I've spent my career exploring one fundamental question: What helps people heal? As a neuroscientist, board-certified psychiatrist, and researcher, I've studied how chronic stress, trauma, and the nervous system shape everything from our sleep and relationships to our capacity for lasting change. Along the way, I've learned that our stress response isn't something to fight—it's our body's way of trying to protect us. When we create a sense of safety first, resilience, growth, and healing can naturally follow.
As an inventor and co-founder of Apollo Neuro—the first scientifically validated wearable designed to support the nervous system—I've focused on bringing neuroscience beyond the lab and into everyday life. As a new Visiting Faculty member in The Health Coach Training Program™, I'm excited to help students understand the science behind stress and behavior change, and equip them with practical tools to better support themselves and their clients.
WHAT CAN SOMEONE EXPECT TO WALK AWAY WITH FROM YOUR WEBINAR SESSION THAT THEY COULD NOT GET FROM A PODCAST OR AN ARTICLE?
A: You’ll leave with a completely different way of understanding stress—not as something to fight, but as information your body is trying to share with you. We’ll connect the latest neuroscience with practical tools you can immediately use for yourself and your clients. My goal is for every attendee to experience what nervous system safety actually feels like and understand why that feeling is the foundation of healing, resilience, and lasting behavior change.
WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WANT EVERY PERSON WHO JOINS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THEIR OWN STRESS RESPONSE?
A: Your stress response is not broken; it’s trying to protect you. Most of us spend years trying to silence symptoms without asking what those symptoms are trying to tell us. When we learn to help the body feel safe first, our biology naturally shifts toward healing, connection, creativity, and better decision-making.
WHERE DOES NERVOUS SYSTEM REGULATION FIT INTO THE WORK HEALTH COACHES DO, AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT HAS BEEN UNDERREPRESENTED IN HOW COACHES ARE TRAINED?
A: Nervous system regulation is the missing foundation beneath almost every health intervention. Whether someone is trying to improve sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships, pain, or emotional health, lasting change becomes much easier when the nervous system isn’t stuck in survival mode. Historically, we’ve focused on what people should do. Neuroscience is showing us that how safe the body feels often determines whether those healthy behaviors actually stick.
HOW CAN HEALTH COACHES APPLY YOUR WORK WITH CLIENTS IN A PRACTICAL WAY, AND WHAT TOOLS OR PRACTICES WOULD YOU WANT THEM TO HAVE IN THEIR TOOLKIT?
A: I encourage coaches to think less about fixing people and more about curating conditions where change becomes possible. The best toolkit starts with simple, evidence-based practices that regulate the nervous system: slow breathing, restorative sleep, mindful movement, empathic social connection, soothing touch, moments of awe, laughter, music, and learning how to recognize when someone is moving into stress before they become overwhelmed. When people feel safe, they’re naturally more capable of making healthier decisions.
YOU TEACH THAT LASTING CHANGE IS EASIER WHEN THE BODY IS OUT OF STRESS MODE AND FEELS SAFE. HOW DOES THAT IDEA RELATE TO HEALTH COACHING?
A: Behavior change isn’t just about motivation or willpower—it’s about biology. When we’re chronically stressed, the brain prioritizes survival over growth, making it harder to learn, adapt, and build new habits. Health coaches are uniquely positioned to help people create daily experiences of safety that allow the brain to become more flexible, favoring growth and healing. That’s how lasting transformation becomes possible.
THERE IS A LOT OF BUZZ RIGHT NOW AROUND PSYCHEDELICS, MICRODOSING, AND PLANT MEDICINE. FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO UNDERSTAND THIS SPACE THOUGHTFULLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ACTUALLY NEED TO KNOW?
A: Medicine is only one part of the equation. Decades of research consistently show that preparation, safety, intention, therapeutic support, and integration are often just as important as the substance itself. Psychedelics don’t heal people by themselves. They temporarily increase the brain’s capacity to learn, adapt, and create new patterns. What happens before and after the experience largely determines whether that opportunity becomes lasting growth.
PSYCHEDELIC-ASSISTED THERAPY IS MOVING FAST, FROM RESEARCH INTO CLINICAL PRACTICE AND INCREASINGLY INTO PUBLIC CONVERSATION. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE WELLNESS INDUSTRY FITTING INTO THAT MOVEMENT, AND WHAT ROLE COULD HEALTH COACHES PLAY?
A: Health coaches have an important role because healing doesn’t begin and end with a psychedelic experience. The greatest opportunity is helping people prepare their bodies beforehand and supporting healthy lifestyle habits afterward so insights become sustainable changes. Coaches are not there to provide psychedelic therapy; they’re there to help people build resilient nervous systems that support long-term well-being, whether psychedelics are involved or not.
YOUR RESEARCH ON MDMA-ASSISTED THERAPY HAS SHOWN THAT TRAUMA CAN BE REVERSED AT THE EPIGENETIC LEVEL. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER FOR HOW WE THINK ABOUT LONG-TERM HEALTH?
A: Epigenetics refers to the biological switches that determine which genes are turned on or off at any given time. Chronic stress and trauma can change those switches in ways that keep the body prepared for danger long after the threat has passed. Our research suggests that successful treatment can begin reversing some of those changes, helping the nervous system become more flexible and resilient again. That’s exciting because it suggests healing from trauma isn’t just psychological—it is reflected in measurable changes throughout the body.
WHAT IS APOLLO NEURO, AND WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST ONCE IT WAS OUT IN THE WORLD WITH REAL PEOPLE USING IT?
A: Apollo Neuro is an AI wearable that delivers gentle, silent sound-wave vibrations signaling safety to the nervous system. It is the first wearable technology proven in clinical trials to improve sleep, reduce stress, enhance focus, and improve quality of life without effort or side effects.
What surprised me most wasn’t that it worked in the clinical trials—it was hearing people tell us they felt more like themselves again: sleeping through the night for the first time in years, reconnecting with loved ones, performing better at work, or simply feeling calm enough to enjoy everyday life. Those stories remind me that neuroscience is ultimately about helping people live more fully.
YOUR BOOK, A SIMPLE GUIDE TO BEING ALIVE, ARGUES THAT SAFETY—NOT PRODUCTIVITY—IS THE REAL FOUNDATION OF A GOOD LIFE. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THAT?
A: After more than two decades studying trauma, stress, and human performance, I realized we had become incredibly good at optimizing productivity while forgetting the biology that makes meaningful performance possible. We built technologies that constantly demand our attention but rarely help us feel safe. I wrote A Simple Guide to Being Alive because I wanted to bring together neuroscience, medicine, and timeless human wisdom into a practical guide—one that reminds us the greatest performance enhancer isn’t doing more, but learning how to come home to ourselves.
WHAT IS SOMETHING SIMPLE—A HABIT, AN OBJECT, OR A RITUAL—THAT HELPS YOU FEEL SAFE AND GROUNDED ON A HARD DAY?
A: I always come back to my breath. If I have another minute, I’ll step outside, feel the sun on my face, or hug my wife or son for at least twenty seconds. It’s remarkable how quickly our nervous systems respond to simple moments of genuine connection. Those tiny rituals remind me that being alive is something to experience, not just something to optimize.
WHAT SONG WOULD YOU PLAY TO INSTANTLY SHIFT THE ENERGY IN A ROOM?
A: There are many choices for different situations. In the clinic, it would be Let It Be by The Beatles. At a party, it would be one of my favorite Michael Jackson house remixes by Chaka Kenn. At the bar, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s hard not to smile when you hear the right music at the right time. It captures something we all know deeply: the energy in our nervous systems is contagious, and joy spreads just as powerfully as stress.