Mark Abramson, DDS, Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry and Behavior Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, established the Stanford University Medical Center’s, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic in 1996. Classes have been conducted every quarter since then with students enrolling from Stanford Integrated Medicine Clinic, Stanford University Health Improvement Program and university students registering through the medical school’s psychiatry department.
At the age of 14 while walking on the sidewalk, he was hit by an out-of-control, stolen car. During his hospitalization and recovery, he developed a passion for helping others heal from illness and injury. He saw that the mind was, as Dr. Ken Pelitier called it, “Healer or Slayer” in the healing process. He began practicing “mindfulness” techniques before any formal training in mindfulness or meditation.
Immediately after completing a general practice residency at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital in 1976 he sought to use his experiential knowledge of pain management and established a unique dental practice specializing on treating headache and craniofacial pain using natural therapeutic techniques and a mind/body integration of mindfulness practices.
Dr. Abramson is pioneering a pilot program as part of Stanford Center for Wellness and Professional Fulfillment and The Stanford Center for Wellness and Professional Fulfillment (SCWPF) and the Committee for Professional Satisfaction and Support (SCPSS) conducting a series of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs for Stanford’s residents and staff physicians. He has lectured at the American Medical Association national meeting and is developing a series for the American Dental Association.
Dr. Abramson is also a medical device inventor of the OASYS system for treating obstructive sleep apnea. He lectures and teaches world-wide, training doctors in sleep medicine.