James R. Doty, M.D.
James R. Doty, M.D. is an academic, neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University School of Medicine of which the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He recently retired as a professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and has published extensively in this domain. Presently, he is an adjunct faculty in the department of Medicine at Stanford.
As a neuroscientist, he is one of the leading researchers on the science of compassion and is the senior editor of the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. CCARE has developed programs, techniques and interventions that are taught throughout the world to promote connection, mental health and to decrease stress and anxiety including the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) and Applied
Compassion Training Programs that are taught throughout the world. His research is cited in publications extensively in the lay press, textbooks, and peer-reviewed publications. He has participated with the U.S. Surgeon General and the CA Surgeon General on mental health programs. Dr. Doty has developed, through Happi AI, a mental health app using emotion detection, a proprietary conversational AI combined with a human avatar to treat stress, anxiety, and depression.
His entrepreneurial activities have resulted in the development of multiple medical technologies including the CyberKnife that have saved hundreds of hundreds of thousands of lives. He is an advisor and operating partner at to multiple venture capital firms including the Fogarty Institute of Innovation and Jeff Skoll’s Healthcare and Special Opportunities Fund.
As a philanthropist he has funded health clinics and blood banks around the world, created programs for the disabled, set-up programs for youth impacted by AIDS/HIV and funded research programs and endowed chairs at major universities including Stanford and Tulane.
Dr. Doty is the NY Times and international bestselling and award-winning author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and Secrets of the Heart which has been translated into over 40 languages and editions including Arabic. Korean pop music sensation BTS used Into the Magic Shop as the basis for their third album Love Yourself: Tear that included the hit song
“Magic Shop”. His new book, Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything will be released in May of 2024 His “Conversations on Compassion” lecture series with many of the world’s leading spiritual and religious leaders including the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hahn, Amma, Sadhguru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Eckhart Tolle have been seen by millions. His “Conversations” have also included luminaries from a variety of domains including former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, world renowned psychologists Paul Ekman and Phil Zimbardo and actress and activist Anna Deavere Smith. He also hosts the Into the Magic Shop podcast.
Doty is the former chairman of the Dalai Lama Foundation, vice-chairman of the Charter for Compassion and has been a senior advisor to the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. His relationship with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama led to the award- winning international bestseller, The Book of Joy. He remains on the board of numerous non-profit organizations and has been an advisor to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation. He has also participated in programs with Pope Francis related to human slavery and sex trafficking.