Quarterly Guest Speakers

A true patriot, raised on the farmlands of Kansas, early on Dan knew he wanted to serve his country. Upon graduating high school, he was accepted at the U.S. Naval Academy and spent the next four years relentlessly pursuing selection for SEAL training. One of only 16 members of his class given the opportunity to enter Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL training as officers, Dan successfully completed the grueling process in the fall of 2003.

Over the next six years, Dan was deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan and rose in rank to become the officer-in-charge of an 18-man SEAL platoon.

In 2009, Dan was deployed to Afghanistan, into an area of heavy combat. There, on a night mission in the mountains, he stepped on an IED, losing both legs in the blast. He would later be awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor.

For the next two years Dan fought for his life, enduring over 40 different surgeries, while readjusting to civilian life. It was during this time, as part of his rehab, that he was introduced to the sports of cross-country skiing and biathlon. Never one to shy from a challenge, he eventually earned a spot on the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Team.

In 2015, Dan returned to graduate school, earning two degrees from Harvard University.

At the 2018 Paralympic Games Dan stole the show, remarkably winning one gold, four silver and one bronze medal over a period of eight days earning the honor of Best Male Athlete of The Games. In the 2022 Paralympic Games, Dan won a team gold. Dan currently resides in Massachusetts.

 i’m a licensed clinical psychologist.

i have my mba and consult for executives and high performing teams.

i’m part of the expert team on CNBC’s no retreat: business bootcamp.

i co-wrote the book, 10 rules for resilience: mental toughness for families.

i am the owner and founder of lighfbox.

i’ve spent over 23,000 direct clinical hours with clients.

i supervise other clinicians looking to elevate their own skills.

i’m a mother of two boys and a wife of one.

the outdoors is my sanctuary.

i love to run. and love to climb.

bam.

Kelly Starrett is co-author of the New York Times Bestsellers Becoming a Supple Leopard, Ready to Run, and the Wall Street Journal Bestseller Deskbound. Kelly was also the co-founder of San Francisco CrossFit, the 21st CrossFit affiliate. 

Kelly consults with coaches and athletes from the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, and works with the US Olympic team, CrossFit, works with elite Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard forces, and consults with corporations on employee health. 

Kelly's methods apply equally well to children, desk jockeys, and anyone dealing with injury and chronic pain. He believes every human being should know how to move and be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. 

Dr. David Puder went to U.C. Berkeley and majored in Molecular and Cellular Biology while competing on the Cal Rowing Team.  His senior year they won the team national championship.  After, he went to Loma Linda School of Medicine and subsequently spent a year doing internal medicine, then completed his psychiatry residency at Loma Linda. He joined the faculty of Loma Linda University, where he is the medical director of a partial program and intensive outpatient program for people with medical and psychiatric issues called “MEND”.

Dr. Puder created the Microexpression Training Program on “Emotion Connection,” which teaches people how to read emotions and develop deeper emotional connection. He also is the founder of the non-profit, “Mental Health Education & Research” and creator of the “Connection Index”. He specifically studies connection and disconnection in medical teams . He also is one of the primary teachers of the psychiatry residents regarding psychotherapy having completed a 2 year Certificate in Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the New Center for Psychoanalysis. 

Dr. Puder runs an outpatient psychiatry practice for patients, where he looks holistically at diet, exercise, lifestyle, traditional psychiatric medication needs, and also psychotherapy needs. 

His two favorite awards he has ever received are the "Outstanding Teaching Resident in Psychiatry Award" which was voted on by medical students," in recognition of your excellence and enthusiasm in the teaching of medical students."  Secondly in 2018 he received the "Supervisor of the Year Award" as voted by the psychiatry residents.  He has also been featured on NPR and ABC7.

Dr. Puder is married with two children and spends most of his free time playing with them or cooking for them.

Leila Kirdani, M.D.is board-certified in both metabolic medicine and family practice. She graduated from SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 1991 and went on to obtain board certification in family medicine after completing her residency at York Hospital, PA. Dr. Kirdani moved to Rochester, NY in 1997 to complete a fellowship in family systems which allowed her to explore her interests in family therapy and biopsychosocial medicine.

She practiced traditional family medicine for fifteen years before completing a fellowship through the Metabolic Medicine Institute. This additional training has allowed Dr. Kirdani to integrate her love of more natural medicine with her traditional medical background to provide her patients with cutting edge health care. 

Her services include:

· metabolic medicine

· hormone imbalance

· adrenal fatigue

· gut function

· diabesity

· fibromyalgia

· heart disease

· inflammation

· low testosterone

· thyroid

 Dr. Paul L. Hewitt is a Full-time Professor in the Department of Psychology and in The Psychotherapy Program, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Bergamo, Italy as well as a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and of the Section on Clinical Psychology of CPA and winner of the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science from the Canadian Psychological Association.

He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Saskatchewan in 1988 and completed his clinical residency in the Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Recently named in the top 10 Canadian clinical psychology professors for research productivity, Dr. Hewitt is recognized for his seminal contributions to the theory and research on the role of perfectionism as a core vulnerability factor in psychopathology, physical health, relationship, and achievement problems.

He has published well over 300 research papers, books, and chapters. One of his most recent books, Perfectionism: A relational approach to conceptualization, assessment, and treatment synthesizes his research and clinical work on perfectionism and includes detailed information on the dynamic-relational individual and group psychotherapy that he and Dr. Samuel Mikail developed over the past 30 years. He, along with Dr. Mikail, conduct training workshops on the dynamic-relational individual and group psychotherapy for perfectionism they developed and refined and regularly is invited to speak internationally on his research and clinical work. Dr. Hewitt has had a private practice since 1988 which focuses on individuals experiencing difficulties from perfectionistic behavior, early trauma, depression, anxiety, personality, and interpersonal problems. He is currently Director of the Perfectionism and Psychotherapy Lab and the Dynamic-Relational Therapy Centre in Vancouver.

Check out Dr. Hewitt’s selected publications here:

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=RHYhYXkAAAAJ&hl=en

Training: Rutgers University (PhD Clinical Psychology), Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Internship & Fellowship).

Dr. Sarah Markowitz is the Executive Clinical Director of MindWell Psychology, LLP, and a licensed clinical psychologist and cognitive-behavioral therapist (CBT). Dr. Markowitz received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, where she majored in Psychology. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Upon completion of her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship in the Behavioral Medicine Service at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, she returned home to the Ithaca area. 

Dr. Markowitz taught psychology at Wells College for ten years while maintaining a small private practice in Ithaca before leaving to start MindWell.

Dr. Markowitz’s research has focused on the relationship between health behavior and mood, particularly exercise and adherence to medical regimens. Her clinical expertise is in the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for a variety of disorders, especially anxiety, obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, adult ADHD, and chronic illness. Dr. Markowitz enjoys helping clients achieve their goals in therapy and training clinicians in CBT. She has experience and enjoys working with clients from a variety of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, as well as clients with an array of gender identities and expressions. Her areas of expertise include Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, ADHD, Eating Disorders. When not working, Dr. Markowitz likes to explore the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes area, whether on the water, on foot, or on skis.  

Sarah will engage with us on the topic of Psychological Flexibility. Psychological Flexibility is the primary component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a model within the realm of CBT. The six elements of psychological flexibility are:
Defusion – See our thoughts with enough distance that we can choose what we do next, regardless of our mind’s chatter.
Acceptance – Allow ourselves to feel even when the feelings are painful or create a sense of vulnerability.
Self as context – Notice the story we’ve constructed of our selves and gain perspective about who we are.
Present moment awareness – Direct attention in an intentional way rather than by mere habit, noticing what is present here and now, inside and out.
Contact with values – Chose the qualities of being and doing that we want to evolve toward.
Committed action – create habits that support these choices.