Michael J. Baime, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) School of Medicine and the founder and Director of the UPenn Program for Stress Management. The program was founded in 1992 and has trained more than 5,000 people in mindfulness-based stress management. Dr. Baime is currently involved in research on the relationship between meditation training and learning; the cognitive neuroscience of meditation; and the clinical applications of mindfulness training, including its efficacy as a treatment for ADHD in adults and for preventing weight regain after successful dieting. In addition to his research and work in the field of mindfulness, he is published widely in medical journals on subjects as varied as screening for cancer in the patient with rheumatic disease, aging of the gastrointestinal system, and glycine irrigant absorption syndrome following cystoscopy.
When asked to describe his background in practice and study, Dr Baime replied that he started officially to study at age 14, but he had begun meditating on his own even before that, “as a little kid.” In 1978, he connected to the Shambhala lineage, and became a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He has since studied with Khenpo…