Sanford Research Fellows Program

Manas Bedmutha

Research Project: EmpathIQ: Advancing Empathic and Compassionate Communication in Medical Training with Generative AI

Mentor: Nadir Weibel

Project Description: EmpathIQ is a research initiative led by PhD student Manas Bedmutha and Prof. Nadir Weibel that explores how generative AI and social signal processing can enhance empathy training in clinical education. Building on behavioral analyses from real patient-provider interactions, the project aims to develop a digital platform where medical trainees engage with emotionally rich, text-based simulations and receive personalized feedback. By offering a scalable, low-barrier tool for reflective practice and emotionally attuned communication, EmpathIQ supports clinicians in improving patient relationships and advancing compassionate care furthering Sanford Institute’s mission to foster empathy through innovative, evidence-based approaches.

Mariel Kristine Micael

Research Project: Role of Astrocyte-Neuron Communication in Observational Fear Learning and Memory

Mentor: Justin Trotter

Project Description: The ability to vicariously experience another's fear--observational fear (OF)--is a form of emotional contagion that supports social learning. Recent studies implicate the hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala in integrating prior fear experiences and social familiarity to guide OF learning and memory. While neuronal circuits involved in OF are partially defined, the role of astrocytes--non-neuronal regulators of synaptic transmission and plasticity--remains unknown. Our central question is: Does astrocyte-neuron communication at tripartite synapses within the hippocampus, ACC, and amygdala contribute to OF learning and memory? We hope this work will provide novel insight into the cellular mechanisms shaping empathetic behavior.

Nikki Keisler

Research Project: Anterior Cingulate Encoding of State-matching and Allogrooming in Mice

Mentor: Monique Smith

Project Description: Empathy deficits are found in disorders such as depression, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Alzheimer’s Disease, and dysregulation in empathy has had a profound impact on caregivers and healthcare professionals. The goal of this proposal is to identify how neural substrates for two forms of empathy, state-matching and consolation, may diverge. This will contribute to our understanding of the underlying biology of empathy, which is a crucial step in developing targeted therapies to address social dysfunction in neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as improve the lives of healthcare professionals and their patients.

Lauren Ostrowski

Research Project: Neural processing of paralinguistic features and emotional content in speech

Mentor: Timothy Gentner

Project Description: Understanding others’ emotions through speech is critical for empathy and compassion in social relationships, but the neurobiological bases supporting these abilities remain unknown. Better understanding how emotional knowledge is acquired from speech and guides downstream cognitive processes can advance professional training programs and therapies that promote empathetic, compassionate listening. This project will employ magnetoencephalography (MEG) to study how emotional expression in speech is processed by the brain. We ask how a listener's emotional response to a speaker arises from the perception of paralinguistic acoustic features—such as prosody, speech rate, and voice quality—and explore the neurodynamics facilitating empathetic responses to speech.

(Renewed for Year 2 Funding)

Gregory Depow

Research Project: Wise Empathy in Medical Practice

Mentor: Timothy Gentner

Project Description: This project investigates whether training medical practitioners to engage in wise empathy—a strategic regulation of empathy that involves sharing positive patient emotions while responding to negative emotions with compassion—can enhance practitioners’ well-being and reduce burnout. Using a randomized controlled trial with 300 medical practitioners, the study will deliver wise empathy training to one group in week one and to a wait-list control group in week two, with daily diary assessments capturing well-being, burnout, and empathic experiences. The study will employ multilevel models and structural equation modeling to test the intervention’s direct effects and mediation pathways, while also tracking patient outcomes.

(Renewed for Year 2 Funding)

Satish Jaiswal

Research Project: Developing an Objective Measure of Interoceptive Attention and Evaluating its Sensitivity to change across the Lifespan with Compassion Training

Mentor: Jyoti Mishra

Findings: In aim 1 of our project, we have developed a breath-focused interoceptive attention task that offers an objective neurocognitive evaluation of the efficacy of any breath-focused contemplative intervention program. Most importantly in our second part of the project, we implemented a Breath-focused Compassion and Mindfulness Meditation program in a parent-child dyad in the community sample and demonstrated improvement in behavioral symtptoms, emotion-bias processing efficiency an,d neuroplasticity of the default mode network.

Olivia Jurkiewicz

Research Project: Exploring the neurobiological underpinnings of the emotion regulation and empathy relationship

Mentor: Jyoti Mishra

Findings: Across two studies involving real interpersonal interactions, we find that emotion suppression is a key barrier to compassion. When individuals hide their negative emotions, their attention turns inward, which reduces both their ability to respond compassionately (Study 1) and how compassionate they are perceived to be by others (Study 2). In a separate set of multi-method studies using longitudinal field data and physiological measures, we find that helping others regulate their emotions has direct benefits for the self. Specifically, regulating others’ emotions in daily interactions increases positive affect over time and is linked to greater life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms (Study 1), and buffers physiological stress responses during high-pressure conversations (Study 2).

Alessandro D'Amico

Research Project: Investigating Racially-Modulated Neuromarkers of Pain Empathy with Electrophysiology

Project Description: Racial biases manifest in various forms from a disproportionately Black prison population in the U.S., to Black patients’ pain being consistently underestimated and symptoms inadequately treated. While education and training may be effective at reducing biases, ameliorating biases by increasing empathy and compassion is another worthy goal. In order to accurately measure changes in empathy, we must first better understand the neural correlates of empathy and how those neural correlates are modulated by racial biases. To do this, we will investigate EEG correlates of perceived pain in others versus self. We hypothesize we’ll be able to isolate the neural correlates of empathic pain by comparing the differences between a participant’s response to their own versus other faces and we further expect to see a racial bias such that White participants’ neural responses to their own face look more like those to White faces than to Black faces. Our research is an important first step toward better understanding the neural correlates of racially-modulated empathy and our findings will allow us to design novel interventions in order to ameliorate racial bias in individuals. 

Amy Bellinghausen

Research Project: Development and Implementation of a Mindful Self-Compassion Curriculum to Reduce Burnout in Critical Care Providers

Project Description: Burnout frequently affects critical care workers, due to long work hours and high patient mortality rates. Once burnout develops, providers give less empathetic patient care. My work in the ICU Recovery Clinic – where I see thankful patients who were critically ill but now returning to health and work – has brought fulfillment to myself and others when I bring these stories back to ICU providers. Using these stories as a foundation, I aim to build and implement a compassion curriculum for critical care providers addressing both personal resiliency and moral distress. I will assess burnout pre- and post-intervention using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The funding provided and proposed course of study will enable me to increase my knowledge of current strategies in empathy and compassion research and establish a foundation as a national leader and funded clinician scientist in critical care-related burnout study and treatment, as well as to refine the burnout curriculum further. 

Jon Dean

Research Project: Brain Mechanisms Supporting Empathy Cultivation and Phantom-limb Based Analgesia by Psilocybin Therapy

Project Description: Psilocybin is a serotonergic psychedelic that induces enhancements in positive affect, social connectedness, and empathy and compassion. Moreover, pilot studies and our own case report have demonstrated that serotonergic psychedelics including psilocybin ameliorate intractable phantom limb pain. Psilocybin decreases default mode network (DMN) activity, circuitry supporting self-referential processing, and increased DMN-sensorimotor cortex connectivity is associated with phantom pain. Existing therapies for phantom limb pain are associated with modulation of classical inhibition of pain. Yet, the psychological and neural mechanisms supporting empathy, compassion, and analgesia by psilocybin are unknown. This trial will test the effects and neural mechanisms supporting psilocybin (versus placebo-niacin) for empathy-cultivation and analgesia in individuals with chronic phantom limb pain.

Zhenggang Zhu

Research Project: The evolutionary origins of empathy – molecular and neuronal basis of social motivation in rodents

Project Description: Motivation elicited by observation of the actions of a conspecific is prominent in mammals and is an evolutionarily conserved proxy for human empathy and compassion. However, the relationship between how the brain encodes self-motivated behaviors versus social motivation is unclear. For example, are there distinct cell types in the brain for self-motivation and observation-evoked empathy, or is there a shared circuitry encoding motivated-behavioral states that reflect convergence points between self-motivated and social behaviors? This question can be investigated in the mouse hypothalamus, which has diverse cell types and is a key integratory site for self-motivation (e.g., feeding and drinking), social interaction, and encoding others' motivation. Our hypothesis is that molecularly defined hypothalamic 'empathy neurons' act as a bridge for integrating social information and interacting with the self-motivation neurons to trigger social empathy. Our project will test the hypothesis by modeling empathy behaviors, functionally identifying empathy neurons via volumetric two-photon calcium imaging, and delineating their molecular identity.

Melissa Karnaze Hedayati

Research Project: Assessment of Compassion Cultivation Training

Project Description: This qualitative evaluation study will investigate how trainees and professionals in health fields perceive facilitators and barriers to implementing Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT; Compassion Institute) in their daily lives. My main research questions are: (1) How do participants think about facilitators of, and barriers to, compassion prior to, and after completing CCT?; (2) How do they view their ability to implement CCT into daily life?; (3) How do they perceive how it feels to receive compassion, as well as show compassion to others and oneself?; and (4) How do they define compassion and thus describe situations in which compassion occurs?

Erik Viirre

Research Project: Enhancing neurobehavioral Effects if Compassion Training Using Immersive Visual Imagery

Mentor: Erik Viirre

Fellows: Jonathan Paden, Robert Twomey, PhD, Cassandra Vieten, PhD, Ying Wu, PhD

Federica Klaus

Research Project: Stay-at-home Wellness Ecological Momentary Assessment in Late Life (StayWELL) Study

Mentor: Lisa Eyler

Findings: The StayWELL study explored the feasibility and effectiveness of using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to track mental health in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Involving 95 participants aged 67–87, the study found high adherence (82%) to daily self-report surveys, with no signs of participant fatigue. Withdrawal was uncommon and mainly due to communication issues rather than individual characteristics. Higher education, shorter time between enrollment and study start, and reaching the midpoint of the study were associated with better adherence. Notably, neither COVID-19 infection nor caregiving responsibilities impacted participation, and engagement did not vary by smartphone operating system or demographic factors, supporting the broad applicability of digital EMA tools in this population. Mental health findings revealed increased levels of anxiety and depression three months into the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels, while compassion remained high and stable, suggesting it may serve as a trait-level buffer against stress. Anxiety was linked to lower optimism, higher neuroticism, and greater perceived discrimination, though only perceived discrimination remained a significant predictor in combined models. The protective effect of optimism was not present during the early pandemic phase, but active coping strategies were found to buffer the anxiety linked to discrimination. In contrast, seeking emotional support and self-compassion did not moderate this relationship. Overall, the study highlights that older adults can successfully participate in real-time digital mental health monitoring, even under stressful circumstances. It also identifies key psychological and contextual factors—especially discrimination and coping—that influence emotional well-being and could guide future digital interventions.

Anne White

Research Project: Compassion Disparities in Emergency Care: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study

Mentor: Federico Rossano