BUSM Researcher Receives Inaugural Yoga Research Grant

The Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living (IEL) of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Mass., selected Jennifer Johnston, PhD, clinical psychologist and Kripalu Yoga instructor, as the first recipient of the Samuel B. Hanser Visionary Award for her research on the effects of yoga on people with epilepsy, a stress-aggravated disease. Dr. Johnston will be conducting her research under the guidance of Chris Streeter, MD, associate professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at BUSM.

The Hanser Award is the first endowed annual research award, bestowed by IEL. It is designed to foster yoga research and further the goal of making yoga a more accessible and accepted modality for health and well-being across all facets of society. An inaugural award of $10,000 was presented in September at the Symposium on Yoga Research, the leading academic conference on yoga.

“I feel honored to have been conferred the Hanser Award, and am very excited about the work we will be doing in Samuel Hanser’s name,” said Johnston. “It is my wish that our research will not only demonstrate the potential yoga has to provide people with epilepsy an inexpensive, easily accessible treatment with few side effects for seizure control, it will also help clarify the mechanisms through which yoga can influence brain function, and inform future research, treatment, and self-care strategies.”

The Hanser Award is a mentored research award that aims to advance innovations in yoga research by fostering collaborations between creative scientist-practitioners in the early stages of their careers and experienced research mentors. Applicants are required to partner with seasoned professionals who have the resources, expertise and experience to guide and support the research process.

The award honors the spirit and vision of the late Samuel B. Hanser, a healer who believed that every person holds the wisdom and power to lead a happy and healthy life. After Sam’s death at the age of 28, his family established a memorial trust in his name and, in collaboration with the IEL, seeks to support like-minded visionaries enabling the understanding and dissemination of yoga.