Co-Director, Mindful USC

Allyson Pimentel is a psychologist and long-time insight meditation practitioner and teacher who works at the intersections of mindfulness, mental health, education, and social justice. Dr. Pimentel has been teaching mindfulness in university, medical, secular and spiritual settings, as well as in private clinical psychology practice for nearly twenty years. Formerly, she was the training director of the Mind-Body Psychiatry Clinic at NYU-Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, Associate Director of UCLA Campus & Student Resilience, and Program Director of Mindful UCLA.

Dr. Pimentel holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. She has completed numerous professional mindfulness training programs in the Vipassana/Insight meditation tradition and also is a registered yoga teacher.

In addition to her work with Mindful USC, Dr. Pimentel teaches at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and at Insight LA, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She loves sharing the practice of mindfulness meditation as a tool for transformation, connection, well-being, wisdom, and individual and collective liberation.

Co-Director, Mindful USC

Mark Miller is the coordinator of Mindful USC and a clinical psychologist who earned his doctorate in psychology at Pepperdine University. Dr. Miller worked at the USC Student Counseling Services for three years prior to his work with Mindful USC. He has been a meditator in the health care industry for over 25 years and is interested in integrating psychology and mindfulness practices.
 
Mark regularly teaches classes in the basics of mindfulness and Mindful Self-Compassion to help USC community members build skills to manage strong emotions and recurrent thoughts while being compassionate towards themselves and others.