Robert Cusick​

Robert Cusick is a Founder and Director of the Applied Compassion Training at CCARE Stanford University. Robert trained at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). He is a Stanford Lecturer and Certified Sr. Stanford CCT™ (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, UCSF, Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers and in multiple other venues. As a long time meditator and former monk, Robert ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw, and studied with him from 2003 - 2012. He provides grief counseling and bereavement support for adults and children at Kara kara-grief.org in Palo Alto, where he co-leads men's grief groups and facilitates retreats for fathers grieving the death of a child. He serves as an Educational Consultant at Kara and directs, teaches and co-facilitates trainings for Kara's Caregivers Forum and Adult Services Program. Robert sits on the Board of Directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies . 

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Neelama Eyres

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Neelama Eyres is a Founder and Director of the Applied Compassion Training at CCARE Stanford University. Neelama received her degree in Comparative Religion from the University of Rochester in 1993. She is Co-Founder, facilitator and lead trainer for The Inner Journey Institute:  a non-profit organization that has been delivering transformational trainings across the United States, Canada and Europe since 1999.  She leads workshops, facilitation seminars and contemplative retreats. She is the co-author of a book on Compassionate Divorce and has designed and facilitated Embodied Compassion seminars since 2012. Neelama's mastery is creating highly interactive and experiential learning environments in her workshops that allow participants to have a direct and embodied experience of compassion. Neelama's extensive travels throughout Southeast Asia and India have given her an extraordinary depth of spiritual practice and knowledge of Eastern meditation traditions which, like her studies of Western spirituality, is reflected in all of her work. 

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Monica Hanson

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Monica Hanson is a Founder and Director of the Applied Compassion Training at CCARE Stanford University.

She previously served as a Board Member and Trainer with the Integrative Restoration Institute, which received approval from the US Army Surgeon General, Defense Centers of Excellence and the US Department of Defense for a mind-body protocol treating Chronic Pain and Post Traumatic Stress. As a Founding Faculty member of the Compassion Institute, she is currently co-leading the development of a compassion-based program with and for law enforcement officers. And since 2010 has been a trainer, teacher, and developer of the Compassion Cultivation Training program that began at Stanford University.

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Barbara Piper

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Barbara is a graduate of the first Applied Compassion Training program in 2020 and today, is a Mentor in the ACT program at CCARE Stanford University. Barbara received her Master of Arts degree, specializing in Communication from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. She is program designer and teacher of the Compassion Training program at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE).  She is an entrepreneur and founder of Be Rooted, a Netherlands based company specializing in workplace wellbeing and compassion. Barbara has over 20 years of experience in both corporate environments and health care management. As a child and with her current family, Barbara has traveled and lived in Southeast Asia, California and Europe and has deepened her spiritual practices in both Eastern and Western Wisdom traditions as well as in Systemic constellation work and in meditation.

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