Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., President
An opinion leader and public speaker, Stephen G. Post, Ph.D. (University of Chicago, 1983) has served on the Board of the John Templeton Foundation (2008–2014), which focuses on virtue and public life, and is a lifelong Member. Post is a leader in research on the benefits of giving and on compassionate care in relation to improved patient outcomes and caregiver well-being. He addressed the U.S. Congress on volunteerism and health, receiving the Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition for Outstanding Achievement. Post was co-recipient (2012) with Edmund D. Pellegrino MD of the Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in HealthCare from the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, and the Kama Book Award in Medical Humanities from World Literacy Canada (2008). He is a co-recipient of of the 2019 National Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Professionalism Award for developing the Professional Identity Formation curriculum of the Renaissance School of Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine of Stony Brook University, where he is professor of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, Division Head of Medicine in Society, and Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care & Bioethics. Post taught at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and in the university Core Humanities Program. He was a full professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1988–2008), and is now at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine (2008–present). His Center was selected (2011) for special institutional excellence by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (AMA & AAMC accrediting body). An elected member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, of the New York Academy of Medicine, and of the Royal Society of Medicine London, Post is the author of more than 300 articles in journals such as Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Medical Association, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Hypatia (The Journal of Feminist Philosophy), and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He served as Editor-in-Chief for the six-volume Encyclopedia of Bioethics (Macmillan Reference), which remains the definitive reference work for the field of bioethics and medical humanities.
Post’s book The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer’s Disease (Johns Hopkins University Press) was designated a “medical classic of the century” by the British Medical Journal (2009), whose editors wrote, “Until this pioneering work was published in 1995 the ethical aspects of one of the most important illnesses of our aging populations were a neglected topic.” Post is recipient of the Alzheimer’s Association national distinguished service award “in recognition of personal and professional outreach to the Alzheimer’s Association Chapters on ethics issues important to people with Alzheimer’s and their families.” Post’s most recent book is Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: How Caregivers Can Meet the Challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease (May, 2022). His work on genetics counseling, caregiver respite, and “paradoxical lucidity” have been supported by grants from the NIH National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Mental Health. His writing and advocacy are recognized as the baseline for national ethics guidelines in dementia care in the United States, Canada and Japan.
With philanthropist Sir John Templeton (d. 2008) Post co-founded The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love: Spirituality, Compassion, and Service in 2001 (unlimitedloveinstitute.org). The Institute was established in Cleveland’s University Circle with a team of 12 “research area consultants” all of whom went on to great renown (including Greg Fricchione, MD, who became Director of the Benson-Henry Mind-Body Institute at Harvard and Mass General; Byron Johnson PhD, now Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor; Jeff Levin PhD MPH, now the foremost researcher on epidemiological and clinical research on religion, spirituality love and health). In 2001 Institute released its first competitive “request for proposals.” The Institute has supported 60 major research projects at various universities, as well as conferences. The Works of Love Conference attracted 800 scientists, spiritual thinkers, and love practitioners from more than 40 nations. In 2016 the Institute organized and sponsored the annual youth conference at the United Nations on this theme, filling the headquarters. Richard T. Watson, a member of the original Institute Board, endowed the Watson Chair in Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School.
Post is the best-selling author (2008) of Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Happier, Healthier Life by the Simple Act of Giving (Random House Broadway). He has been quoted in more than 4000 newspapers and magazines, and featured on numerous television shows including The Daily Show. Described by Martin E.P. Seligman in Flourish as one of “the stars of positive psychology,” in 2003 Post was invited to be a Founding Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), based at Cambridge University. Founded in 2002, ISSR is the world’s preeminent learned society devoted to this intersection. Post has written popularly on the topic of synchronicity in God and Love on Route 80: The Hidden Mystery of Human Connectedness (2019). He holds his PhD from the University of Chicago in social sciences and religion. He was an elected university fellow (1982–83), and an elected fellow in the Nuveen Institute for Advanced Study.
PO Box 1516
Stony Brook, NY 11790
Phone 216-926-9244 (cell)
Email stephengpost@gmail.com