About

This Blog will serve to provide a cyber space for news dedicated to contemplative research in the cognitive neurosciences, clinical sciences, developmental, social and health psychology, and education. Please contact me at vago.dave@gmail.com if you have news that is relevant to the study of mind in life or contemplative sciences.

You can also see what type of research I am conducting personally and more contemplative science resources on my webpage: http://contemplativeneurosciences.com

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The comments I am expressing are my own and do not represent the views or opinions of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School or its administration

David Vago, PhD is a research associate professor of psychology at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University and Research Lead for Roundglass. He is the former research director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University. He maintains a research associate position with the the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory (FNL), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He has held the position of Senior Research Coordinator for the Mind & Life Institute, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering dialogue and research at the highest possible level between modern science and the great living contemplative traditions. He received his Bachelors Degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences in 1997 from the University of Rochester. In 2005, David received his Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Sciences with a specialization in learning and memory from the department of Psychology, University of Utah. Dr. Vago’s research interests broadly focus on utilizing translational models to identify and characterize neurobiological substrates mediating psychopathology, to better predict outcomes and potential biologically-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for those suffering with mental illness and chronic pain. Through mixed research methods of systems biology, neuroimaging, predictive computational modeling, connectomics, genomic and neuroendocrine science, innovation, cognitive-behavioral and first-person phenomenological analyses, Dr. Vago focuses on one basic question – “What are the basic neurobiological and physiological components that constitute adaptive mind-brain-body interactions and their therapeutic relevance in psychiatric settings?” Dr. Vago has a number of research initiatives that are ongoing, including Mapping the Meditative Mind, in which he has partnered with contemporary meditation teachers and scholars to investigate states of meditation across the spectrum of formal meditative expertise. Another initiative leverages innovation to optimize contemporary tools for electronic delivery of integrative medicine and utilize neurofeedback for patient-centered mental training.