Dr. Cindy Visscher is a faculty specialist in the Department of Comparative Religion and serves as an Adjunct Community Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. She earned a B.B.A. and M.B.A. from Grand Valley State University, and a M.A. in Comparative Religion and Ph.D. in Sociology from Western Michigan University.

Her research focus includes religious diversity and pluralism in the United States with an emphasis on spirituality, culture and health, interfaith relations, and religion and immigration. Dr. Visscher’s work on religion, culture and health has been published in the “Eye on Religion” series in the Southern Medical Journal and in the Interreligious Insight journal.

Her teaching philosophy centers around developing a learning community where each participant can engage in and apply the course materials and activities to their own goals and aspirations as a scholar. "I view my role as a curator of content that will spark new ideas and offer lenses with which to view the world in new or more considered ways. Once the content is selected, my teaching is complete. As students encounter their courses, I am a coach, mentor, and co-learner."

Dr. Visscher coordinates the Western Michigan University Spirituality, Culture and Health graduate programs