsalou, and publications on neuroimaging while people meditated.
SRI As An Inner Laboratory
- The Summer Research Institute blends an academic conference with a meditation retreat to create an 'inner laboratory' combining first-person experience and rigorous science.
- Held at the Garrison Institute, SRI includes silent retreat segments, shared meals, movement practices, and networking that build the contemplative science community.