Dalai Lama to lead ‘Change your Mind Change the World 2013’ event May 15

Event organizers today announced that the Dalai Lama will visit Madison on May 15, 2013, to lead “Change your Mind Change the World 2013,” a series of panel discussions with thought leaders from a variety of fields, including neuroscience, economics and sustainability, moderated by Arianna Huffington and Daniel Goleman.

The event is co-hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center and the UW–Madison Global Health Institute.

“The dialogues at Change your Mind Change the World 2013 will revolve around how science, economics, environments, emotional intelligence and health care can combine to make the world a healthier, happier place,” says Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.

During the panel discussions, the experts will present their best work on global health and sustainable well-being, organizers say. The Dalai Lama will respond to these insights and add his own thoughts and encouragement of how to continue to bring these ideas forward in the world.

“Unsustainable consumption of natural resources now threatens the health of our planet and, subsequently, our human species,” says Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute. “Attendees will be challenged to explore new and interconnected solutions to global health problems. The complexity of these issues requires it.”

Panel discussions will take place at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison and will feature:

• His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism, internationally revered spiritual leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner, lifelong science aficionado;
• Don Berwick, national leader on health care quality, former CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, recent administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
• Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine, author of The New York Times bestseller “The Emotional Life of Your Brain”;
• Daniel Goleman, psychologist, science journalist, author of The New York Times bestseller “Emotional Intelligence,” named one of the 25 “Most Influential Business Management Books” by Time magazine;
• Arianna Huffington, author, syndicated columnist, founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post;
• Ilona Kickbusch, director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva; interdisciplinary advisor on promoting health globally;
• Lord Richard Layard, professor, economist, director of the Center for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, co-author of the United Nations’ “World Happiness Report”;
• Jonathan Patz, whose work on global climate change led to a Nobel Peace Prize, director of the Global Health Institute and founding president of the International Association for Ecology and Health; and
• Mattieu Ricard, bestselling author, translator, photographer and Buddhist monk, author of “Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill,” dubbed “the happiest person in the world” by popular media.

Tickets will go on sale in April 2013. For more information or to sign up for the pre-sale list, visit the Change your Mind Change the World website.

—Alison DeShaw Rowe