Harvard Health Blog Experts

Daniel Kirshenbaum, MD, is a general cardiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Boston Medical Center (BMC), also serving as Chief Medical Resident, where he then went on to also complete his clinical cardiology fellowship. He has academic interests in digital health, as well as the use of technology to enhance medical education.

Kathleen J. Haley, MD, is a physician in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She graduated from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and then completed an Internal Medicine Residency at the New England Deaconess Hospital followed by fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine at the New England Deaconess Hospital and Critical Care Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Haley is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she attends in the Medical and Thoracic Intensive Care Units. Additionally, she serves as the Medical Director for the BWH Ventilator Service at Spaulding Hospital Cambridge. She is active in clinical research, where her interests include asthma and chronic critical illness.

Inga T. Lennes MD, MPH, MBA grew up in the midwest and came to the east coast for college. She attended Mount Holyoke College for her undergraduate degree and went on to attend the University of Massachusetts Medical School for her medical degree. Dr. Lennes completed her internal medicine residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and also was a Chief Medical Resident at BIDMC. She trained as a Hematology and Oncology Fellow in the Dana Farber/Mass General Brigham Cancer Care Fellowship.

Dr. Lennes is a medical oncologist in the Center for Thoracic Cancers and specializes in seeing all lung cancers and esophageal cancer. She is the founder and director of the Pulmonary Nodule Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital and works closely with colleagues to study and implement lung cancer screening and improve nodule management. Dr. Lennes is the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Senior Vice President for Service Excellence and Practice Improvement.

Alan Geller, MPH, RN, is a senior lecturer in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he teaches a course entitled “Successes and Challenges in Health Behavior Change,” which focuses on large public health challenges and interventions, often incorporating studies from education, housing, and labor. He has a long-standing academic interest in cancer prevention and cancer screening, with a particular expertise in melanoma. Additionally, he has an avid interest in tobacco cessation in low-socioeconomic-status populations.

Jennifer Crystal is a health writer, educator, and patient advocate in Boston. Her work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Cognoscenti, and many other major publications. She runs the Writing to Heal Program at GrubStreet Creative Writing Center, and has taught at Middlebury College and Lesley University. Jennifer holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA from Emerson College. She has completed a summer of study at the Bread Loaf School of English, and the Workshop in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. Her memoir, which explores questions of identity and belonging through the lens of a young person whose life has been involuntarily interrupted, is on submission.

Alice Cai is a clinical sleep fellow at Clinical Sleep Fellow in the combined Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital program. She is a recent graduate from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s Neurology residency, and has previously contributed to publications on intracerebral hemorrhage, toxic causes of delirium, impact of anesthesia on preoperative memory, and parasomnias. She previously helped investigate targets for non-opioid pain medicines in the area of pharmacology. Currently, her primary academic interests lie in overlap areas between Neurological conditions and sleep, including long term impacts of sleep deprivation on development of dementia. She earned her medical degree at Washington University in St. Louis, and a bachelor of science in Biochemistry as well as Molecular Biology at the University of Arizona.

Chester M. Hedgepeth, III, MD, PhD, is a cardiovascular specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hedgepeth also serves as the executive chief of cardiology for the Care New England Health System, and chief of cardiology at Kent and Memorial Hospitals in Rhode Island.

Dr. Hedgepeth received his medical degree from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed an internal medicine residency and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and electrophysiology at BWH. He is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Hedgepeth founded, and currently leads, the BWH/Kent Hospital cardiac telemedicine service, which provides consultative support for Kent Hospital. His clinical and research interests include coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, and the mechanisms of arrhythmic death after myocardial infarction. His research has received support from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Rose L. Molina is an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Follow Dr. Molina on Twitter @Rose_L_Molina.

Dr. Joseph R. Betancourt is the vice president and chief equity and inclusion officer of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); the founder, senior advisor, and faculty of the Disparities Solutions Center at MGH; faculty at the Mongan Institute; an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; and a practicing internal medicine physician. Dr. Betancourt is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in health policy, health care disparities, diversity, and cross-cultural medicine.

Sarah Wilkie, MS, is a project manager in quality and patient experience at Mass General Brigham Integrated Health Care System. In this role, Sarah leads a team responsible for implementation of systemwide efforts in clinical and community-based health equity. Sarah received a master of science in health policy and administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Catherine Ullman Shade, Ph.D. M.Ed. is the Director of Education at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH)’s Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program, where she coordinates educational and outreach services for children with complex congenital heart disease. Prior to her current position, Dr. Ullman Shade worked in BCH’s Developmental Medicine Center, and as a teacher, instructional coach, professional development trainer, educational researcher, and curriculum designer, in settings including K-12 schools and nonprofit organizations.

Lauren Ko, MD, M.Ed, is a dermatology resident physician at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Program. She received her undergraduate education at Columbia University, and thereafter received her Masters in Education in New York City where she taught elementary school for four years. She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Her clinical and research interests include inpatient and complex medical dermatology, medical education, and cutaneous manifestations of systemic disease.

Dr. Annie Lewis-O’Connor is a dually board certified (pediatrics and women’s health) nurse practitioner. She is the founder and director of the C.A.R.E. Clinic (Coordinated Approach to Resiliency & Empowerment) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA; an associate scientist in the division of women’s health/department of medicine at BWH; and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Lewis-O’Connor addresses violence from four pillars: research, policy, education, and clinical practice. Currently, she is a clinical scholar with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2018–2021). Since 2012, she has served as co-chair of the Mass General Brigham Trauma-Informed Care Initiative.

She received her master’s in nursing from Simmons College in Boston, a master’s in public health from Boston University, and her PhD from Boston College.

Samar Hafida, MD, is an adult endocrinologist at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, MA. Her special interests include weight management and the effect of metabolic surgery in the management of type 2 diabetes. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Hafida is passionate about medical education and delivery of diabetes care to health systems. She is assistant director of global education and is involved in several education initiatives geared to a wide variety of learners and provides consultation to health systems on reforming diabetes care and improving outcomes.

Kemar J. Brown, MD, is a clinical and research fellow in cardiovascular medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. He completed his undergraduate education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received his medical degree from Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and thereafter completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2018. Dr. Brown has a clinical interest in heart failure and cardiac transplant. As a postdoctoral research fellow, his work focuses on understanding the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms of heart disease. He also studies social determinants of health and predicators of telemedicine use in ambulatory cardiovascular care. Follow Dr. Brown on Twitter @kemar_MD.

Aswita Tan-McGrory MBA, MSPH is director of the Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) and administrative director of the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She also is an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University. Ms. Tan-McGrory’s interests are in providing equitable care to BIPOC and immigrant populations. She speaks nationally and internationally to organizations about how race, ethnicity, and language impact the quality of care.

Anthony Joseph, MD, specializes in the medical, laser and surgical treatment of conditions that affect the retina and vitreous. His areas of expertise and interest include macular degeneration, diabetic eye disease, retinal vascular occlusions, macular holes, epiretinal membranes, retinal detachments, and proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
 

Prior to medical school, Dr. Joseph attended Stanford University where he earned bachelor’s degrees with distinction in both Biological Science and Economics. He also earned his Master’s degree in Information Science from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
 

Dr. Joseph received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his Internship in ophthalmology at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI and his ophthalmology residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California at Los Angeles. He went on to complete his fellowship training in vitreoretinal surgery at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston and the New England Eye Center at Tufts Medical Center.
 

Dr. Joseph is a Board-certified ophthalmologist and member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Medical Association, the American Medical Informatics Association, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He has authored numerous research articles and has presented his work nationally.

Justin Neiman serves as the associate ombudsperson for Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is a skilled dispute resolution professional who has experience working in academic, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. Prior to coming to Harvard, Justin served as an assistant dean at Stanford University, working in student affairs and teaching courses on leadership and interpersonal learning.

Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, is the social worker and research lead for the Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her background is in women’s reproductive biology and public health, and her research interests focus on the sexual and reproductive health of sexual and gender minority populations. In addition to her work at the Center, she runs the New England Gender C.A.R.E. Consortium, and has a small private therapy practice where she focuses on working with sexual, gender, and relationship minority clients.

Dr. Oren Ganor is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who specializes in complex reconstructions, microsurgery, and gender-affirming surgeries. He is co-director of the Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He is also deeply invested in clinical research, and aspires to use research to improve the field of gender-confirming surgery, provide the highest quality of care to patients, and educate the next generation of healthcare providers in gender care.

Dr. Kathryn Rexrode is the chief of the division of women’s health in the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is also an internist who practices at the Gretchen and Edward Fish Center for Women’s Health. Dr. Rexrode has broad and deep research experience in women’s health, with a particular interest in the role of metabolic and hormonal factors in chronic disease, as well as the understanding of sex differences. She is the author of more than 250 research publications.

Miriam Barshak, MD, is an Infectious Disease Specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.


Dr. Barshak’s undergraduate education was at Stanford University, where she earned a BS in Biological Sciences. She then graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at the Partners’ Combined Program in Infectious Diseases (Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital). Dr. Barshak has extensive experience in treating patients with infections. Through her work at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, she has gained extensive experience and expertise in treating eye and ear infections.

John Kevin Tucker, MD is Chief of Renal Medicine at Brigham/Faulkner Hospital, former director of the BWH/MGH Joint Nephrology Fellowship Program and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tucker has received recognition as an outstanding teacher during his tenure at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Renal Division. He earned an MD from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree from Birmingham-Southern College.

Suzanne Koven, MD, MFA, is a primary care physician and the inaugural writer-in-residence at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is also an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her writing has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Boston Globe, The Lancet, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications, and has been featured on National Public Radio. Her book Letter to a Young Female Physician: Notes From a Medical Life was published by W.W. Norton & Co. in May 2021. (Photo credit: Patrick B. Duffy)