Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Buddhist teacher and Founder and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1972-1975 she worked with psychiatrist Stanislav Grof at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center with dying cancer patients. She has continued to work with dying people and their families, and to teach health care professionals and family caregivers the psychosocial, ethical and spiritual aspects of care of the dying. Her books include The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof), Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death.