Center for Healthy Minds

Larissa is the Elizabeth C. Davies Chair in Child & Family Well-Being and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the School of Human Ecology and the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also holds appointments as the Healthy Minds, Children, and Families Specialist with UW-Extension and as an affiliate Professor with the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Larissa’s research and outreach is focused on multi-level systems change to promote health equity and well-being. She is internationally recognized for her development of a framework to promote and assess mindful parenting, as well as her work to bring mindfulness and compassion training to medical, school, and community contexts. Larissa studies the biopsychosocial pathways through which contemplative practices may support child and family well-being. She is committed to improving the cultural relevance of these approaches in partnership with global majority communities. Larissa has received research funding from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (formerly the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse to support this work.

Recent Publications