About Kelly McGonigal

“Kelly McGonigal is a leader driven by compassion and pragmatism.” – Forbes.com 20 Inspiring Women

Contact Kelly McGonigal

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, and a leading expert on the mind-body relationship. She teaches for the School of Medicine’s Health Improvement Program and is a senior teacher/consultant for the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She has received a number of teaching awards for her undergraduate psychology courses, including Stanford University’s highest teaching honor, the Walter J. Gores award. Her popular public courses through Stanford’s Continuing Studies program—including the Science of Willpower and the Science of Compassion—demonstrate the applications of psychological science to personal health and happiness, as well as organizational success and social change.

Her upcoming book, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It (Penguin, Jan 2012), explores cutting-edge research on motivation, temptation, and addiction, as well as what it takes to make a successful change. She is also the author of Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Pain (New Harbinger, 2009), which translates recent advances in neuroscience and medicine into yoga and meditation practices for people with chronic pain, stress, depression, and anxiety. Dr. McGonigal is also the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal of mind-body research, healthcare policy, and clinical practice.

As an expert science writer covering psychology, neuroscience, and mind-body medicine, she blogs for Psychology Today and Mindful.org, and is a regular contributor to popular magazines such as IDEA Fitness Journal, Shambhala Sun, Yoga Journal, and Yoga International. She received the 2011 Best Trade Magazine Article award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (“Mindfulness & Weight Loss” IDEA Fitness Journal), and an honorable mention for Best Service Article (“Your Brain on Meditation” Yoga Journal).

Through a wide range of conferences and university-affiliated programs, she provides continuing education and training to healthcare providers, including psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, physicians’ assistants, and fitness professionals. She is a frequent presenter at national health and wellness conferences and retreats, such as the Omega Institute, the Integrative Medicine Forum, the Institute for Health Technology Transformation, and the Life Extension Conference.

She is a founding member of the Yoga Service Council and serves on the advisory boards of several non-profit organizations bringing yoga and meditation to underserved and at-risk populations, including Yoga Bear (providing yoga in hospitals nationwide and to cancer survivors and their caregivers) and The Art of Yoga Project (brining yoga into juvenile detention facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area). Through her work with the Yoga Service Council and the International Association of Yoga Therapists, she supports research and education on mind-body practices and holistic healthcare. In 2011, she received the IAYT Presidential Award for “Extraordinary Service to the Field of Yoga Therapy.”

Dr. McGonigal’s work has been covered widely by the media, including the CBS Evening News, U.S. News and World Report, CNN.com, O! The Oprah Magazine, and the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology. She is also a frequent source of expert advice and commentary for media outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC.com, Web MD, Time, Fitness, Women’s Health, and more. In 2010, Forbes named her one of the 20 most inspiring women to follow on Twitter.

Dr. McGonigal received her PhD in psychology from Stanford University, with a concentration in humanistic medicine. She received a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Mass Communication from Boston University.