MFD Board

 
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Sumi Loundon Kim

Teacher EmerItus & MFD Founder

Sumi Loundon Kim was the founder of Mindful Families of Durham and primary teacher until May of 2018, as well as the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University. She recently published Sitting Together: A Family-Centered Curriculum on Mindfulness, Meditation & Buddhist Teachings (2017), and she has previously published two anthologies about young Buddhists: Blue Jean Buddha (2001) and The Buddha’s Apprentices (2005), among other articles and chapters. After receiving a master’s degree in Buddhist studies and Sanskrit from the Harvard Divinity School, she was the associate director for the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Originally brought up in a Soto Zen community in the 70s, she has been following the Theravada lineage since her teens. Sumi and her husband, a native of Korea and professor of Korean Buddhism and culture at Yale University, have two children. They live in New Haven Connecticut

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Christine Bixiones

PresiDent

Christine spent most of her growing up years in eastern North Carolina, but has been happily putting down roots in Durham with her husband and two children since 2015. Christine enjoys swimming and would be very content to garden as a full-time job. When not spending time with books, friends, and family Christine works in public health for an international non-profit. Through her board role, Christine enjoys strengthening the social parts of the MFD community.

Amy Bryant

Vice President

Amy is originally from Baltimore, and traveled and lived around the world before coming to the Triangle for work in 2009. It was supposed to be for 2 years, but she met her husband Brian and has been in Durham ever since. They now have two elementary aged children. For fun she likes to go for long walks with a podcast or a friend, get silly with her kids, enjoy leisurely dinners with lively conversation, and spend time with family and friends. Amy cherishes the welcoming and nurturing community MFD provides. Amy is a physician and educator who finds mindfulness and compassion practice to be essential to her work with patients and students. She currently organizes the adult teachers for MFD and enjoys interacting with and learning from the board.

Amy Kumar

Treasurer

Amy is originally from Connecticut and currentlly works as a physician in the Emergency Department of the Durham VA Hospital. When she is not working, she is busy spending time with her three daughters - shuttling them around to activities, playing sports & games, dancing, and watching movies with them. She also enjoys traveling, hiking, biking, going to the gym, and trying out restaurants with her husband. Amy started meditating in 2019 and has been a member of the MFD community since 2020. She loves having a community of like minded parents to meditate and share her parenting experience with. Mindfulness has helped her bring empathy, kindness, and compassion to her family, her patients and herself.

Jocelyn Dawson

Secretary

Jocelyn and her family joined Mindful Families of Durham about a year before the COVID pandemic and have found the community to be warm and welcoming. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Jocelyn has lived in the Triangle for over twenty years. She works in scholarly publishing and lives with her husband, elementary school-aged son, and two dogs. She is an avid reader and baker and enjoys checking out Durham's ever-evolving restaurant scene. Jocelyn is excited to be joining the board as the MFD secretary.