Dr. Petr Janata
Advisory Board Member
Petr Janata is a cognitive neuroscientist studying the psychology of music. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1996, where he performed electrophysiological studies of auditory object representations in the barn owl brain and musical image formation in the human brain. As a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago from 1997-1999 he used electrophysiological and computational approaches to investigate song-perception and song-learning in songbirds.
From 2000-2004 he was on the research faculty at Dartmouth College where he resumed his long-standing line of music perception research, initiated as an undergraduate at Reed College and continued as a Fulbright Scholar in Vienna, Austria. Since 2004, he has been a faculty member of the Center for Mind and Brain, and the Department of Psychology, at UC Davis, where he continues to use music and an array of behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging tools as a means of understanding how the brain organizes complex human behaviors.
Antoinette Moseley, RN
Advisory Board Member
Antoinette is a Registered Nurse with over 25 years experience in geriatric care. A Dean’s List graduate of Houston Baptist University, Antoinette has a long list of academic and professional achievements including the study of art and music therapy at the Jung Center in Houston, becoming a certified addictions nurse, charge nurse for the Brown School of Neuropsychiatric, charge nurse for Westbury Hospital and most recently working for Hospice Austin. Antoinette is a member of the American Nurses Association and the Palliative Care Association.
Justine Willis Toms, Ph.D.
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Justine is co-founder and managing producer of New Dimensions Media/World Broadcasting Network and New Dimensions Radio, a not-for-profit, educational organization whose primary work is the production and distribution of the “New Dimensions” radio series heard worldwide, and is a vortex for launching new trends, revealing timeless wisdom, and pushing the boundaries of form, language, and spirit. Founded in 1973, Justine, along with her husband Michael, have created a powerful and transformative archive with leading-edge thinkers, spiritual leaders, change agents, indigenous voices, artists, scientists, healers, ecologists, and social architects. This archive is now housed at Stanford University.
Justine has hosted many radio series including “In Her Company: Deep Dialogues with Women of Wisdom,” and produced many award-winning radio series including “Deep Ecology for the 21st Century,” and “Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature.” She also serves as guest host of “New Dimensions” which is distributed worldwide. Besides her radio work she leads workshops on, “Living Life On Purpose.” She is a Trustee of The Process Work Institute, and a member of the Advisory Council of The Global Alliance of Transformational Entertainment, a social media organization. In June 2004, she was one of thirty people in the world invited to participate in the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is co-author with Michael Toms of True Work: Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do and author of the upcoming book Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World.
Robert L. Weber, Ph.D.
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Bob is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a former Jesuit. He teaches, supervises and consults at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Group Therapy. As part of the Advisory Board of the Center for Psychotherapy and Spirituality at Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, Bob is collaborating to develop a curriculum and programs designed to introduce students and other mental health professionals to psycho-spiritual issues that emerge in psychological treatment. He is also on the Leadership Council of the Forum on Religion, Spirituality and Aging (FoRSA), a special interest group of the American Society on Aging.
Claire Haaga Altman, JD, MPA
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Claire is Executive Vice President and COO of HealthCare Chaplaincy. The organization is a national leader in research, education, practice that integrates spirituality with healthcare. Amongst her responsibilities, Claire guides the development of HealthCare Chaplaincy’s National Center for Palliative Care Innovation, the first national demonstration project for quality, accessible, affordable and accountable spirit-centered palliative care for people with serious progressive illnesses. Previously, she was the executive director of ReServe Elder Service, Inc, an innovative not-for-profit organization that matches skilled, educated retirees with remunerated service opportunities in other not-for-profit and government organizations. For eighteen years, Claire served as the founding president of Housing & Services, Inc. a nonprofit housing corporation that developed supportive housing for homeless, special needs, and low-income persons. Claire earned a B.A. in political science at Saint Louis University, a Master’s degree in public administration from New York University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law.
Mary Ann Brussat
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Mary Ann Brussat has been covering contemporary culture and the spiritual renaissance for four decades. She is the co-author with her husband Frederic of Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, a collection of more than 650 examples of spiritual perspectives on everyday experience, which is the basis of a 26-part DVD series. In that book, the Brussats introduced the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy—37 spiritual practices that are common in the world’s religions—and their book Spiritual Rx: Prescriptions for a Meaningful Life recommends resources and exercises for exploring those practices. The Brussats’ work is now consolidated on their website www.SpiritualityandPractice.com. Multifaith in coverage, it focuses on resources for people on spiritual journeys. Each year the Brussats identify spiritual themes in more than 300 books, 50 audios, and 300 films. The site also offers e-courses, online practice circles, teacher profiles, inspirational quotations, discussion guides, galleries, blogs, and articles on spiritual practices for everyday life. A member of a United Church of Christ (progressive Protestant) congregation and an initiate of the Mevlevi Sufi Order, Mary Ann is an ordained interfaith minister.
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Dayle Friedman has pioneered the development of a Jewish spiritual vision for aging that draws upon Jewish tradition to help individuals and families meet the opportunities and challenges of later life. Her publications include Jewish Visions for Aging: A Professional Guide to Fostering Wholeness (Jewish Lights, 2008), a resource that helps rabbis and professionals dynamically engage and serve elders and their families. She also edited Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook From Traditional and Contemporary Sources (Jewish Lights, 2001; second edition, 2010), which has become the standard reference in its field in North America and Israel. She offers training, consulting and spiritual guidance to individuals, professionals and communities through her practice, Growing Older.
Rabbi Friedman previously served as founding director of Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and founding director of chaplaincy services at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center. She has mentored rabbis, chaplains and cantors from all streams of Judaism. Her work was acknowledged by her inclusion in the 2008 Forward 50 and the 2011 Sisterhood 50, The Forward’s list of influential American Jewish leaders and women rabbis. She is the 2011 winner of the American Society on Aging’s Aging, Religion and Spirituality Award. Friedman received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also earned master’s degrees in Hebrew literature and Jewish communal service. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University. She is certified as a chaplain by the National Association of Jewish Chaplains.
Frank Mullins
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Frank is Ministry Leader for Celebrate Recovery at First Baptist Church Wimberley, affiliated with Saddleback church. In his leadership role, Frank is responsible for all aspects of the 12-step based recovery ministry. Frank was raised in the Episcopal Church, attended San Marcos Baptist Academy and Baylor University, graduating from North Texas State University. A life-long student of comparative religion, Frank is knowledgeable about Buddhism and New Age spiritual belief systems and practices including Transcendental Meditation. Frank is now part of the Biblical Christianity community and a member of the Baptist Church. In addition to his role as Ministry Leader, Frank is a family coach, Certified Wealth Advisor affiliated with Legacy Wealth Counselors and spiritual mentor specializing in men’s issues and concerns.
Ja’far Ali Muhibullah
Advisory Board, CoroFaith
Ja’far Resident Scholar at the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Association of Austin, Texas, where he serves in a teaching, counseling and pastoral capacity. He has taught Arabic at Duke University and the University of Texas at Austin. Currently he is pursuing a doctoral degree in Arabic Studies. Ja’far brings both breadth and depth to our board, with his areas of interest including Arabic, Persian and Urdu comparative literature, philosophy and mysticism, Islamic law and ethics and transnational Islam.