About Us

Dr. Chozen Bays is a pediatrician and Zen teacher. She did her medical studies at UC San Diego, trained in Zen under two masters in the US and Japan, and since 2001 has served a co-abbot of the Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon. She shared her experiences over three decades of practicing and teaching mindful eating, in the book, Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food, which has been translated into seven languages. She compiled 53 favorite mindfulness exercises in the book How to Train a Wild Elephant and Other Adventures in Mindfulness. In 2022 Shambhala released her most recent book, Mindful Medicine: 40 Simple Practices to Help Healthcare Professionals Heal Burnout and Reconnect to Purpose. Jan offers Mindful Eating-Conscious Living trainings for professionals in the US and Europe. Order her new book here!

Patrick comes to the board with over 20 years in non-profit management and organizational development. He worked in the labor union movement at the local, state, and national level, particularly in political and advocacy campaign. Patrick also served as a legislative lobbyist in three state capitals in the areas of taxation, human services, and health care. He’s served on non-profit boards including the Oregon Center for Public Policy, a leader in fiscal analysis, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center based in Washington DC. Patrick was the executive director of Our Oregon, where he ran statewide ballot measure and public advocacy campaigns managing a staff of eight and a budget of over $1 million. Patrick began his own meditation and mindfulness practice with the Zen Community of Oregon (ZCO) in 2004. After a decade of meditation practice he was given teaching responsibilities and has led weekend meditation retreats and workshops. He served six years as the ZCO board president and five years as treasurer.

Judy is a Holistic Registered Nurse with a health background. She has specialized education and experience as a Health and Wellness Nurse Coach. Judy understands wellness occurs when the whole body, ( body, mind and spirit) are cared for and honored. Judy uses mindful and awareness practices in her daily living and with her clients. She offers an array of Integrative Health practices to those she works with and shares with. Judy believes our best health and wellbeing occur most easily when we pay attention to the gifts surrounding us. For Judy, this is often when spending time with family, in the garden, or on her bicycle!

Jill is the owner of Workplace Solutions NW, a firm offering neutral services to organizations in conflict. Jill’s work is focused on helping people in organizations work through conflict in a healthy, respectful and productive way. Jill has practiced labor and employment law since 1991 and has been a mediator since 1996. Jill has worked extensively in both private and public sectors including with academic institutions, medical organizations, social service agencies and many corporate contexts from very small to very large. Jill offers resiliency workshops and retreats to a wide variety of audiences (usually with her business partner, Judy Clarke), including training in compassion and mindfulness as part of a trauma informed care curriculum, implicit bias and healthy ways to handle conflict. Jill is a Trained Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher in the program developed by Christopher Germer, PhD and Kristin Neff, PhD with a graduate certificate from UCSD and is in training to become a teacher of Stanford’s Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program. A practicing Buddhist, Jill is enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Link is an associate professor in pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. He is interested in the effects of sleep deprivation and fatigue on physician wellness. He was the director for sleep education at OHSU for 10 years, providing education on the management of sleep deprivation and fatigue to residents, fellows and faculty. In that role, he gained a deep understanding of the challenges health care providers face. It became clear to him that most physicians are good at pushing themselves to work hard but with few or no strategies to recharge. This led him to explore mindfulness and meditation. After initial fits and starts, he made a big leap forward after attending a weekend retreat with the wonderful team of Mindful Medicine. It was eye opening to see the shared challenges and humanity among health care providers. Dr. Link does not get perfect scores for daily meditation practice but is getting a bit better at it every month. As a new board member, he is excited to join the Mindful Medicine team.

Dr. Siobhan Gray, an internal medicine physician focused on heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation at Kaiser, joined the Mindful Medicine PDX board in 2020. About 12 years ago, after reading compelling medical literature, she began practicing meditation and attended a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course. Initially skeptical of "woo-woo" practices, Siobhan found profound benefits from mindfulness. "I'm still overwhelmed and anxious at times, but I can move through it more easily thanks to Mindful Medicine," she says. She cherishes the supportive community of fellow providers also seeking more joy amidst increasing career demands. With an authentic, down-to-earth perspective, she is passionate about helping healthcare workers cultivate mindfulness and compassion one insight at a time.