Panel Speaker Bios:

Laurence Kirmayer

Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC is James McGill Professor and Director, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Transcultural Psychiatry and directs the Culture & Mental Health Research Unit at the Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, in Montreal, where he conducts research on culturally responsive mental health services, the mental health of Indigenous peoples, psychiatric anthropology, and the philosophy of psychiatry. His publications include the co-edited volumes, Cultural Consultation: Encountering the Other in Mental Health Care (Springer, 2013); Re-Visioning Psychiatry: Cultural Phenomenology, Critical Neuroscience, and Global Mental Health (Cambridge, 2015) and Culture, Mind and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Methods, and Applications (Cambridge, 2020). He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.

Alexander Levitov

Alexander B. Levitov MD, FCCM, FCCP, RDCS is a professor in the division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Ultrasound Training Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School.  He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine and a Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer. Dr. Levitov is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in bedside ultrasound.  He received the Presidential Citation for Outstanding Contributions from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Levitov is a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School, Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany and Yangzhou University in China. He directs several Certified Medical Education ultrasound courses in the United States and internationally.  His invitational lectures are too numerous to count. He is a known and respected teacher and is a member of the University of Virginia Academy of distinguished educators since 2006. Dr. Levitov serves on the SCCM’s Critical Care Ultrasound Guidelines Task Force, the ACCP’s Taskforce on Critical Care Ultrasonography, and he is a member of the ACC/AHA’s Non-invasive Evaluation Appropriateness Task Force. Dr. Levitov holds several patents related to medical innovation including ultrasonography.   

Jennifer Penberthy

Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy, Ph.D., ABPP is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Kim is a board certified clinical psychologist and conducts research, teaches, and provides clinical care at UVA in psychiatry and the cancer center. Her research interests include studying the mind-body relationship and exploring human consciousness as well as extraordinary human experiences and abilities. She is a founding member of the UVA Contemplative Sciences Center and a member of the UVA Academy of Distinguished Educators, the UVA Leadership in Academic Matters Program, and is a Fellow of Humanism in Medicine at the University of Virginia. Dr. Penberthy is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion and exploring contemplative practices across cultures. She has published extensively on psychotherapy and mindfulness, and her most recent book is “Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide” co-authored with her daughter, Morgan.​