The Pastoral Advisory Committee of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care is a group of interdisciplinary professional people used at regular intervals to provide advice and consultation on our Buddhist CPE Chaplaincy Training Program planning, development and program evaluation. This helps insure our program is well integrated within the organization and provides feedback for quality assurance.

Dr. Martin H. Ehrlich MD, MPH, LAc
Dr. Ehrlich is board certified in Internal Medicine and licensed in acupuncture, with many years of experience in the practice and teaching of holistic, integrative medicine. He is a graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia School of Public Health. He received certification in Acupuncture from The American College of Acupuncture and studied in China at The College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Chengdu. He is certified in Functional Medicine and Clinical Homeopathy. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Ehrlich has been named "top doctor" by the Castle Connolly Health Care Provider Survey. He has written articles on hypertension and cardiovascular risk reduction and lectures on integrative approaches to common medical problems. He is the Medical Director of the Continuum Center for Health and Healing.

Marsha J. Handel, MLS
Ms. Handel has been a medical librarian at Beth Israel Medical Center for over twenty years, with a specialty in Integrative Medicine. She is co-author of the award winning book Alternative Medicine Resource Guide and has published articles, book chapters and taught professional-level classes on search techniques and resources in the field. Ms. Handel developed the Center's educational web site and their first online continuing medical education course on the Integrative Approaches to IBS. She has co-created many health web sites, including the Addiction Recovery Guide, Healing Chronic Pain and Healing Digestive Disorders. In 2006 Ms. Handel received a 2 1/2 year NIH grant to develop a multimedia patient education web site on the Integrative Approach to Chronic Diseases: Heart Disease, Diabetes and Chronic Pain.

Dr. Emily Hartzog, MD
Dr. Emily Hartzog is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She received her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed her Internship and Residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Hartzog spent two years in England with the National Health Service, then returned for five years to the Indian Health Service in New Mexico. She spent the following twelve years in solo practice in the Four Corners region of the Southwest. She enjoyed taking care of a diverse population of patients, including Native Americans, ranchers, and people from the local surrounding communities.

Dr. Hartzog is bilingual in English and Spanish and has spent much time in Mexico where she developed and currently operates a clinic for indigenous peoples in Patzcuaro, Michoacan. She highly values her work in cooperation with Traditional Healers and learning about medicinal plants. She is interested in a holistic approach to medicine and individualized care and is looking forward to integrating her clinical expertise with a wide range of healing approaches at the Center.

Jeanne Brennan Kenney, RN,BSN,HN-BC
Jeanne Brennan Kenney is a board certified holistic nurse, who has practiced at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing for the past three years. Currently, Program Manager for the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program at Beth Israel Medical Center, she is responsible for launching and managing a program which is funded by the Urban Zen Initiative , that brings holistic healing modalities to Beth Israel's oncology floor. Her previous work at the Center has been as the Research Coordinator for a program utilizing an integrative approach for the treatment of asthma symptoms in adults. Having worked for seven years on the NIH sponsored Women's Health Initiative Reasearch Program, as the BI coordinator for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she realized the opportunity to engage in meaningful research in women's health and disease prevention. In her previous career as a teacher at the United States Information Service schools, she lived and worked in Italy and France for six years and enjoyed travelling extensively throughout Europe. Upon return to the United States, she began a long career in the fashion industry, prior to realizing her long held desire to work in the medical field, incorporating holistic healing modalities for patients and families, with her traditional nursing training.

Dr. Roberta Anne Lee, MD
Roberta Lee, MD is Vice Chair of the Department of Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, one of the first Integrative Medicine Departments in an academic medical center. Her current departmental focus is to develop new interdisciplinary integrative medical initiatives. Dr. Lee recently completed a 7 year term as Medical Director at Beth Israel's Center for Health and Healing (CCHH), a nationally acclaimed academic model for innovative health care that blends alternative and conventional medicine from a science-based perspective. Dr. Lee is a recognized expert on the use of alternative, integrative therapies and botanical supplements in optimizing wellness and managing chronic disease. She is currently developing new strategies for stress management that incorporate a unique blend of mind/body exercises, lifestyle changes and botanical supplements. Her book, The SuperStress Solution, will be published by Random House in the fall of 2009.

For over ten years Dr. Lee has investigated the traditional use of medicinal plants in Micronesia, a collection of islands located in the Pacific basin. She serves as the ethnomedical specialist in a multidisciplinary team that includes botanists, ecologists and ethnobotany specialists from The New York Botanical Garden and the National Tropical Garden of Hawaii, Nature Conservancy. She recently became a member of the Board of Trustees on the American Botanical Council a non-profit organization that serves as an international information resource for scientific information on botanical supplements and ethnobotanical research.

Hanniel Levenson, MS, RYT
Born in Haifa, Israel, raised in New York City, Hanniel majored in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and was awarded a Master of Science degree in environmental policy at Bard College. A self-described post-denominational Jew, Hanniel sees a strong connection between the environment and Judaism and plans to pursue this avenue in his Rabbinical studies at The Academy for Jewish Religion. Hanniel is a Research Associate of Integrative Medicine at the Beth Israel Continuum Center for Health and Healing, and the Environmental Rabbinic intern at the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs. He passionately promotes green healthcare environments and patient-centered care, believing them to be crucial components to patient recovery. Hanniel teaches philosophy, prayer, and religion to various and eclectic groups in New York City including an alternative service as well as a learner’s group at a synagogue in Manhattan. He is also a painter, a competitive gymnast, who has competed on the national level, as well as a recently Registered Yoga Teacher.