Elissa Epel, PhD

Elissa Epel is a Professor at UCSF. She studies how chronic stress can impact biological aging (including the telomere/telomerase system) and food addiction, and how self-regulation and meditation may buffer stress effects and promote psychological and physiological thriving. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, President-Elect of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and on the steering council for The Mind & Life Institute. Epel co-leads retreats integrating mind-body science with meditation, including the Longevity Week at Blue Spirit, Costa Rica.

Epel is the co-author of The Telomere Effect with Nobel laureate Liz Blackburn, a New York Times bestseller under Science.