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Lisa is a passionary: a visionary driven by great passion and action. An author, intuitive healer, well-loved inspirational speaker, and expert workshop leader and facilitator, Lisa has shared her wisdom with thousands of people throughout the world. Three experiences with death and illness in her family during a ten-month period motivated her to launch Soaringwords, a not-for-profit organization devoted to inspiring children, families, adults, seniors, and health care professionals to take active roles in self-healing to experience greater physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Since 2000, Lisa has shared Soaringwords’ SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Inititaives with more than 500,000 people. She is the author of SOARING into Strength: Love Transcends Pain, her debut memoir. Audiences around the world have resonated with her candor, wisdom, and biting humor as she shared her personal tragedies and triumphs as a way to motivate others during difficult times.
Lisa graduated with honors from The University of Pennsylvania; holds an MBA in Marketing from Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from The University of Pennsylvania. She has a certificate in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a certificate from the American Institute for Mental Imagery.
Lisa is President of the International Positive Psychology Association’s (IPPA) Positive Health & Wellbeing Division; is on the Advisory Board of the Global Positive Health Initiative; and also serves on the Board of the Coincidence Project. She’s been featured as an expert on ABC News, Fortune Small Business, USA Today, Delta Sky magazine, and CEO to Watch in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Lisa was a columnist for Inc. magazine. She was the non-celebrity winner for the Lives That Make a Difference Award from A&E Television Networks, and won a National Mothering That Works Award from Working Mother Media. She was inducted into the YMCAAcademy of Women Achievers Hall of Fame. She was on the board of Advertising Women of New York, the leading organization for executive women in communications; board of directors of The New York Women’s Agenda; board of the Alumnae Committee for Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and the advisory board for the Center for Business Womens’ Research in Washington D.C.
Lisa has been a keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist at dozens of professional and scientific conferences including the International Positive Psychology Association (2021, 2019, 2015, 2013); European Positive Psychology Conference (2022, 2018, 2016, 2014); Canadian Positive Psychology Conference (2018, 2016, 2014); International Positive Education Network (2018, 2016); and The Wholebeing Institute Well-Being.
Conference (2017). Additionally, in 2021, Lisa was keynote speaker for two workshops at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference and a workshop at the Global Positive Health Initiative inaugural conference. Lisa has led workshops as a scholar-in-residence and at grand rounds at leading universities, medical schools, and nursing schools, including University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; UVA School of Medicine; UVA School of Nursing; New York University; Columbia University; Tecmilenio University in Monterrey, Mexico; and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. She has spoken at Advertising Women of New York, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, MGM Grand Women of Color Conference, and Working Mother Media Diversity & Inclusion Conference. She has led professional development workshops at dozens of Fortune 500 companies such as Accenture, Cigna, Cisco, Deloitte, Lilly, Meta, Google, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, New York Life, SONY, Verizon, and Viacom. Lisa lives in New York City with her husband Jacob. Her pride and joy are her two grown sons Jonathan and Joshua, daughter-in-law Evelyn, and adorable grandbaby Charlotte. She gets her energy from swimming each day and connecting with people in fun and meaningful ways.
As an educator and Positive Psychology coach, Dr. Karen Garman offers systematic training and performance-based solutions to organizations for the development and implementation of innovative training in Positive Psychology. By designing results-based programs and statistically testing the outcomes of these adult learning interventions, using attitude, learning, and behavioral change instruments, she systematically identifies performance gaps, designs and develops cost-effective interventions to close the gaps, implements training and mentorship interventions, and evaluates the human performance results. As Director of Positive Psychology Education for Soaringwords, she assists the CEO & Founder in designing research studies, Positive Psychology interventions, and professional development courses to increase agency and resilience in individuals, families, and organizations. Since 2015, she has been a lead strategist in the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model and has co-presented Soaringwords’ empirical studies at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress.
Dr. Garman has over 42 years of experience in the delivery of a variety of professional development training programs to public and private health care organizations. She holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California in medical education and certification as a human performance improvement expert. In addition to the large-scale health care systems work that she designs and implements, she is a board-certified coach and professionally coaches health care practitioners to become better leaders and clinicians at the local, state, and national levels. Dr. Garman was one of the first graduates of the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. She recently had a leadership role in the launch of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine integrating positive psychology and health into the medical student curriculum over all four years, and the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine pioneering precision health care for infants and children through rapid diagnosis and targeted treatment for newborns. Dr. Garman lives in sunny Coronado, California.
Dr. Margaret Kern is Soaringwords’ Director of Research and was instrumental in the development of the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model in 2013. She is the associate professor at the Centre for Wellbeing Science within the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education. Originally trained in social, personality, and developmental psychology, she received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Arizona State University, a Masters and Ph.D. in social/personality psychology from the University of California, and postdoctoral training in positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on understanding, measuring, and supporting well-being across the lifespan. Dr. Kern is an expert in well-being measurement, and she works with schools and workplaces to examine strategies for supporting well-being and bridging gaps between research and practice. She has published 3 books, more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and the freely available Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education.
Greta joined Soaringwords as an intern during her senior year of college in 2000. Upon her graduation in 2002, Greta became the first full-time employee. Over the years, she has coordinated corporate community outreach programs for companies such as Accenture, BNYMellon, Cisco, Deloitte, Lilly, Facebook (Meta), Google, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, New York Life Insurance, SONY, Verizon, and Viacom. She also manages nationwide educational outreach initiatives, working closely with school superintendents and principals, in addition to managing Soaringwords’ hospital outreach programs at 196 hospitals. Greta managed the highly successful Soaringwords + Zumba initiative which provided free classes for hospitalized children in 66 cities worldwide. As part of the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Initiative, Greta serves as a liaison with Soaringwords’ colleagues at health and human service agencies and community organizations. She lives in Arkansas with Alex and their two adorable daughters. She enjoys cooking, hiking, and is a voracious reader.
Ruth Frommer is an agile and capable executive with nearly 20 years of management experience, serving as chief financial officer to ensure Soaringwords’ multi-faceted programs run smoothly.
Frommer is a stalwart leader in the not-for-profit world, having served as treasurer and board member of Exalt Youth; business manager of the Berkshire Jewish Film Festival; treasurer and board member of a Jewish Community Center in New Jersey; and treasurer and volunteer bookkeeper for Jewish Group Homes of North Jersey. She has been at the forefront leading efforts that improve employee wellness by helping organizations select the best benefits packages. Additionally, she has worked with immigration law firms to protect working rights for immigrants in the United States. Frommer emphasizes building strong and kind relationships within business, focusing on employee engagement and wellness to ensure that everyone is recognized and respected in the workplace, cultivating a healthy culture at all levels.
Offering keen insight, Frommer has a proven history of providing business management solutions for companies, organizations, non-profits, and individuals. Professionally, she has worked as: executive director, Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County; financial Controller, Alpha Source Inc.; senior accountant, North Jersey Real Estate Company; project manager, Care One, LLC; chief financial officer, Beacon Looms, Inc.; business manager, West End Day School; and currently works as Chief Financial Officer of ODA-Architecture, PC in New York City since 2012.
Frommer earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with a concentration in accounting from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a certificate in financial planning from New York University. Frommer lives in New York City.
Katy brings twelve years experience in healthcare and mental health care management to Soaringwords. She manages operations for the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing workshop initiative with collaboration partners throughout North America. Prior to joining Soaringwords team, she was a Director at Merakey, a prominent national non-profit organization, where she oversaw Intensive Behavioral Health Services for children and adolescents with Autism and mental health disorders. As a Nurse Manager, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Professional Staff Nurse she brought strategic planning and empathy to lead multidisciplinary teams across Western Pennsylvania. Katy was responsible for a $5 million budget overseeing a team of 100 employees.
She was part of the team that developed the Pittsburgh Emergency House for Women managing the medical and therapeutic needs of women in crisis, ensuring their safety and fostering recovery in a trauma-informed environment. Katy was a faculty assistant at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a Clinical Research Coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) where she managed oncology clinical trials ensuring strict adherence to protocols through comprehensive patient education and coordination. She also streamlined research procedures by fostering collaborative relationships with multidisciplinary healthcare teams.
Katy and her wife live in Pittsburgh where they enjoy hiking, playing board games and traveling. Katy is a mental health and wellness writer.
Dr. Ellen Cole is a member of Soaringwords’ Advisory Board and a professor of Psychology at the Sage Colleges in Albany and Troy, New York. She is past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women, a division of the American Psychological Association and the Alaska Psychological Association. For 13 years she co-edited the journal Women & Therapy and currently serves as book review editor for Psychology of Women Quarterly. At age 70, she received a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. For several years, she has been working on numerous fronts to change perceptions of aging from one that is medically and negatively driven to one that focuses on quality of life and celebration. To that end, she and Jane Giddan launched the blog 70Candles.com and published a book, 70 Candles: Women Thriving in their Eighth Decade. Ellen and Dr. Mary Gergen co-edited Retiring but Not Shy: Feminist Psychologists Create Their Post-Careers and Positive Aging: What Feminist Therapists Need to Know, four special issues of the journal Women & Therapy, in 2016.
Ellen earned a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Union Institute, a Master in Education Counseling from Harvard University, and a BA in Psychology from Boston University. Ellen and her husband, Dr. Douglas North, relocated from Anchorage, Alaska to Albany, New York. They are the proud parents of four adult children and ten grandchildren.
As an educator and Positive Psychology coach, Dr. Karen Garman offers systematic training and performance-based solutions to organizations for the development and implementation of innovative training in Positive Psychology. By designing results-based programs and statistically testing the outcomes of these adult learning interventions, using attitude, learning, and behavioral change instruments, she systematically identifies performance gaps, designs and develops cost-effective interventions to close the gaps, implements training and mentorship interventions, and evaluates the human performance results. As Director of Positive Psychology Education for Soaringwords, she assists the CEO & Founder in designing research studies, Positive Psychology interventions, and professional development courses to increase agency and resilience in individuals, families, and organizations. Since 2015, she has been a lead strategist in the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Model and has co-presented Soaringwords’ empirical studies at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress.
Dr. Garman has over 42 years of experience in the delivery of a variety of professional development training programs to public and private health care organizations. She holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California in medical education and certification as a human performance improvement expert. In addition to the large-scale health care systems work that she designs and implements, she is a board-certified coach and professionally coaches health care practitioners to become better leaders and clinicians at the local, state, and national levels. Dr. Garman was one of the first graduates of the Masters in Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. She recently had a leadership role in the launch of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine integrating positive psychology and health into the medical student curriculum over all four years, and the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine pioneering precision health care for infants and children through rapid diagnosis and targeted treatment for newborns. Dr. Garman lives in sunny Coronado, California.
Dr. Ironson is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Miami and a board-certified psychiatrist. She received her medical degree from the University of Miami, her PhD from the University of Wisconsin, and did her residency training in Psychiatry at Stanford University. She has 280 publications in the field of behavioral medicine and Positive Psychology. She is the immediate past president of the American Psychosomatic Society; past president of the Health Division of IPPA; and past president of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She is also a past member of the editorial board of five journals. She has directed federally funded research studies investigating psychological factors in long survival with illness (especially HIV), stress management, and treatments for traumatized individuals. She has received four awards for her work, most recently from the International Positive Psychology Association (July, 2021) for her research on Positive Psychology and Health. In 2019, she was awarded the Research Professor Award from the Academy of Consult-Liaison Psychiatry. In 2011, the Society of Behavioral Medicine awarded her the Spirituality and Health Award. And, in 1983, she received the Alumni Professor Award from the University of South Florida. Her current areas of focus include examining positive psychological factors (including positive affect, life satisfaction, meaning, compassion, and spirituality) in health and recovery from trauma. She just directed and completed a Templeton funded grant, which is the six-year follow-up examining the predictive power of spirituality and positive psychological factors for health in a nationwide sample. With over 250 publications, Dr. Ironson has directed federally funded research studies investigating psychological factors in long survival with HIV, stress management, positive psychological factors and coping, spirituality, and treatments for traumatized individuals.
She is currently President of the American Psychosomatic Society and is Past President of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (a senior level organization by invitation only) and Past President of the Health Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). She has been on the editorial board of 5 journals and has received 4 awards for her work – most recently from the International Positive Psychology Association for her research on Positive Psychology and Health; The Society of Behavioral Medicine for her work on Spirituality and Health; from the Academy of College of Consult-Liaison Psychiatrists; and the Alumni Professor Award from the University of South Florida.
Dr. Ironson set up and currently directs the Trauma Treatment Program at the University of Miami Psychological Services Center (with Dr. Blanche Freund), which trains students and treats residents of the local community on a sliding scale. Her current focus areas include examining positive psychological factors and health, with an emphasis on spirituality and trauma. She is currently the Primary Investigator on a Templeton Foundation funded grant, which is the 6 year follow-up examining the predictive power of positive psychological factors and spirituality for health and survival from a nationwide sample. Gail lives and works in Miami, Florida where she enjoys a beautiful view of the lake outside her home.
Dr. Pninit Russo-Netzer, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer and researcher, the head of the Education Department and the head of the Resilience and Optimal Development Lab at Achva Academic College. She is also the head of the ‘Compass’ Institute for the Study and Application of Meaning in life; founder and head of the Academic Training Program for Logotherapy (meaning-oriented psychotherapy) at Tel-Aviv University. She is the recipient of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) Spirituality and Meaning Researcher Award.
She has published academic articles and chapters and is the co-author and co-editor of several books on the topics of meaning in life, positive psychology, existential psychology, positive change, and growth. Dr. Russo-Netzer serves as academic advisor and consultant to both academic and non-academic institutions worldwide. Pninit is a member of Soaringwords Board of Directors. She and her husband live with their three daughters in Israel.
Dr. Diana Whitney is the newest member of the Soaringwords Board of Directors. A global social entrepreneur, she is a co-founder of Appreciative Inquiry, a collaborative problem-solving method that focuses on what’s working well, rather than what’s not. This strengths-based approach encourages people to ask questions that strengthens a system’s capacity to achieve its positive potential. It’s also a radical way to encourage participation from all members of a community, rather than a traditional top-down hierarchical approach. For more than 12 years, Soaringwords has built immersive Appreciative Inquiry prompts into all its workshops and programs. Research shows that when people are encouraged to share about experiences from their life, it reminds them of their strengths and values which strengthens their resilience and confidence.
She’s the founder of the Corporation for Positive Change, a global consulting cooperative; co-founder of the Taos Institute, an international think tank dedicated to relational processes in business, education, families and communities; and a founding advisor to the United Religions Initiative, a global network of interfaith cooperation circles working for peace and social justice.
Diana’s unique style of ‘interactive storytelling’ has inspired audiences from 50 to 1,500 at national and international conferences and leadership symposiums in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Diana’s presentations are rich tapestries of experience, research, and innovative practices that enliven relationships and transform leadership practices. Diana is a prolific, provocative, and practical author. Her award-winning books on Appreciative Leadership and Appreciative Inquiry, the revolutionary process she helped to develop, have been translated into over a dozen languages and are used as textbooks in business schools, universities, and corporate learning centers around the world. The International Organization Development Network (ODN) honored Diana’s written contributions to the field with the Larry Porter Award.
As a master consultant, Dr. Whitney’s work spans the globe. Diana consults with executives and teams in support of strategic planning and organization development, organization culture creation and transformation, and leadership capacity building. With over thirty years of experience, her clients include British Airways, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, Merck SA, City of Regina, Calgary Health Region, UVA Health System, Idaho Department of Education, and the Sisters of Good Shepherd, and Civic Federal Credit Union. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) recognized her Appreciative Inquiry work with David Cooperrider, at GTE (Verizon) with their award for Best Organization Culture Change.
Diana serves as Distinguished Consulting Faculty with Saybrook University, and a Ph.D. advisor with the Taos Institute. She is Expert Faculty for the NCR Picker Patient Centered Care Institute and a Fellow of the World Business Academy.
Dr. Whitney received her Ph.D. from Temple University in Organizational Communication. Her research on the dissemination of educational innovations was funded by the National Institute of Education and used to create an agenda for the development of educational R&D laboratories in the United States. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado.
Chris is a clinical and counseling psychologist and Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society with 40 years’ psychotherapy experience. He is the principal psychologist at Chris Mackey and Associates, his private psychology practice in Geelong, Australia. Chris is the resident psychologist for Destination Happiness, a wellbeing TV show aired nationally across Australia. Chris contributes a monthly opinion column for The Geelong Advertiser. Chris has presented at numerous national and international scientific conferences over the past 25 years on such topics as the assessment and treatment of psychological trauma, the evaluation of effectiveness of psychological therapy for anxiety and depression and the wellbeing benefits of synchronicity. He has a particular interest in promoting more optimistic approaches to mental health, including positive Psychology. Chris and Lisa Buksbaum met at the International Positive Psychology World Congress in 2013 and he featured this meeting in his first book Synchronicity. He has been a guest on the SOARING Into Positive Wellbeing Initiative.
Pamela Núñez del Prado Chaves is the Research Director at Soaringwords. She is also the Founding Director of the “Peruvian Positive Psychology Research Centre” at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is the Founder of the Peruvian Positive Education Initiative and one of the founding members of Mami Linda, a non-profit organization that promotes mental health and well-being for vulnerable populations groups in Perú.She is a founder of Pinda, a virtual therapy solution for a Spanish-speaking audience. Pamela is a registered clinical psychologist and full member of the Peruvian Psychological Society (Colegio de Psicólogos del Perú or CPP). As a qualified clinical psychologist and researcher, Pamela has worked across government and health, not-for-profit welfare, education, and business sectors, such as the Peruvian Health Department, the Peruvian Education Department, the National Institute of Mental Health and Peruvian Institute of Children’s Health (Children’s Hospital). Pamela graduated with honors from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú and she holds a Master in Applied Positive Psychology, from the University of Melbourne. Pamela discovered Soaringwords at the European Conference on Positive Psychology when she attended a workshop Lisa Buksbaum was leading. She joined Soaringwords and has led the global Soaringwords empirical research study in Latin America. Since then, the two of them have presented the study findings at several international scientific conferences together.
Professor of Nursing & an Attending Physician, University of Virginia Department of Pediatrics
Julie Haizlip is a clinical professor of nursing and holds a joint appointment as associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia Schools of Medicine and Nursing. She serves as co-director of the University of Virginia Center for ASPIRE (Academic Strategic Partnership for Inter-professional Research and Education) and is director of the UVA Center for Appreciative Practice.
Ricky Lin is a psychology intern at Soaringwords, with a primary role of working on the collaborations team to establish relationships with community partners. Ricky attends Stony Brook University, pursuing a bachelor of arts in psychology with the intention of continuing his education in graduate school to pursue a career in counseling. Ricky enjoys exercising, playing games, and expanding his mind through learning interesting new skills in his free time.
Emily Wong joined Soaringwords as an intern after graduating from Stony Brook University with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology with a minor in music and linguistics. Throughout her undergraduate career, she was actively involved as social media coordinator, secretary, and president of The Play It Forward Project, a music therapy advocacy group; and Pre-OT Society, an organization dedicated to helping students interested in pursuing occupational therapy. She has also served as a Japanese language tutor, Peer Career Coach at her university’s Career Center, and a violist in the University Orchestra. Emily has also enjoyed varied experiences working in daycare centers with children who have special needs and at a sensory gym alongside occupational therapists and speech language pathologists. Emily is passionate about promoting wellness and wishes to pursue a career where she is able to actively help others lead happier and more fulfilling lives. Outside of school, Emily enjoys playing the piano and viola, music composition, studying Japanese, reading, and bullet journaling.