Elif M. GokcigdemElif M. Gokcigdem, Ph.D., is the founder of Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative. She is an innovative thought leader, a historian of Islamic art, and a museums scholar who is committed to creating fertile grounds of empathy through informal larning platforms to inspire positive behavior change, caring mindsets, and compassionate worldviews that value all of humanity and the planet. Gokcigdem is the author of two visionary books on empathy-building: Fostering Empathy Through Museums (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), and Designing for Empathy: Perspectives on the Museum Experience (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). She is the chief curator and co-chair of the world’s first museums and empathy summit titled: “Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama,” which took place in October-November, 2018 in Dharamsala, India. Read More Read Less