Internationally recognized for her discoveries elucidating the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing, and the role of place in wellbeing, Dr. Esther M. Sternberg is a pioneer and major force in collaborative initiatives on mind-body-stress-wellness and environment interrelationships. Equally at ease and compelling in Keynoting audiences as varied as lay audiences; the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers; the Dalai Lama’s Mind and Life Institute; Fortune 500 Companies’ Chief Medical Officers; philanthropic fund-raisers; design and medical professional associations; and scientific audiences, Dr. Sternberg has been called upon to advise the World Health Organization; the US Institute of Medicine; the Royal Society, London; and to brief high level US Federal Government Officials, including the Office of the Surgeon General, and the United States Congress.
Her best-selling popular books Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being and The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions, are highly readable, informative, and scientifically based inspirations for lay persons and professionals alike, seeking answers to the complexities and 21st century frontiers of stress, place, healing, and wellness. Her book Healing Spaces was recognized by the President of the American Institute of Architects as an inspiration for launching the AIA’s Design and Health Initiative. Dr. Sternberg’s many honors include recognition by the National Library of Medicine as one of 300 women physicians who changed the face of medicine; the Anita Roberts National Institutes of Health Distinguished Woman Scientist Lectureship; the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation; an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine from Trinity College, Dublin. In 2014, Dr. Sternberg was appointed as Member of the National Library of Medicine’s Board of Regents. Currently University of Arizona Professor of Medicine, and Founding Research Director for the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona at Tucson, Dr. Sternberg is the Founding Director of the UA Institute on Place and Wellbeing, and holds joint appointments at UA as Professor in Psychology and Architecture.
Prior to joining UA, Dr. Sternberg served for 26 years in the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program as Senior Scientist and Section Chief of Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health; Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH; Co-Chair of the NIH Intramural Program on Research on Women’s Health; Chair of the Behavioral Investigators’ Review Panel Sub-Committee of the NIH Central Tenure Committee. Dr. Sternberg has been featured on numerous radio and television shows, including PBS’s The New Medicine; Life Part II; NPR and Krista Tippett’s “Speaking of Faith” and “On Being.” In 2009, with Emmy Award winning Resolution Pictures, Dr. Sternberg created and hosted a PBS Television special based on her books: The Science of Healing. Dr. Sternberg advises and collaborates with the US General Services Administration, the American Institute of Architects, and the US Green Building Council on the impact of the built environment and sustainable design on health and wellbeing. Dr. Sternberg is in high demand as a keynote speaker for her combination of academic credibility, passion for science, compassion as a physician, and ability to make complex subjects highly accessible to a wide range of audiences. She lecturesnationally and internationally to lay and scientific audiences and is frequently interviewed on radio, television, web, and in print media on subjects including the mind-body connection, ‘stress and illness’, spirituality, and the role of place in health and wellbeing.
