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Sanford I. Nidich

Sanford I. Nidich
Sanford I. Nidich
  • Director of the PhD in Physiology & Health
  • Professor, Physiology and Health, and Education
  • Director, Center for Social-Emotional Health & Consciousness

Education

BA Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Cincinnati
1969-1973

MA Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development
College of Arts and Sciences
University of Cincinnati
1973-1974

EdD Educational Psychology
College of Education
University of Cincinnati
1974-1975

Professional Experience

2000-present        Professor of Physiology & Health, and Education, MIU
2017-present        Director, Center for Social-Emotional Health & Consciousness, MIU
2003-2004           Associate Dean of Research, College of Vedic Medicine, MIU
1999-present        Senior Investigator, Institute for Natural Medicine & Prevention
1996-1998             Director, Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center, New Jersey
1988-1995             Associate Professor of Vedic Science and Education, MIU
1979-1987             Assistant Professor of Education, College of Education, MIU
1978-1979:            Visiting Professor of Psychology, Roger Williams College, Rhode Island

Grant Support (selected grants)

  1. Principal Investigator: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Meditation Compared to Exposure Therapy and Education Control on PTSD in Veterans (in collaboration with VA Medical Center, San Diego, CA) Department of Defense – U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, $2,434,501; 2012-2017.
  2. Co-Investigator: Randomized Controlled Trial of Stress Reduction in the Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in African Americans, National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes, $998,500; 2009-2015.
  3. Co-Principal Investigator: Mechanisms of Meditation in Hypertension in Blacks, National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes, $2,428,674; 2007-2012.
  4. Co-Principal Investigator: Stress Reduction and Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in Blacks – II (competitive renewal), National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, $1,939,000; 2003-2010.
  5. Co-Investigator: The Effects of Consciousness Based Education on Neurophysiology, Cognitive Development and Health in College Students, Abramson Family Foundation and private donors, $950,000, 2005-2007.
  6. Co-Principal Investigator: Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) in Cardiovascular Disease, Minority Health, and Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health – National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, presently NCCIH) and National Institute on Aging, $7,925,000, 1999-2005.
    Principal Investigator: Biostatistics and Quality of Life Core
  7. Co-Investigator: Stress Reduction and Atherosclerotic Heart Disease in Blacks, National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes, $1,763,000, 1999-2006.
  8. Co-Principal Investigator: Stress Reduction in the Treatment of Breast Cancer in Elderly Women: Enhancing Survival and Quality of Life, Retirement Research Foundation, $475,000, 1999-2002.
  9. Co-Investigator: Effects of Meditation on Mechanisms of Coronary Heart Disease, National Institutes of Health – Office of Alternative Medicine, in collaboration with Cedars Sinai Medical Center, $1,100,000 (total), 1999-2002.
  10. Co-Investigator: Stress Reduction and Prevention of Hypertension in Blacks, National Institutes of Health – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, $2,260,000, 1998-2003.

National Institutes of Health Grant Review Panels

  • NIH NCCAM Study Section on Training Grants
  • NIH NIAMS Special Study Section on Women’s Health SCORS
  • National Advisory Committee, Center for Minority Research Training in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

Journal Reviewer

  • Journal of the American Medical Association – Psychiatry
  • BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Books

  • Nidich, S. & Nidich, R. Growing Up Enlightened. Fairfield, IA: MIU Press, 1990.

Publications: Peer Reviewed

  1. Seaman, W., Nidich, S., & Banta, T. Influence of Transcendental Meditation on a measure of self-actualization, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1972;19:184-187.
  2. Nidich, S., Seaman, W., & Banta, T.. Influence of Transcendental Meditation: A replication study, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1973; 20:565-566.
  3. Blackwell, B., Hanenson, M., Bloomfield, S., Magenheim, M., Nidich S., Gartside, P., & Zigler, R. (1975). Effects of Transcendental Meditation on blood pressure: A controlled pilot study, Psychosomatic Medicine, 1975; 37:86.
  4. Blackwell, B., Hanenson, M., Bloomfield, S., Magenheim, M., Gartside, P., Nidich S., & Zigler, R. Transcendental Meditation in hypertension: Individual response patterns. The Lancet. 1976;1:223-226.
  5. Nidich, S., Ryncarz, R., Orme-Johnson, D., & Wallace R.K. Cosmic perspective responses, EEG coherence, and the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program, J Moral Ed. 1983;12;166-173.
  6. Sharma, H., Nidich, S., Sands, D., & Smith, E. Improvements in cardiovascular risk factors through panchakarma purification procedures, J Res Educ Indian Med. 1993;12:1-13.
  7. Nidich, S.I., Morehead, P., Nidich, R.J., Sands, D., & Sharma, H.M.. The effect of the Maharishi Student Rasayana food supplement on non-verbal intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences. 1993;15:599-602.
  8. Nidich, S., Nidich, & Rainforth, R. (1986). School effectiveness: Achievement gains at the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. Education, 1986; 107, 49-54.
  9. Nidich, R.. & Nidich. S.. Filipino teachers and stress, Clearinghouse, 1987.
  10. Nidich, S., & Nidich, R. (1989). Increased academic achievement at Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment: A replication study. Education, 1989; 109, 302-304.
  11. Schneider, R., Nidich, S., Salerno, J., Sharma, H., Robinson, Nidich, R., & Alexander, C.N. Reduced lipid peroxide levels in practitioners of Transcendental Meditation. Psychosom Med. 1998;60:38-41.
  12. Calderon, R., Schneider, R., Alexander, C.N, Myers, H, Nidich, S, Haney, C. Stress, stress reduction and hypercholesterolemia in African Americans and whites: A review. Ethn Dis. 1999;9:451-462.
  13. Nidich, S, Nidich, R., & Alexander, C.N.. Moral development and higher states of consciousness, J Adult Devel. 2000; 33:217-227.
  14. Castillo-Richmond, A., Schneider, R., Alexander, C., Cook, R., Myers, H., Nidich, S, Haney, C., Rainforth, M., & Salerno, J. Effects of stress reduction on carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive African Americans. Stroke, 2000;31:568-573.
  15. Schneider, R.H., Nidich, S.I., & Salerno, J. The Transcendental Meditation program: Reducing the risk of heart disease and mortality and improving quality of life in African Americans. Ethn Dis. (Suppl.); 2001;11;159-160.
  16. Nidich, S., Schneider, R., Rainforth, M., Grimm, C.E., & Li, J. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on depression in African Americans with coronary heart disease. Annals Behav Med, 2001;23:S057.
  17. Nidich, S., Schneider, R., Nidich, R., Rainforth, M., Scharf, D., Salerno, J., Smith, D.E., Dillbeck , M., & Nader, T. Effect of Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology on the quality of life of patients with chronic illness. Frontiers Biosci, 2001;6:h1-6.
  18. Schneider, R., Castillo-Richmond, A., Alexander, R., Myers, H., Kaushik, V., Aranguri, C., Norris, K., Haney, C., Rainforth, M., & Nidich, S.. Behavioral treatment of hypertensive heart disease in African Americans: Rationale and design of a randomized controlled trial. Behav Med. 2001;27:83-94.
  19. Fields, J., Walton, K., Schneider, R., Nidich, S., Pomerantz, R., Suchdev, P., Castillo-Richmond, A., Payne, K., Clark, E., & Rainforth, M. Effect of a multimodality natural medicine program on carotid atherosclerosis in older subjects: A pilot trial of Maharishi Vedic Medicine. Am J Cardiol. 2002;89:952-958.
  20. Nidich R.J., Nidich S.I., & Schneider R.H.. The Transcendental Meditation program and quality of life in breast cancer patients: A feasibility study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2003; 55:153.
  21. Nidich S.I., Schneider R.H., Fields J.Z., & Rainforth M. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on emotional well-being in elderly breast cancer patients: Preliminary results from a randomized controlled study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2003; 55:153-154.
  22. Nidich S.I., Grandinetti A., Schneider R.H., Chang H., Ricketts L., & Toomey M. The Transcendental Meditation program and cardiovascular disease in native Hawaiians. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2003; 55:144-145.
  23. Walton K.G., Schneider R.H., Nidich S.I., Salerno J.W., Nordstrom C.K., & Bairey Merz C.N. Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease part 2: Effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation technique in treatment and prevention. Behav Med. 2004:28:106-123.
  24. Walton, K., Schneider, R., & Nidich, S. Review of controlled research on the Transcendental Meditation program and cardiovascular disease: Risk factors, morbidity and mortality. Cardiol in Rev. 2004:12:261-266.
  25. Grim C, Dalmar A., Fenderson H., LaFave A., Faizuddin M., Lawrence M., Nidich S., & Schneider R.. Stress Reduction and Prevention of Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in African Americans with angiographic CAD. Ethnicity and Disease, 2004, 14(Autumn): S2-57.
  26. Schneider, R., Alexander, C., Staggers, F., Orme-Johnson, D., Rainforth, M., Salerno, J., Sheppard, W., Castillo-Richmond, A., Barnes, V., & Nidich, S.. A randomized controlled trial of stress reduction in the treatment of hypertension in African Americans over one year. Amer J of Hypertension. 2005:18:88-98.
  27. Nidich, S.I., Smith, D.E., Sands, D., Sharma, H.M., Nidich, R.J. Barnes, V., Jossang, S. Maharishi Vedic Medicine panchakarma purification program and speed of processing. Pers Soc Psychol. 2005:17:565-570.
  28. Nidich, S, Schneider, R, Nidich, R, Foster, G, Salerno, J, & Sharma, H. Effect of the Transcendental Meditation program on the intellectual development of community-dwelling elderly adults. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2005:17:217-226.
  29. Schneider RH, Alexander CN, Salerno J, Rainforth M, & Nidich S. Stress reduction in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in high risk underserved populations: A review of controlled research on the Transcendental Meditation program. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005; 17:159-180.
  30. Nidich, S., Nidich, R. & Alexander, C.N. Moral development and higher states of consciousness. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2005.
  31. Schneider, RH, Alexander, CN, Staggers, F, Rainforth, M, Salerno, J.W, Hartz, A, Arndt, S., Barnes, V & Nidich, S. Long-term effects of stress reduction on mortality in persons > 55 years of age with systemic hypertension. Am J Cardiol. 2005:95:1060-1064.
  32. Walton K.G., Schneider R.H., Salerno J.W., & Nidich S.I. Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease 3: Clinical and policy implications of research on the Transcendental Meditation program. Behavioral Medicine, 2005; 30(4):173-83.
  33. Schneider R.H., Walton K.G., Salerno J.W., & Nidich S.I. Cardiovascular disease prevention and health promotion with the Transcendental Meditation program and Maharishi Consciousness-Based Health Care. Ethn Dis. 2006:16:15-26.
  34. Newberg A.B., Travis F., Wintering N., Nidich S., & Schneider R. Cerebral glucose metabolic changes associated with a meditation based relaxation technique. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2006; 47: 314.
  35. Paul-Labrador, M., Polk, D., Dwyer, J., Velasquez, I., Nidich, S., Rainforth, M., Schneider, R., & Bairey Merz, C.N. Effects of a randomized controlled trial of Transcendental Meditation on components of the metabolic syndrome in subjects with coronary heart disease. Arch Internal Med. 2006:166:1218-1224.
  36. Orme-Johnson, D., Schneider, R., Son, Y.D., Nidich, S., & Cho, Z.H. Neuroimaging of meditation’s effect on brain reactivity to pain. NeuroReport. 2006:17:1359-1363.
  37. Schneider R.H., Walton K.G., Salerno J.W., & Nidich S.I.. Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with the Transcendental Meditation Program and Maharishi Consciousness-Based Health Care. Ethnicity & Disease, 2006; 16(3):S4-15-26.
  38. Jayadevappa R., Johnson J., Nidich  S, Raziano  D, Chhatre  S, Johnson K, Desai S., & Schneider R. Effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation program for African Americans with congestive heart failure: A pilot randomized control study. Ethn Dis. 2007, 17: 72-77.
  39. Rainforth, M., Schneider, R., Nidich, S., King, C., Salerno, J., & Anderson, J. Stress reduction programs in patients with elevated blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Current Hypertension Reports, 2007: 9(6): 520-8, 2007.
  40. Nidich, S., Haaga, D., Rainforth, M., Hagelin, J., Tanner, M., Travis, F., Salerno, J., Gaylord-King, C., Grosswald, S., & Schneider, R. A Randomized Controlled Trial on Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Blood Pressure, Psychological Distress, and Coping in Young Adults. American Journal of Hypertension, 2009: 22: 1326-31.
  41. Travis F., Haaga D.H., Hagelin J., Tanner M., Nidich S., Gaylord-King C., Grosswald S., Rainforth M., & Schneider R.H.. Effects of Transcendental Meditation Practice on Brain Functioning and Stress Reactivity in College Students. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2009: 71(2): 170-6.
  42. Nidich, S., Field, J., Rainforth, M., Pomerantz, R., Cella, D., Kristeller, J., Salerno, J., & Schneider, R. A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Transcendental Meditation on Quality of Life in Older Breast Cancer Patients. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 2009: 8(3): 228-234.
  43. Schneider R., Nidich S., Kotchen J., Kotchen T., Grim C., Rainforth M., Gaylord-King C., & Salerno J. Effects of Stress Reduction on Clinical Events in African Americans With Coronary Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Circulation, 2009; 120:S461, 2009.
  44. Travis F., Haaga A., Hagelin J., Tanner M., Arenander A., Nidich S., Gaylord-King C., Grosswald S., Rainforth M., & Schneider R. A self-referential default brain state: patterns of coherence, power, and eLORETA sources during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation practice. 2010; Cognitive Processing, 11:21–30.
  45. Haaga D., Grosswald S., Gaylord-King C., Rainforth M., Tanner M., Travis F, Nidich S., & Schneider R. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Substance Use Among University Students. Cardiology Research and Practice, 2011: Mar 21;2011:537101. PMCID: PMC3087968
  46. Nidich, S.. Mjasiri, S.., Nidich, R., Rainforth, M., Grant, , Valosek, L., Chang, W., & Zigler, R. Academic achievement and Transcendental Meditation: A study with at-risk urban middle school students, Education, 2011: 131(3), 556-564.
  47. Elder C., Nidich S., Colbert R., Hagelin J., Grayshield L., Oviedo-Lim D., Nidich R., Rainforth M., Jones C., & Gerace D.. Reduced psychological distress in racial and ethnic minority students practicing the Transcendental Meditation Program. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 2011, 38(2), 109-116.
  48. Colbert R.D., Nidich S. Effect of the Transcendental Meditation Program on graduation, college acceptance and dropout rates for students attending an urban public high school. Education, 2013, 133(4), 495-501.
  49. Chhatre S., Metzger D.S., Frank I., Boyer J., Thompson E., Nidich S., Montaner L.J., Jayadevappa R. Effects of behavioral stress reduction Transcendental Meditation intervention in persons with HIV. AIDS Care. 2013; 25(10):1291-1297.
  50. Elder, C., Nidich, S., Moriarty, F., & Nidich, R. Effect of Transcendental Meditation on employee stress, depression, and burnout: A randomized controlled study. The Permanente Journal, 2014, 18(1):19-23.
  51. Rutledge, T., Nidich, S., Schneider, RH., Mills, P., Salerno, J., Heppner, P., Gomez, MA., Gaylord-King, C., Rainforth, M. Design and rationale of a comparative effectiveness trial evaluating Transcendental Meditation against established therapies for PTSD. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 2014, 39 (1):50-6.
  52. Duraimani, S., Schneider, R.H., Randall, O., Nidich, S., Xu, S., Ketete, M., Rainforth, M., Gaylord-King, C., Salerno, J., & Fagan, J. Effects of Lifestyle Modification on Telomerase Gene Expression in Hypertensive Patients: A Pilot Trial of Stress Reduction and Health Education Programs in African Americans. PLOS ONE, 2015, Nov 16;10(11):e0142689.
  53. Wendt, S., Hipps, J., Abrams, A., Grant, J., Valosek, L. & Nidich, S. Practicing Transcendental Meditation in high schools: Relationship to well-being and academic achievement among students. Contemporary School Psychology, 2015, 19(4), 312-319.
  54. Nidich S., O’Connor T., Rutledge T., Duncan J., Compton B., Seng A., & Nidich R. Reduced trauma symptoms and perceived stress in male prison inmates through the Transcendental Meditation program: A randomized controlled trial. The Permanente Journal, 2016, 20(4):43-47
  55. Nidich S., Seng A., Compton B., O’Connor, T., Salerno, J., & Nidich R. Reduced trauma symptoms and perceived stress in male prison inmates through the Transcendental Meditation program: A randomized controlled trial. The Permanente Journal, 2017, 21, 16-0008.
  56. Gryczynski, J., Schwartz R.P., Fishman, M.J. Nordeck, C.D.,  Grant, J., Nidich, S.,  Rothenberg, S., & O’Grady. K.E. (2018). Integration of Transcendental Meditation into alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2018, 87, 23-30.
  57. Goldstein, L., Nidich, S., Goodman R., & Goodman, D. (2018). The effect of Transcendental Meditation on self-efficacy, perceived stress, and quality of life in mothers in Uganda, Healthcare for Women International, 2018, 39(7), 734-754.
  58. Travis, F., Valosek, L., Konrad, A., Link, J., Salerno, J., Scheller, R., & Nidich, S. Effect of meditation on psychological distress and brain integration: A randomized controlled study. Brain and Cognition, 2018, 125, 100-105.
  59. Valosek, L., Link, J., Mills, P., Konrad, A., Rainforth, M., & Nidich, S. Effect of meditation on emotional intelligence and perceived stress in the workplace. The Permanente Journal, 2018, 22, 17-172.
  60. Nidich S., Mills P.J., Rainforth M., Heppner P., Schneider R.H., Rosenthal N., Salerno. J., Gaylord-King C., & Rutledge Non-trauma-focused meditation compared to exposure therapy in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: A randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2018, 5(12), 975-986.

Conference Presentations (selected presentations)

  1. Schneider R.H., Alexander C.N., Staggers F., Rainforth M., Salerno J., Aguilar‑Cervantes M., Nidich S. Randomized controlled trials of effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on cancer, cardiovascular, and all‑cause mortality: A meta‑analysis. Society for Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, March 3‑6, 1999.
  2. Nidich S.N., Schneider R.H. An analysis of Meditation research in the context of the biobehavioral model of psychosocial stress. Department of Psychology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, December, 1999.
  3. Schneider R.H., Nidich S.N. Meditation, stress and CVD risk factors: A review of research. School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, February 25, 2000.
  4. Schneider R.H., Nidich S.N. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on CVD risk factors: traditional and psychosocial. School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, February 25, 2000.
  5. Castillo-Richmond A., Schneider R.H., Alexander C., Cook R., Myers H., Nidich S.N., Haney C., Rainforth M., Salerno J.W. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive African American women, presented to the International Society for Hypertension in Blacks, Las Croabas, Puerto Rico, July, 2000.
  6. Nidich S.N., Schneider R.H., Rainforth M., Grim C. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on depression in African Americans with coronary artery disease. Presented to the annual conference of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Seattle, Washington, March 21-24, 2001.
  7. Nidich S.N., Schneider R.H. Effect of the Transcendental Meditation program on the quality of life of cancer patients. Presented to the annual conference of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Seattle, Washington, March 21-24, 2001.
  8. Nidich S.N., Schneider R.H., Rainforth M., Grim C. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on depression in African Americans with coronary artery disease. Presented to the annual conference of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Seattle, Washington, March 21-24, 2001.
  9. Nidich S., Castillo-Richmond A., Schneider R., Cook R., Rainforth M., Myers H. Transcendental Meditation and regression of carotid atherosclerosis in African Americans: Subgroup risk factor analysis. Presented at the International Scientific Conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medical Research, Boston, Massachusetts, April 12-14, 2002.
  10. Nidich S., Grandinetti A., Schneider R., Healani K., Ricketts L., Toomey M.; Stress, Stress Reduction and CVD in native Hawaiians: Rationale, design, and feasibility data for a trial of the Transcendental Meditation program and health education. World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine, Hawaii, August, 2003.
  11. Schneider R.H., Alexander C.N., Staggers F., Orme-Johnson D.W., Rainforth M., Salerno J.W., Castillo-Richmond A., Barnes V.A., Nidich S.I. Effects of stress reduction on hypertension in African Americans: A randomized controlled trial over one year. Presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Orlando, Florida, November 9-12, 2003.
  12. Schneider R., Nidich S., Kotchen J., Kotchen T., Grim C., Rainforth M., Gaylord-King C., Salerno J. Effects of Stress Reduction on Clinical Events in African Americans with Coronary Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. November 14-18, 2009. Orlando, Florida.
  13. Gaylord-King C., Walton K., Rainforth M., Randall O.S., Salerno J., Nidich S., Harris C., Xu S., Strayhorn G, Schneider R. Effects of stress reduction on dyslipedemia in diabetic African American women. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. November 7-11, 2009. Philadelphia, PA.
  14. Nidich S., Toomey M., Myers H., Rainforth M., Grandinetti A., Salerno J., Gaylord-King C., Schneider R. Reduced Symptoms of Depression in Older Minority Subjects At Risk for CVD: Randomized Controlled Mind-body Intervention Trials. Presented at the 31st Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. April 7 – 10, 2010. Seattle, WA
  15. Nidich, S.. Mental Health and Maharishi AyurVeda: Theory and Research. Brazil Ministry of Health Conference on Complementary and Integrated Medicine, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March, 2018.
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