A Pathway to Positive Outcomes
Future physicians learn that the mind-body connection has real patient benefits
By Louis Greenstein
Photography by Isabella Frias
From left, Kathryn McGaughey with Emily Kalbac Cannon.
M
iller School students who choose the Advancing Mind-Body Medicine pathway enter it during the spring semester of year one. They meet weekly with the pathway’s director, Firdaus S. Dhabhar, Ph.D., to learn about the science and modalities of mind-body medicine that could enable them to maximize health and healing for their patients, themselves and their loved ones. They also plan their capstone projects during the semester and begin their research over the summer.
Fourth-year Miller School student Emily Kalbac Cannon has applied for family medicine residencies and plans on an integrative medicine fellowship afterward. “I’ve had this interest in whole-person care since my sophomore year of college,” she said. A child of two physicians, Cannon has two siblings who battle autoimmune conditions that have required medical care and surgeries. “I noticed that their symptoms have to do with what is going on in their lives,” she said. “As human beings, all the parts of our body are connected. I was always taught the heart does this, the lungs do that. It took some time to realize we are more than individual organs.”
Kathryn McGaughey is exploring how to help medical students reduce chronic stress.
“A positive attitude has been shown to have a positive impact on patient outcomes.”
Emily Kalbac Cannon is pursuing a career in whole-person care.
Cannon’s capstone project looks at “extreme healing,” a term that she and Dr. Dhabhar have coined and defined as “healing or recovery that exceed the expectations of modern medicine.” The first stage of the study involves surveying physicians, nurses and allied health professionals of all specialties and disciplines about their experiences with patients who showed extreme healing.
“The data we collect will guide the second stage, which will investigate biological and psychological drivers of extreme healing in specific areas of medicine,” Cannon said. “The ultimate goal is to harness the knowledge gained from extreme healers to help those who are healing slowly or not at all. The more you talk with health care professionals, the more you find it’s more common than you think.”
Cannon’s project won the Peer-Choice Award at the 2025 Miller School of Medicine Capstone Symposium.
Second-year Miller School student Kathryn McGaughey hopes to go into primary care in a role in which she’ll follow patients for a long period of time. “I’m interested in chronic disease,” she said. “I chose the pathway because when I worked at a GI clinic for a year I saw that the mind-body connection is a real thing; it affects patients in ways we don’t fully understand yet. A positive attitude has been shown to have a positive impact on patient outcomes.”
For her capstone project, McGaughey is investigating the effectiveness of different wellness modalities in helping medical students with chronic stress. The goal is to help them manage stress by incorporating wellness activities into their daily lives.
Recent data shows a link between chronic stress and a range of diseases. The hope is that as people learn to manage chronic stress, they will experience less disease and more wellness. “In the mind-body medicine classes we had last year, we learned that it’s important to get to know the whole person,” McGaughey said. “They are not just the disease they present with. Western medicine has a lot of benefits, but it’s not the only route you can take.”
Learn more about participating in the study on extreme healing. 
