Naj Wikoff, a Fulbright  Senior Specialist, is the founder of the Arts and Healing Retreat and leads our retreats for men. His experience as Director of the Healing and the Arts Project at the C. Everett Koop Institute of the Dartmouth Medical School and his compassion for women friends living with cancer brought Naj to envision the retreat. He attends each retreat, acting as welcoming committee, facilitating evaluations, and guiding the program.

Naj, who has received Trauma Resiliency Model training from the Trauma Resource Institute, is a visual artists and arts manager who has been working in the field of arts and health since 1986, then as director of Arts & Productions for the Cathedral St. John the Divine. He is the author of the Americans for the Arts monographs Cultures of Care, The Arts in Times of Trauma and Arts in Medicine: Linking Culture to Care; Taking Care Starts in Medical School for Medscape; Art in Hospitals for State magazine; and Bringing the Arts Back into Healthcare for Russia Today, amongst others. He serves as a consultant to many leading hospitals around the United States, as an ambassador for the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, and as a community representative for Homeward Bound Adirondacks.