Kathryn Devaney is a contemplative neuroscientist and dedicated meditation practitioner. She earned her PhD in 2018, supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, using fMRI to study attention and prediction updating in experienced Vipassana meditators. Subsequently, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, conducting a first in human clinical trial of a novel type of brain stimulation. She has also co-founded two meditation centers (The Berkeley Alembic and the SF Dharma Collective), taught at Stanford, MIT, and Boston University, and has been covered in popular press including The Atlantic, National Geographic, and TIME Magazine.
Kati is interested in understanding the psychological and biological changes associated with spiritual awakening, in order to make the benefits of contemplative practices accessible to everyone.