Healthy Living Retreat for Women

Laurie Ausserer is co-director of the Healthy Living Retreat. She is a health promotion specialist, and wellness coach. Laurie recently retired after 25 years at Stanford. While at Stanford, she managed the health education programs (Healthy Living) for the Health Improvement Program (HIP) and BeWell, and in the early years worked as clinic coordinator for a number of studies within the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC). Laurie continues working as a health coach for the BeWell Program.

Julie Anderson, MPH, is co-director of the Healthy Living Retreat. This is Julie’s 27th year coordinating the Well-being Check-ins at Sierra Camp. She has a master’s in public health and is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach. Julie is the Manager of Lifestyle Coaching in the Stanford BeWell program. She enjoys trail running/hiking, volleyball, watching musicals with her daughter, and camping with her family.

Julie Cachia, PhD, is a co-founder of Flourish Science and an expert in culture, emotions, and motivation. Julie earned her PhD in Affective Science at Stanford as a Women in Asia Fellow. Her research examines cultural differences in people’s conceptions and experiences of romantic love. Julie's teaching excellence has been widely recognized, including through Stanford’s Leadership in Inclusive Teaching Fellowship and the Centennial Teaching Assistant Award.

Patty Purpur de Vries, MS, was a 9-time NCAA All-American Athlete at Stanford University and after college started her own fitness & wellness company in 1995. Her clients included Cisco, Yahoo!, Google and Safeway. In 2009, she sold her corporate wellness division to Plus One (now Optum) and co-founded the Stanford Health Promotion Network (SHPN). Until 2022, Patty directed various faculty & staff wellness programs at Stanford, including Director of Strategic Projects for the Stanford WellMD Center and Director of Strategy, Innovation & Outreach for Stanford BeWell. Currently, Patty and her husband are crafting their retirement while developing Living Well USA, a 4.5 acre event center in the Santa Cruz Mountains for growth and celebration.

Polly Diffenbaugh, MA, is a senior clinical associate and lecturer in the Stanford Teacher Education program. She mentors preservice teachers and teaches science methods courses. Besides being a teacher, Polly is a certified yoga instructor, a Wilderness First Responder and a California naturalist. She loves to be outside and to notice and wonder about the world.

Sally Duplantier, MS, is a gerontologist and researcher with a mission to help adults live their best lives longer through better lifestyle choices and health equity. Her research focuses on how nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and social engagement impact health-span—the number of years we are free of chronic disease and disability. Sally is a featured speaker for organizations like Stanford’s Healthy Living Program, the Stanford/VA Alzheimer’s Research Center, and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Her research has been published in the peer-reviewed journals Nutrients and The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. In 2024, MSN named Sally “One of the Top 15 Health Experts You Need to Know.”

Christy King, DPM, is a distinguished podiatrist specializing in comprehensive foot and ankle care. A former Division I softball athlete at Boston University, she earned her BA in biology before obtaining her Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from the California School of Podiatric Medicine. Following her surgical residency at the Kaiser San Francisco Bay Area Foot and Ankle Residency Program, she ascended to the role of program director. 

Currently practicing at Kaiser Permanente Oakland, Dr. King employs both surgical and non-surgical methodologies, emphasizing the importance of patient education and preventive care in optimizing health outcomes. She is deeply engaged in the education of residents and students and contributes to community outreach initiatives, frequently sharing her expertise at health seminars.

Jennifer Robinson, PhD, is the Associate Director for Christopher Gardner’s Nutrition Studies Group within the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She received her PhD in Nutrition from UC Davis and has been working in the field of health and wellness for over 25 years. In her personal time, you will find her baking sourdough bread, doing yoga, or spending time with her young daughter, husband, and chickens.

Corey Rovzar, PhD, DPT, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and a licensed physical therapist. She holds a PhD in Geography from UCLA and a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of Colorado. Her broad research interests include physical activity promotion, movement optimization, and biomechanical assessment to support healthy aging. Her current research involves designing and implementing a novel, education and exercise-based remote intervention to enhance balance and movement quality and reduce the risk of falls in older women. She has also consulted with health tech start-up companies to measure the effectiveness of digital health programs in reducing musculoskeletal pain and improving function when compared to outcomes following traditional rehabilitation or surgery.

Mary Sheehan, MS, Global Wellness Director, Apple, Inc. Mary completed undergrad and grad work at Cal Poly, SLO in Corporate Fitness/ Exercise Physiology. After working at the Stanford Prevention Research Center for 9 years she went on to Apple Inc, and has worked there for 30 years in the wellness program. She enjoys running, photography, and her dogs.

Stacy Sims, MSC, PHD, is a forward-thinking international exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist who aims to revolutionize exercise nutrition and performance for women. She has directed research programs at Stanford, AUT University, and the University of Waikato, focusing on female athlete health and performance and pushing the dogma to improve research on all women. During her tenure at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, she had the opportunity to translate earlier research into a science-based layperson's book (ROAR) written to explain sex differences in training and nutrition across the lifespan. Stacy is also part of the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program research team.

Katie Sutherland, MA, is a Global Wellness Manager at Apple, Inc., focused on mental health. She holds a Master’s degree in Health Psychology Education from Stanford University and worked for the Stanford Prevention Research Center for 12 years before joining Apple in 2016. Katie is happiest practicing some form of meditation in the early mornings and spending time outside in the sunshine with family, friends and her two dogs.

Rosalyne Tu, MS, RDN, has been working as a dietitian since 2003 and has been teaching the Healthy Kitchen series of classes at Stanford since 2011. She is currently a nutrition coach and instructor for Stanford BeWell’s Healthy Living program and manager of the BeWell Check-in.

Eva Weinländer, MD, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University. She completed her medical training in Canada, medical school at Queens university and residency at McGill. She is a seasoned family medicine physician with a passion for high quality primary care, medical education, primary care research and health care professional wellness. She is currently Director of Faculty Well-Being in the Department of Medicine, and Co-Chair of the School of Medicine’s Departmental Well-Being Directors Council and an active member of the Stanford HealthCare’s WellMD leadership team. Dr. Weinländer is also Co-Director of the Stanford Clinical Summer Internship.

Xuan Zhao, PhD, is the CEO and co-founder of Flourish Science, a public benefit startup leveraging AI to promote mental health and human flourishing. She is also a research scientist in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. Her research primarily focuses on the psychology of social connection, well-being, and human-robot interaction. Xuan has extensive experience designing science-based products that translate research insights, foster inclusive environments, and cultivate meaningful social connections.