In It Together: Tackling Loneliness and Creating Connection (A World Mental Health Day Conversation)

Dr. Allison Applebaum is a caregiving scientist, writer, researcher, speaker, and advocate. She is a Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and the Director of the Steven S. Elbaum Family Center for Caregiving at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She was previously the Founding Director of the Caregivers Clinic at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the first program of its kind in the United States to provide comprehensive psychosocial care to family members and friends of patients who are in the caregiving role. Dr. Applebaum’s program of research focuses on the development and dissemination of supportive services for family caregivers. She has published over 100 articles, reviews, and book chapters on these topics, and is the editor of the textbook Cancer Caregivers (Oxford University Press, 2019). Dr. Applebaum has received competitive funding for her research, including awards from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the American Cancer Society. She is also the author of the recently published narrative nonfiction book, Stand By Me: A Guide to Navigating Modern, Meaningful Caregiving (Simon Element, 2024).

Dr. Fraga is a psychologist + content creator + writer in San Francisco. In her clinical practice, she focuses on health concerns, primarily related to maternal mental health, parenting, infertility, and menopause. Dr. Fraga also writes service-related wellness stories for the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, WIRED, Parents, Real Simple, Glamour, InStyle, SELF, and TIME.

Trained in mindfulness-based practices, Dr. Fraga incorporates mind/body tools into her clinical work and believes this integrative approach is key to healing. 

She’s also developed women’s health workshops for UCSF Hospital in San Francisco, where she also supervises psychiatry residents. Dr. Fraga has also written/created content for health and wellness companies, including Calm, Cleo, Clue, Millie, PsychCentral, Modern Fertility, and Healthline. She is also on the medical board for Baby Center.

David Ko is the CEO and serves on the Board of Directors of Calm, the leading app for sleep, meditation and mindfulness.  Before founding his own company that was acquired by Calm, David spent over a decade as a leading executive in healthcare.  He has been featured in TIME’s Leadership Brief,  named a LinkedIn “Top Voice” and one of RockHealth’s “Top 50 Leaders in Digital Health.”  

David was also the COO at Zynga, which he helped take public in December 2011. Prior to his work at Zynga, he spent 10 years at Yahoo! and currently serves on various boards at his alma mater, New York University Stern School of Business.

Jon Macaskill is a retired Navy SEAL Commander turned mindfulness teacher and leadership coach. During his 24-year Navy career, he served in multiple highly dynamic leadership positions, from the battlefield to the operations center and the board room. Jon’s unconventional yet highly effective style of teaching leadership is fueled by his passion for helping people and organizations become the best versions of themselves. He takes what helped him excel in his professional life and heal in his personal life and now shares this through mindfulness coaching, resilience training, and keynote speaking, all to help others achieve their full potential.