Frank W.J. Anderson, MD, MPH
Founder
Frank Anderson, MD, MPH, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, public health professional, educator, certified mindfulness teacher, and contemplative practitioner whose career spans clinical medicine, academic leadership, global health, and the study of awareness.
He earned his medical degree and completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Tennessee and later completed a Master of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. While at Johns Hopkins, he served on the faculty in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where his early academic work focused on maternal health and community-based approaches to care.
Dr. Anderson then moved to the Navajo Nation, where he served as Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Indian Health Service hospital in Chinle, Arizona. This immersive clinical role shaped his lifelong commitment to health equity, cultural humility, and respectful care in underserved communities.
His interest in system-level impact led him to Washington, D.C., where he was selected as a Science & Diplomacy Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). While at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), he focused on global health policy, with a particular emphasis on maternal mortality reduction strategies.
He subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he combined research, teaching, and global program development to advance maternal health systems. Promoted to full Professor, he studied academic partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa—particularly in Ghana—designed to build sustainable, locally led obstetric and gynecologic capacity. He now holds the title of Professor Emeritus.
In parallel with his clinical, academic and policy work, Dr. Anderson has spent decades engaged in contemplative practice and inquiry. He trained with Thai forest monks, Korean Zen teachers, Soto Zen teachers and contemporary nondual guides. He is a certified mindfulness teacher through the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP), led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. He co-founded Open Mindfulness Meditation, an ongoing community-based and online mindfulness group in Ann Arbor that continues to support people in their exploration of awareness and presence.
His personal and professional journey led to the development of the Mindful Awareness Perspective™ (MAP), a contemporary framework for training people to recognize and live from the innate human capacities of equanimity, love, joy, compassion and presence. MAP is not just a technique to master, but a way of seeing that is always available and deeply transformative when realized.
He is the founder of the Mindful Awareness Institute, where he trains physicians, therapists, and professionals to embody and teach the MAP in both personal and professional contexts.
Dr. Anderson is also the co-creator and co-host of the Exploring Awareness podcast, a 63-episode series of real-time, unscripted dialogues on awakening and mindful presence. Co-hosted with journalist Lisa Barry for the first 62 episodes, the podcast invites listeners to explore awareness not as a concept, but as a lived experience grounded in daily life.
He is currently in private practice in Miami, Florida.