Ascension Mind-Body Summit & Lunch
Kristin Cecchi and Carolyn Murphy Host Wellness Panel at City Tavern
Kristin Rae Cecchi & Carolyn Murphy hosted the first annual Ascension Mind-Body Summit & Lunch on Thursday, April 24, 2025 at City Tavern in Georgetown.
This special bipartisan scientific gathering leveraged the prominent platform of White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) weekend to explore America’s growing health crisis through the lens of the brain-gut connection and integrative wellness.
Following lunch, Kristin welcomed the 200+ invited guests and introduced the panel who shared personal stories of overcoming disease, and healing through improved diet, lifestyle changes and developing a deeper understanding of the connection between mind and body.
A globally recognized holistic nutritionist, entrepreneur, and corporate wellness strategist, Mona Sharma shared her personal journey of the healing power of food.
After two heart surgeries, experiencing chronic anxiety, and burning out in the corporate world, Mona Sharma returned to her Ayurvedic roots and freed herself from medication, lost 40 pounds, and began healing from the inside out.
She has a deep commitment to gut health, guiding clients to reconnect with their body’s innate ability to heal through nutrition, stress resilience, and holistic practices.
Her story began two decades ago when Dr. Mussallem survived stage IV aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The new therapies that saved her life took a toll on her heart and in 2003 doctors diagnosed her with advanced heart failure. In 2021, she received a new heart. She ran a full marathon, setting a record as the first person to run a marathon just one year after a heart transplant.
For her survival success, Dr. Mussallem credits talented doctors, cutting-edge cancer and transplant care, and a steadfast commitment to a healthy lifestyle.
Her patients at the Mayo Clinic are encouraged to embrace her six pillars of lifestyle medicine — nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connections.
Passionate about brain health, Dr. Phyllis Ferrell retired after three decades at Eli Lilly & Company to help organizations transform health systems around the world.
When her father was diagnosed with the devastating disease, Dr. Phyllis Ferrell, with her team worked to bring three Alzheimer’s drugs to late-stage trials. But it was too late for her dad.
As she explained, we now know the disease starts in the brain 10 to 20 years before symptoms appear. The key is early detection, and some tests already exist — they’re just not being done. Her goal is to change how health care system approach Alzheimer’s.
We should be treating the brain like every other organ in the body, where it’s part of your annual checkup. Everyone over 55 should be getting cognitive assessments and biomarker tests as part of their annual checkups.
She’s served as a strategic advisor to multiple high-profile Alzheimer’s organizations, and now marshaling her experience to lead StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot.
Moderating the audience discussion was the signature face of Estee Lauder, supermodel Carolyn Murphy. A strong advocate for animal rights, organic farming, ocean conservancy and wellness, she is ambassador for Surfrider, The Wellness Foundation, Animal Haven, Edible Schoolyard NY, Ocean Unite and No More Plastic.
