Arts and Wellbeing Summit

Tori
Tinsley

Tori Tinsley earned a BFA from The University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design, an MAAT from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from the Georgia State University Welch School of Art & Design. Tinsley’s work has been featured in Art Papers, Oxford American,and New American Paintings, among others. She is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant, a City of Atlanta Emerging Artist Award, and an Idea Capital Grant. Recently, she was a member of the Atlanta Contemporary Studio Artist program and is represented by Laney Contemporary and Co-op Art Atlanta.

Sascha
Demerjian

Sascha Demerjian is a cofounder of the Grief House. The road she took to get here led her through a MSW from the University of Michigan, a PhD in Sociology from Emory University, several moves across the country, parenthood, pet parenthood, and so many deep connections and losses.

At the Grief House she develops, supports and facilitates opportunities for people to be present with grief. She works to normalize grief and to invite and embrace messiness and joy along the way.

Amanda
Williams

Amanda Williams is an Atlanta-based visual artist and art educator with over two decades of experience. She has taught for internationally renowned museums and local community organizations, specializing in accessible art outreach, particularly for older adults living with memory loss and their care partners. Williams' teaching emphasizes communal exploration of human experience through art, memory, and personal narrative—themes that inform her own artistic practice. She primarily partners with the Charlie and Harriet Shaffer Cognitive Empowerment Program at Emory University's Goizueta Brain Health Institute, where she leads interactive art programming designed to promote joy, purpose, and overall wellness for program members and their care partners.

Dr. Emily
Mroz

Dr. Emily Mroz is an Assistant Professor at Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. She is a social-behavioral scientist who helps families navigate chronic, progressive illnesses like dementia and cancer, works to improve palliative and hospice care, and develops resources to support grief adjustment.

In her research studies, Dr. Mroz examines how peoples' personal memories shape their illness, end-of-life, and bereavement experiences.

Reflections & Creative Aspirations: Wellness Practices & Grief

Eve
Byrd

Eve Byrd became director of the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program in February 2017, overseeing the programs public policy activities, the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship and international behavioral health systems strengthening work.

Prior to joining The Carter Center, she was a faculty member of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University and served as executive director of the Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression, Department of Psychiatry at the Emory School of Medicine.

Lane
Pease

Lane Pease, MS, is the Director of Education and Innovative Programs at Kate’s Club, a bereavement organization for children, teens, families, and young adults. Lane has trained thousands of professionals on topics around bereaved youth and created Kate’s Club’s school-based support. Lane recently led Kate’s Club’s initiative to support grieving youth in the juvenile justice court system. She also leads the young adult support program. She co-authored We Come Together as One: Helping Families Grieve, Share, and Heal the Kate’s Club Way. Lane holds an MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Mercer University.

Alexia
Jones

Alexia Jones celebrates 29 years in long-term recovery as the Founder and Executive Director of R2ISE Inc., a nonprofit Recovery Community Organization in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a BFA in Dance from Florida State University, an MBA from Phoenix University, and is a CARES and CPS trainer specializing in trauma-informed care. A recognized performer and choreographer, Alexia developed the Beracha Method, a self-directed recovery approach. With 28 years of experience working with individuals in recovery, her artistic work includes Chronicles of Hope and plays illustrating the recovery process. Through R2ISE Inc., Alexia advocates for the power of Art + Recovery = Freedom.

Marcel
Foster

Marcel W. Foster, MPH, is the founder and president of Performance Hypothesis, an Atlanta-based arts & health consulting group (www.performhy.com), serves as faculty with the University of Florida's Center for Arts in Medicine, and is a Research & Evaluation Associate with the Jameel Arts & Health Lab at NYU Steinhardt. Their original research and arts & health programs have been featured in Nature, WABE & National Public Radio, and several peer-reviewed journals. Marcel is an amateur pianist and French pastry chef.

Trauma-Informed Responses to Grief & Loss

Nadine
Kaslow

Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP, Professor, Vice Chair for Faculty Development and DEI, Chief Psychologist, Director of the Nia Project, and Director of Postdoctoral Residency Training at Emory Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, is the Director of Wellbeing, Resilience, and Flourishing in the Emory at Grady Dean's Office. Past-President of the American Psychological Association (APA), she has received numerous awards, including the APA Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training Award, Emory University's Thomas Jefferson Award, and Emory School of Medicine's Lifetime Service and Leadership Award. The recipient of multiple federal grants, she has over 380 publications and has co-edited seven books. Dr. Kaslow is the psychologist for the Atlanta Ballet.

Shaun
Lewis

Shaun Lewis manages Veteran Outreach for the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. An Army veteran with over 20 years of service, he enlisted in 2001, serving one Active Duty enlistment before transitioning to the Reserve Component, where he balanced military and civilian life for two decades. His service includes three overseas tours, with deployments to Iraq and Kuwait.

Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Auburn University and a Juris Doctor from Georgia State University College of Law. Since 2014, he has been a dedicated advocate for Veterans, focusing on education, career development, and healthcare.

Sheila Yousuf-Abramson

Sheila Yousuf-Abramson, PhD, is a licensed clinical social worker with experience across various settings including child welfare, mental health, and bereavement. Her grief and loss experience includes providing anticipatory and bereavement support for families with loved ones in hospice, grief support in schools, and serving as a bereavement camp director for children and youth. Dr. Yousuf-Abramson now serves as Assistant Professor and Interim Director of the School of Social Work at Dominican University. In 2023, she obtained her PhD from the Jane Addams College of Social Work, with her dissertation centering on grief and loss experiences of young adults in the child welfare system. She continues to explore unique and complex experiences of grief and loss through her scholarship and teaching from a grief and trauma-informed lens.

Brendan Ozawa-de Silva

Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, Ph.D., D.Phil., is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He is also a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Emory University Center for Ethics and an Advisory Committee and Affiliated Faculty Member with the Emory Center For Mind, Brain and Culture. He received doctorates from Oxford University and Emory University with research focusing on emotions, particularly compassion, and has worked to create compassion-based programming in schools, at prisons, and other settings. He served as founding director for The Chillon Project, a college degree program for incarcerated women in Georgia, and was one of the founders of the Association for Higher Education in Prison, a national non-profit supporting incarcerated persons.

Healthcare & Artmaking: Processing Through Art

Dr. Bill
Eley

Dr. Bill Eley is a native of Georgia who received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry, Doctor of Medicine, and Master of Public Health from Emory University. He holds faculty appointments as Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. A Board-certified medical oncologist, he was appointed Executive Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Affairs in 2004. In his current role, he oversees six degree programs and a certificate program within the School of Medicine and the Graduate Medical Education programs. Dr. Eley is committed to the spread of compassion and teaches Cognitive Based Compassion Training (CBCT) within the School of Medicine.

Dr. David
Chou

Dr. David Chou is a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Emory. He enjoys playing drums and guitar, drawing, photography, and woodworking. Dr. Chou has coordinated humanities and arts courses for medical trainees and continues to explore the intersection of art, medicine, and surgery.

Dr. Anthony
Law

Dr. Anthony B. Law is an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine. He joined Emory Voice Center in 2020 with clinical interests including diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the upper aerodigestive tract, particularly laryngeal cancer. He treats voice, airway, and swallowing disorders using techniques ranging from open surgery to minimally invasive approaches. Dr. Law earned a master's in Physics from Johns Hopkins University, a music degree from Peabody Institute, an MD and Ph.D. in Biophysics and Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina, and completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Washington. His research lab focuses on modeling complex biology and applying machine learning to characterize laryngeal pathology.

Nadine
Kaslow

Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP, Professor, Vice Chair for Faculty Development and DEI, Chief Psychologist, Director of the Nia Project, and Director of Postdoctoral Residency Training at Emory Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, is the Director of Wellbeing, Resilience, and Flourishing in the Emory at Grady Dean's Office. Past-President of the American Psychological Association (APA), she has received numerous awards, including the APA Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training Award, Emory University's Thomas Jefferson Award, and Emory School of Medicine's Lifetime Service and Leadership Award. The recipient of multiple federal grants, she has over 380 publications and has co-edited seven books. Dr. Kaslow is the psychologist for the Atlanta Ballet.