MIT • Saturday May 3, 2025

Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma

9:30 am to 5:30 pm EDT - Kiva Room, Stata Center, 4th Floor, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge, MA 02139

A FEW IN PERSON TICKETS JUST ADDED!

Join us at this first of a kind event with some of the leading academics, psychologists, and practitioners from around the world to understand the causes of intergenerational trauma in immigrants and minorities and how it manifests itself in our everyday life.

We’ll hear from innovators in this field on novel and effective approaches to mitigating its effect (using tools such as AI and biomarkers) and from those who’ve successfully learned to break the cycle of legacy trauma and seen a remarkable improvement in their lives.

We end the day with an interactive workshop where you get to apply everything you’ve learned to identify and improve an aspect of your relationship with someone important in your life!

Event Agenda   

  • Registration, networking, and coffee

  • Conference welcome by Neha Katyal

  • 1. Dr. Pauline Peck: Introduction and understanding of intergenerational trauma

    2. Dr. Shamaila Khan: How colonial history has shaped the psyche and relationships of minorities

    3. Dr. Arielle Schwartz: Intergenerational trauma and harnessing ancestral resilience 

  • Enjoy our catered lunch!

  • Panel of innovators, including:

    1. Mitul Desai

      Care Hack: Using technology to harness the power of family for healing

    2. Dr. James Greenblatt

      Psychiatry Redefined: A functional and integrative approach to dealing with mental health

    3. Dr. Danielle Rousseau

      Healing trauma using Integrative Mindfulness

    1. Brijesh Patel

      A South Asian entrepreneur’s personal journey overcoming trauma and building meaningful relationships

    2. Tavy Long

      Escaping the Khmer Rouge

  • 15 min break

  • Workshop facilitated by Dr. Pauline Peck, Dr. Komal Gupta, Madeeha Channah, and Neha Katyal

    1. Practical tips for recognizing and addressing inherited trauma patterns.

    2. Techniques for fostering healing within personal and professional families

  • Takeaways, follow ups, and next steps by Imran Sayeed

Speakers

  • Dr. Pauline Peck

    Dr. Pauline Yeghnazar Peck is a first generation Iranian-Armenian trauma-informed psychologist who specializes in working with the children of immigrants and intercultural couples.

  • Dr. Shamaila Khan

    Dr. Khan (she/her) is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School Of Medicine / Boston Medical Center. Her specialty training is in Trauma.

  • Dr. Arielle Schwartz

    Dr. Arielle Schwartz is a clinical psychologist and leading voice in the healing of trauma. She is an internationally sought-out teacher and author of seven books including The Complex PTSD WorkbookThe Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook, and Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga.

  • Mitul Desai

    Mitul has been helping care for his brother, who lives with schizophrenia, for the past two decades. His professional experience includes leading global teams in product development and data services.

  • Dr. James Greenblatt

    Dr. James Greenblatt is a globally recognized pioneer in functional and integrative psychiatry, treating disorders through precision-based approaches that integrate laboratory testing, nutritional interventions, and root-cause analysis.

  • Dr. Danielle Rousseau

    Dr. Rousseau is a social justice researcher and practitioner. As a licensed therapist and certified yoga teacher, she has worked in the field of forensic mental health doing crisis response and victim advocacy, both in correctional facilities and in the community.

  • Brijesh Patel

    Brijesh is a business strategist, investor, and spiritual coach who bridges the worlds of technology, consciousness, and entrepreneurship. He has explored a wide range of modalities—Human Design, plant medicine, tantric and shadow work.

  • Tavy Long

    Tavy Long is a mother, social entrepreneur, and healer whose journey spans refugee camps, corporate boardrooms, and sacred healing circles. She coaches in the conscious business space and supports women and parents navigating life transitions, weaving presence and relational healing.

Facilitators

  • Fatima Hussain

    Fatima is an MBA student and Dean’s Fellow at MIT Sloan, with a background in chemical engineering. She is a former founder and has extensive experience in business development, operations, and analytics.

  • Dr. Komal Gupta

    Dr. Gupta is an adult clinical psychologist and retired neuropsychologist with a lifelong curiosity about the complexity of being human. Her expertise is in brain-behavior relationships and addressing the roots of emotional suffering.

  • Madeeha Channah

    Madeeha Channah is an accomplished mental health professional and advocate with a rich background in clinical work focusing on substance use, mental health issues, and destigmatizing mental health.

Organizers

  • Dr. Neha Katyal

    Neha is an accomplished leader in the health tech space. Trained as a clinical pharmacist, she has over 13 years of experience in implementation, management consulting, and product management. 

  • Imran Sayeed

    Imran Sayeed is part of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management where he teaches Disruptive Technologies, New Business Models, Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Scale.

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