Susan Bauer-Wu, the former President of Mind & Life Institute, is a teacher of contemplative modalities and a meditation practitioner. Having served as an oncology nurse, clinical scientist, and academic for decades, her mission emerges from a fusing of the spiritual, scientific, and secular realms, coupled with a calling for deep service and human care. Her experiences as a young woman with her mother's life and death laid the groundwork for her approach to caring, mortality, and service. Susan’s subsequent research, scholarship, and teaching examined chronic stress and the use of contemplative approaches to corroborate stress resilience and well-being, especially for those challenged by serious illness. She translated the learnings into her first book, Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious & Life-limiting Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion and Connectedness, which she expanded and republished in 2023 to foreground critical insights and actions.