Pennie Sempell JD
Co-Founder / CEO / Course Co-director
During Pennie’s career in conflict resolution, mediation, and as a pioneer in integrative health education in medical settings, she witnessed the remarkable capacity that individuals have to change their responses to stressors, improve their wellbeing and health, and live more fully the life they value. Working in association with physicians and mental health professionals over two decades, she is a seasoned wellness and life coach working with clinicians and their patients suffering from a wide range of complex stress-related conditions. She has authored and directed teams of experts and media artists in the production of award-winning multimedia health education tools. University of California, Hastings College of the Law (Juris Doctor), University of California, Berkeley (B.A. Psychology, Phi Beta Kappa).
James Monroe PhD
Co-Founder / Chief Science Officer / Course Co-director
Dr. James Monroe brings 30 years experience in clinical psychology, providing clinical supervision and outpatient treatment with specialties in stress-related and anxiety disorders, medical psychology, relationship discord, pain management and evidence-based therapies, with deep subject matter expertise in mindfulness-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Dr. Monroe has trained doctoral candidates and PhD residents in clinical psychology interventions, and served as a research consultant. He directed the R&D in assuring that StressPal’s measures and interventions have been informed by extensive literature reviews of evidence-based, peer reviewed, controlled research. He earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University and an M.A. in Rehabilitation Counseling from George Washington University.
Karen Knecht, MSN, RN-BC, CPHIMS
Director, Clinical Advisor
Karen is an accomplished leader in the fields of healthcare informatics, digital health and healthcare policy with over 30 years of experience working with major healthcare systems to integrate and use advanced clinical computing across the United States as well as in the U.K and Singapore. Karen was most recently the Chief Clinical Officer at emids, an information technology company. Her early career was focused on critical care and was part of a team that opened the Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas as Director of the ICU. She is a Registered Nurse and board certified in Nursing Informatics.
Jay Eisenstock
Healthcare IT Development Advisor
Jay Eisenstock has a demonstrated record of managing strategic healthcare partnerships and delivering large-scale mission critical projects on time and within budget. He has negotiated healthcare contracts in excess of $120m annually. Jay served as the national director of provider eSolutions for Aetna, and was recognized by Healthcare Payer News as one of 11 top executives and thought leaders in the healthcare IT industry. Jay earned his MBA from University of Massachusetts, and his Bachelor of Sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Nancy Carteron MD, FACR
Medical Advisor
Senior consultant in Rheumatology Immunology. Volunteer clinical faculty at UCSF mentoring medical students and fellows. Leading expert in autoimmune disease. Johns Hopkins University (MD), and post-doctoral work at Duke, Stanford, and UCSF. HealthWell Foundation co-founder and board member.
Tom Davis, MD, FAAFP
Medical Advisor
Tom is a nationally renowned expert in value-based care delivery, physician dis-engagement, and career transition. A family physician for over 25 years, angel investor, founder of 6 companies, and co-founder of 12, he is a sought-after consultant, speaker and trusted advisor.
Technology partner
MyQuest is a trusted leader in active learning platforms grounded in the evidence-based AFT model (Action-Feedback-Trigger), designed to solve the problems associated with online learning and training for high completion rates, long-term knowledge retention, and skill development.
Anderson Interactive
Marketing partner
Anderson Interactive is an award-winning agency for healthcare organizations. The firm blends public relations, marketing and social media tactics with a heavy dose of digital, broadcast and interactive communication strategies to advance healthcare’s most innovative and market-shaping brands
Tom Voigt
Director
Tom brings his dual careers in computer systems development and videography to StressPal. He oversees reporting and media assets. The nature footage for all the mindfulness meditation videos was shot and edited by Tom.
Lou Frederick
Writer / Creative Consultant
Lou Frederick is an award-winning writer-director. His unique skill set has made him a go-to collaborator for a range of clients, including Visa, Procter & Gamble, and ConnectYourCare. Recently, he wrote Morgan Freeman’s voiceover for Visa’s Building a Better Future campaign. His product launch video for Intellilink was translated into eight languages and played in markets around the world. He studied directing with Marcus Stern (Harvard) and was awarded a Thomas Watson Fellowship to study theater and art in Budapest, Hungary.
Dennis Azana
Animation Lead
Dennis and his talented team have produced a wide range of animation and graphics for global projects.