Robert J. Waldinger (born 1951) is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
priest. He is a part-time Professor of
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...
at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
and directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of adult life ever conducted.
Early life and education
Waldinger grew up in
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
. He graduated summa cum laude from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1973. He completed his M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 1978.
Career
Waldinger directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development. The study tracked the lives of 724 men for over 80 years and now studies their
baby boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
children to understand how childhood experience reaches across decades to affect health and wellbeing in middle age (see
Grant Study The Grant Study is part of the Study of Adult Development at Harvard Medical School. It is a 75-year longitudinal study that followed 268 Harvard educated men, the majority of whom were members of the undergraduate classes of 1942, 1943 and 1944. It ...
).
Waldinger writes about scientific approaches to healthy human development and is the Founding Director of the Lifespan Research Foundation, which presents the insights of lifespan research to the general public.
Waldinger is the author of numerous scientific papers as well as two books. He directs a teaching program in
psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a form of psychological therapy.
Its primary focus is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension, which is inner conflict wi ...
at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has won awards for teaching and research from the
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involv ...
, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.
Waldinger is also a Zen priest and
sensei
Sensei, Seonsaeng, Tiên sinh or Xiansheng, corresponding to Chinese characters , is an East Asian honorific term shared in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese; it is literally translated as "person born before another" or "one who c ...
(transmitted teacher) in both
Sōtō
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh ...
and
Rinzai
The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan ...
lineages, and teaches Zen in New England and internationally. His
TED talk
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
on lessons from the longest study of happiness has had over 40 million views and is the fastest spreading talk in the history of TEDx events.
References
1951 births
Living people
American psychiatrists
Harvard Medical School alumni
Harvard College alumni
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