J. Greg Serpa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. He is
honored to teach mindfulness to America’s veterans and is the first full-time mindfulness teacher
and trainer in the federal system. Greg teaches a national mindfulness certification program for
VA clinicians based upon his book, co-authored with Christiane Wolf, The Clinician’s Guide to
Teaching Mindfulness. He also serves on a national committee committed to addressing
healthcare disparities and the social determinates of health.
Greg is a Clinical Professor in the psychology department at UCLA and a visiting clinical
scientist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His published research on
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) includes improvements in anxiety, depression,
pain and other health outcomes. At the UCLA Center for the Neurobiology of Stress, Greg is part
of a team exploring the capacity for mindfulness to re-wire the brain for more peace and ease,
and alter the microbiome in the gut to improve mood and immune function. Greg and his
husband Jeff are proud parents of a baseball-loving teenager and, when not rooting from the
bleachers, Greg cares for his elderly parents in the final chapter of their life’s journey.