Contributor

Rita Nakashima Brock

Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Programs at Volunteers of America, Theologian and Lifelong Activist for Peace

Dr. Brock is an expert on moral injury and its relationship to other traumas, especially in military veterans. A native of Fukuoka, Japan, she came to the U.S. at the age of six and was raised in a military family. She earned her Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University in 1988 and became the first Asian American woman ever to earn a doctorate in theology and the first to serve on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Religion. She was a professor of religion and women's studies for 18 years before becoming Director of the Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, a think tank for distinguished scholars, scientists, artists, and humanitarian activists. From 2001-2002, she was a fellow at the Harvard Divinity School Center for Values in Public Life. An international lecturer and award winning author, her book Saving Paradise, co-authored with Rebecca Parker, was selected by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the best religion books of 2008. Her most recent book is Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War, co-authored with Gabriella Lettini.