Harvard Health Blog Experts

Dr. Ellen Braaten is associate director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP) at MGH, and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Braaten received her MA in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado, and her PhD in psychology from Colorado State University.

Dr. Braaten is widely recognized as an expert in the field of pediatric neuropsychological and psychological assessment, particularly in the areas of assessing learning disabilities and attentional disorders. She has been the recipient of funding to conduct research studies on children with nonverbal learning disabilities and attentional disorders, and has published numerous papers, chapters and reviews on ADHD, learning disabilities, gender and psychopathology, intelligence and neuropsychology, and psychological assessment of children. Dr. Braaten is the co-author of Straight Talk about Psychological Testing for Kids, a book that has become a classic for parents and professionals. She also wrote The Child Clinician’s Report Writing Handbook, which has been called “the most comprehensive child assessment handbook available.” In 2010 she published How to Find Mental Health Care for Your Child, and most recently co-authored Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up (published in August 2014), a book for parents that addresses slow processing speed in children.

Since getting his MD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Michael Bierer has been at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for over 30 years. Along the way he got an MPH in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health and a participated in a Fellowship in Addiction Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Boston VA.

Dr. Bierer is currently a physician on staff in Internal Medicine at MGH and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has busy primary care and addictions practices. Dr. Bierer has been teaching staff and residents about the management of addictions for many years. He is currently part of the new hospital-wide effort to address substance use disorders in a comprehensive and innovative, multidisciplinary program. He is also one of the “voices” of the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Dr. Uma Naidoo is a nutritional psychiatrist and serves as the director of nutritional & lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Naidoo trained at the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and completed a consultation liaison fellowship at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Naidoo studied nutrition, and she also graduated from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts as a professional chef. She was awarded her culinary school’s most coveted award, the MFK Fisher Award for Innovation. Dr. Naidoo is regarded nationally and internationally as a pioneer in the field of nutritional psychiatry, having founded the first US hospital-based clinical service in this area. She is the author of the upcoming title, This is Your Brain on Food. With her passion for food and nutritional psychiatry, she will share her expertise on the integration of food, mental health, and medicine.

Uma Naidoo, M.D.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/umanaidoomd/

Maneet Kaur, M.D. is Associate Chief for the department of rheumatology at VA Boston Health Care System. Double board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, she is an appointed lecturer at Harvard Medical School. In addition to practicing general adult rheumatology, she is certified in bone densitometry from International Society of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD). Dr. Kaur is passionate about educating and informing the patients she cares for and believes strongly in helping the larger community understand specific illnesses and treatment options as well as how to take an active role in one’s health care.

Elizabeth (Beth) Pegg Frates, MD is a pioneer in lifestyle medicine education, and an award-winning teacher at Harvard Medical School as well as Harvard Extension School. She currently practices lifestyle medicine through her health and wellness coaching company, Wellness Synergy, LLC.

Beth graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, majoring in both psychology and biology. She then attended Stanford Medical School, interned at Massachusetts General Hospital, and completed her residency in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, where she served as chief resident.

After residency, Beth focused on stroke and specifically stroke prevention. After co-authoring a book titled Life After Stroke: The Guide to Recovering Your Health and Preventing Another Stroke, Beth spent a great deal of time lecturing and writing about health and prevention topics, including nutrition and exercise. Fascinated by how to empower people to adopt healthy habits, Beth pursued further training in behavior change through coaching programs and motivational interviewing courses. Beth has co-authored papers and book chapters on behavior change.

In 2008, Beth developed the concept of a lifestyle medicine interest group (LMIG) and has been successfully running one at Harvard Medical School (HMS) since that time. These LMIGs offer a parallel curriculum for students interested in healthy habits to learn about basic concepts in lifestyle medicine through “lunch and learn” lectures. As board liaison for the Professionals In Training (PiT) program at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), Beth has created standardized PowerPoints on Lifestyle Medicine Basics, Exercise Prescription, Nutrition, and Behavior Change for faculty and students wanting to launch their own LMIG at their school. These are available on the ACLM website.

Since 1996, Beth has been on faculty at Harvard Medical School and has won multiple teaching awards for her work in many different pre-clinical core courses including nutrition, musculoskeletal system, central nervous system, endocrine system, and introduction to the professions. She is an assistant professor (part-time) at the Harvard department of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Most recently, Beth created an entire college curriculum on lifestyle medicine for a Harvard Extension School undergraduate- and graduate-level course, which many physicians and pre-meds have taken each year. This is the first full-semester lifestyle medicine course offered at Harvard University. Beth received an award for her teaching in this course as well, and the course was chosen as a case study for successful courses at the Harvard Extension School.

Merging her training in physical medicine and rehabilitation with her training in lifestyle medicine and coaching, Beth has developed novel wellness programs for stroke survivors and their caregivers based on lifestyle medicine principles (nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, connection). Currently, Beth serves as the director of wellness programming at the Stroke Institute for Research and Recovery at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate.

Dr. Monique Tello is a practicing physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, director of research and academic affairs for the MGH DGM Healthy Lifestyle Program, clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, and author of the evidence-based lifestyle change guide Healthy Habits for Your Heart. She completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency training program at Yale/New Haven Hospital. After residency, she earned a master’s in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and fellowship in general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is half Latina, speaks Spanish, and maintains a close relationship with her extended family in Guatemala. She is married to local sports broadcaster Bob Socci, and they have two young children, one with autism. She writes a popular blog, www.DrMoniqueTello.com, about achieving balance, health, and wellness from the perspective of doctor and mother.

Dr. Steven Adelman graduated from Harvard College, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the McLean Hospital psychiatry residency program of Harvard Medical School. He has worked as a medical leader at Atrius Health and Physician Health Services, Inc. He is certified in addiction medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine, and he serves as a consultant in psychiatry for the division of alcohol and drug abuse at McLean Hospital. He is also an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.

Dr. Atlas is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Practice-Based Research and Quality Improvement in the Division of General Internal Medicine Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is also a practicing primary care physician. His research interests include spine disorders, cancer prevention, and population health as well as engaging patients in their health care. Dr. Atlas serves as a medical editor for low back and neck pain for UpToDate, an electronic knowledge resource for clinicians, and for the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, part of Healthwise, where he has developed shared decision making programs to better inform patients about their treatment options.

Andrea S. Christopher, MD, MPH is an internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance and fellow in general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. She received her MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine, completed post-graduate training in internal medicine at the University of Washington and completed her MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Christopher’s research focuses on disparities in access to health care for vulnerable populations, specifically the financial burden of out-of-pocket healthcare expenses and the impact of health insurance on chronic disease management.

Leo Newhouse, LICSW, is a Senior Social Worker in Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). In this capacity, he works with patients and families coping with life-limiting illness, aging, and loss. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, and—weather permitting—riding his bike along Boston’s Emerald Necklace.

Michaela Kane is an intern with Harvard Health Publishing. Prior to working at Harvard, she was a writing intern at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Communication and Public Affairs office. Michaela received her B.A. from the University of Arizona where she studied journalism and neuroscience, and she recently earned her master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University.

Kathy McManus is Director of the Department of Nutrition and Director of the Dietetic Internship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School in Boston. In addition, she serves as the Director for Nutrition at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the Director of Nutrition and Behavior Modification Programs for the Program for Weight Management at the Brigham.

Ms. McManus has been involved with a number of cardiovascular and obesity related research trials during her years at the Brigham including an NIH funded obesity study, POUNDS (Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies) Lost as a co-investigator.

Celia is an assistant editor at Harvard Health Publishing. Celia received her B.A. from Wake Forest University where she studied Biology and Classical Studies, and she recently earned her Masters in Science in Science Journalism from Boston University.

Elizabeth Matzkin, MD, is the chief of the Women’s Sports Medicine program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Highly regarded for her accomplishments in education, research, and patient care, she has developed a world-class program for female athletes, which includes a research component.

Matzkin completed her surgical and orthopedic residency training at the University of Hawaii. From there, she completed a fellowship in Shoulder and Sports Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. During that time she served as an assistant team physician to the Duke University football and men’s basketball teams. Before coming to at BWH, she was an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Matzkin’s clinical practice focuses on disorders of the shoulder, knee, and sports-related injuries. She specializes in advanced open and arthroscopic surgical techniques to restore damaged joints, ligaments, and bones. Her memberships include the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, and Arthroscopy Association of North America. She also serves on the Women’s Health Issues Advisory Board and the Council of Delegates for the American Society for Sports Medicine.

In her free time, she enjoys running, playing ice hockey, and spending time with her husband and three daughters.

Dr. Sarah Wakeman is the Medical Director for the Mass General Hospital Substance Use Disorder Initiative and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is also the Medical Director of the Mass General Hospital Addiction Consult Team and a clinical lead of the Partners Healthcare Substance Use Disorder Initiative. She received her A.B. from Brown University and her M.D. from Brown Medical School. She completed residency training in internal medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident at Mass General Hospital. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. She is secretary for the Massachusetts Society of Addiction Medicine and chair of the policy committee. She previously served on Governor Baker’s Opioid Addiction Working Group.

Clinically she provides specialty addiction and general medical care in the inpatient and outpatient setting at Mass General Hospital and the Mass General Charlestown Health Center. Her active research projects include a study evaluating the impact of addiction consultation on hospitalized medical patients with substance use disorder; a qualitative study exploring the role of recovery coaches for patients with substance use disorder; the healthcare cost and utilization impact of increased addiction treatment services across a health system; and the impact of a hospital-wide substance use disorder initiative on physician attitudes, preparedness, and clinical practice related to substance use disorder.

Margaret Moore is a 17-year veteran of the biotechnology industry in the US, UK, Canada, France. In 2000, Margaret founded Wellcoaches Corporation, in strategic partnership with the American College of Sports Medicine, which has trained more than 10,000 health professionals as health and wellness coaches in 45 countries. Margaret is co-founder and co-director of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and co-director of the annual Coaching in Leadership & Healthcare conference offered by Harvard Medical School. Margaret teaches a Science of Coaching Psychology program at Harvard University Extension School. She co-founded and co-leads the National Consortium for Credentialing Health & Wellness Coaches, and led the formation of a strategic partnership with the National Board of Medical Examiners to deliver national standards and certification for health and wellness coaches. Margaret co-authored the Coaching Psychology Manual published by Wolters Kluwer (2009, 2015), and two Harvard Health books: Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life (Harlequin, 2012), and Organize Your Emotions, Optimize Your Life (William Morrow, 2016).

Dr. Charlotte Yeh is the Chief Medical Officer for AARP Services, Inc. In her role, Dr. Yeh works with the independent carriers that make health-related products and services available to AARP members, to identify programs and initiatives that will lead to enhanced care for older adults

Dr. Yeh has more than 30 years of healthcare experience – as a practitioner and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Tufts Medical Center, as the Medical Director for the National Heritage Insurance Company, a Medicare Part B claims contractor, and as the Regional Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Boston.

Dr. Yeh is widely recognized for her commitment to and passion for the healthcare consumer and has received numerous honors for her efforts on behalf of patients. As a health care leader, she has served on numerous boards and committees throughout her career, and currently sits on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation Board, the Optum Labs Scientific Advisory Board, and the HX360 Advisory Board.

Dr. Yeh received a BA from Northwestern University and her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School. She completed her internship in General Surgery at the University of Washington and her residency in Emergency Medicine at UCLA.

Emergency Physician, Cambridge Health Alliance Department of Emergency Medicine

Education:
Post-graduate Training: Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston

Doctor of Medicine: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

Undergraduate Degree: Bachelor of Science in Biology/Biotechnology from Tufts University Medford, MA

Paul G. Mathew, MD, FAAN FAHS is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and holds clinical positions at three HMS affiliated institutions. He serves as the Director of Continuing Medical Education at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Department of Neurology, John R. Graham Headache Center. He is also a staff neurologist at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates/Atrius Health and the Cambridge Health Alliance. He completed his neurology residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, and then completed a fellowship in headache medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is board certified in neurology and headache medicine. In addition to conventional headache treatments, Dr. Mathew performs Botox injections, trigger point injections, and nerve blocks.

In terms of his academic responsibilities, he has been involved in the training of neurology, psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, and dental residents, as well as two headache medicine fellows per year. Regarding medical student education, he is the founder and clerkship director of the Harvard Medical School Advanced Neurology Clerkship. He also serves on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School Cambridge Integrated Clerkship.

He has written multiple publications, and has presented at both national and international conferences. Dr. Mathew serves as a peer reviewer for multiple journals including Cephalalgia, Headache, Headache Currents, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Neurology, the British Medical Journal, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He is the Co-Chief Medical Editor of the journal Practical Neurology. He is a member of several medical societies including the Massachusetts Neurological Association, the American Academy of Neurology, the Headache Cooperative of New England, the American Headache Society, and the International Headache Society.

Dr. Mathew also applies his passion and expertise to the role of advocate for both patients and fellow physicians. He has participated in multiple successful lobbying efforts in Washington, DC headed by the American Academy of Neurology to improve patients’ access to healthcare. In March, 2015, Dr. Mathew was appointed as the neurology representative on the advisory board of the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons. The National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (www.NBPAS.org) is an organization committed to providing board re-certification that ensures physician compliance with national standards and lifelong learning after completing initial board certification with an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Board.

Andrea Chisholm, MD is an OB/GYN at the Cambridge Health Alliance and a Clinical Instructor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School. In addition to writing for Harvard Health Publishing, Dr. Chisholm writes about Menstrual Disorders for Verywell.com.

Dr. John Limouze is associate chief of the Division of Hospitalist Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, a lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Master’s Student at Harvard’s Center for Bioethics. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan. His academic interests include medical professionalism, conscience, and providing care to vulnerable populations.

Dr. Shannon Manzi has practiced pediatric pharmacy for more than 20 years and pediatric emergency medicine for 15 years. She is currently the Director of the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Service and the Manager for ED and ICU Pharmacy Services at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also an NR-EMT and has served as a pediatric expert for the Strategic National Stockpile, the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism, the CDC and MADPH. In addition, Shannon is the Lead Pharmacist for the Massachusetts–1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team and has deployed twelve times, including responses to major hurricanes, the Haitian earthquake and the Unaccompanied Minor Border Crossing mission. She has been a simulation instructor at BCH for 6 years and runs several unique programs related to disaster and prehospital medicine. She holds a faculty position with the Computational Health Informatics Program at BCH and clinical adjunct faculty positions at Northeastern University and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences University. Shannon has authored over 35 publications and presented numerous national and international workshops and lectures on pediatric emergency medicine, simulation and disaster related topics.

David Scales, MPhil, MD, PhD is a physician, sociologist and faculty member at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School. David received his BA in Chemistry and American History from the University of Pennsylvania, received a scholarship to study History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Cambridge University then completed his MD and PhD degrees at Yale University, where his dissertation focused on the World Health Organization’s efforts to track and manage the spread of diseases across international borders. His post-doctoral work at HealthMap.org included working on BioMosaic, a Centers for Disease Control project mapping the intersection of demography, migration and infectious diseases and volunteering for SyriaTracker, a non-profit tracking human rights abuses in Syria. David completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, where he currently works as a Hospitalist.

David’s clinical interests focus on providing care to the medically underserved both in the US and in the Middle East. Focusing on migrants and refugees, he works with local NGOs Questscope and the Lajee Center, in Jordan and Palestine respectively, advising them as they address structural determinants of health by promoting agency and minimizing health inequalities. With a certificate in medical interpreting in Levantine Arabic, David’s writing centers on medical communication – between healthcare providers, in the doctor-patient relationship and to the general public. He has written for Aeon, MedPage Today and is a contributor to WBUR’s CommonHealth.

Richard G. Frank, PhD, is the Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. From 2009 to 2011, he served as the deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at DHHS directing the office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy. From 2013 to 2014, he served as a Special Advisor to the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, and from 2014 to 2016 he served as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services. His research is focused on the economics of mental health and substance abuse care, long term care financing policy, health care competition, implementation of health reform and disability policy. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine) in 1997. He is co-author with Sherry Glied of the book Better but Not Well (Johns Hopkins Press).

Dominic Wu, MD, completed his undergraduate studies and medical school at Brown University and was elected to the AOA honor medical society. At Brown, he focused his studies on human biology, public health, and comparative anatomy/paleontology. During his medical training, he was ultimately drawn to the broad spectrum, holistic field of Family Medicine with special interests in Dermatology. He is currently a resident physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Tufts and Harvard Medical School. He has many medical interests, including dermatology, psychocutaneous disorders, telemedicine, and medical education.