Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

As a practicing general internist for many years, Dr. Nobel experienced “the front lines” of health care and its delivery. Currently, through his faculty appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Nobel’s teaching, research, and community based projects address the design of healthcare delivery systems that improve quality, cost-effectiveness and access. His work has been the basis of significant improvements in preventative, acute, chronic, rehabilitative, and end of life medical care that focus on understanding what quality healthcare means from a patient perspective, and how best to deliver it. Dr. Nobel is also a recognized leader in the field of medical humanities, an interdisciplinary endeavor that draws on a diverse range of fields, including the creative arts, to inform medical education and practice. He is the founder and president of the Foundation for Art and Healing (www.ArtandHealing.org) whose signature initiative, the UnLonely Project (www.UnLonelyProject.org), addressing the personal and public health challenges of loneliness and social isolation, has gained national visibility. His work is dedicated to exploring the important relationship between creative expression and health and well-being, bringing those benefits to individuals and communities through innovative programs and an active research agenda. Also a published poet, Dr. Nobel has received several awards for his poetry including the Bain-Swiggett Prize from Princeton University, and the American Academy of Poets Prize from the University of Pennsylvania.

Medha Munshi, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She is a geriatrician and an endocrinologist. She practices primary care geriatrics at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and directs geriatric diabetes program at the Joslin Diabetes Center. This program uses interdisciplinary program beyond the traditional diabetes program that considers clinical, functional and psychosocial barriers faced by older adults before formulating individualized treatment strategies. The primary focus of Dr. Munshi’ s clinical research is to identify challenges faced by older individuals with diabetes, to develop strategies to overcome these barriers, and to improve clinical and functional outcomes, including quality of life. One of the important areas for her investigation has been on the risks and poor outcomes of hypoglycemia in aging population. She has co-edited 2 textbooks on the topic of geriatric diabetes and contributed many chapters on this topic. Under the umbrella of the International Diabetes Federation, she co-authored the global guidelines on managing older people with type-2 diabetes. She also co-authored the consensus report on diabetes management in community-living older adults and the position statement for diabetes management in the LTC facilities published by the American Diabetes Association. She chaired the committee to author the Joslin Diabetes Center guidelines for the care of the older adults with diabetes. She has published many papers of original investigation on the subject of geriatric diabetes and has presented nationally and internationally on this topic.

Dr. Wei is a member of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, where he specializes in the treatment of spine disorders and musculoskeletal medicine. He is board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. After graduating from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, he completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tufts Medical Center and a fellowship at the Penn Spine Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wei specializes in the nonoperative treatment of spine disorders and works with a team of physicians and therapists to help each patient regain the ability to function to the fullest extent possible. Dr. Wei focuses on patient education, exercise therapy, medications, and minimally invasive spine and musculoskeletal injections for the restoration of function.

Dr. Huma Farid is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an instructor in obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School. She directs the resident colposcopy clinic and is the associate program director for the obstetrics and gynecology residency program at BIDMC. She also writes and reviews medical content for Buoy Health. Dr. Farid graduated from Harvard Medical School. When not involved in resident education or patient care, she enjoys reading and writing.

Dr. Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG, is an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Harvard’s Ariadne Labs. As an obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Dr. Shah cares for patients at critical life moments that range from childbirth to primary care to surgery. As a scientist and social entrepreneur, he is a globally recognized expert in designing, testing, and spreading solutions that improve healthcare. Dr. Shah is listed among the “40 smartest people in health care” by the Becker’s Hospital Review, and has been profiled by the New York Times, CNN, and other outlets. He is senior author of the book Understanding Value-Based Healthcare (McGraw-Hill), which Don Berwick has called “an instant classic” and Atul Gawande called “a masterful primer for all clinicians.” Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, Dr. Shah founded Costs of Care, a global NGO that curates insights from clinicians to help delivery systems provide better care. In 2017, Dr. Shah co-founded the March for Moms Association, a coalition of 20 leading organizations, to increase public and private investment in the wellbeing of mothers.

Dr. Soo Jeong Youn is the Director of Evaluation at Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments (PRIDE) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Assistant Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University, and her clinical internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

James P.  Ioli, DPM, is Chief of Podiatry at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and has been a practicing podiatrist for over 30 years.

Jacqueline Sperling, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, faculty at Harvard Medical School, and the cofounder and co-program director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital. She is also the author of the young adult nonfiction book Find Your Fierce: How to Put Social Anxiety in Its Place. Dr. Sperling specializes in implementing evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and working with youth who present with anxiety disorders and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder. She also focuses on providing parent guidance by using treatments, such as behavioral parent training, to help families address children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Suzanne Bertisch, MD, MPH, is an Associate Physician and Clinical Director of Behavioral Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses 1) adapting sleep health interventions to a variety of community and clinical populations and 2) impact of sleep disorders consequent influence on pain and cardiometabolic health, for which she has won several awards. Dr. Bertisch has also published on national patterns of use of pharmacologic and behavioral treatments of insomnia. She also coleads innovations aimed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders in the primary care setting. She was named a Top Doctor by Boston Magazine in 2017.

Adam Landman, MD, MS, MIS, MHS is Chief Information Officer at Brigham Health, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an attending emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Clinical Informatics and an expert in health information technology and digital health design, development, and implementation. In his current role, he is responsible for developing strategic IT initiatives, with the goal of evolving the next generation of information systems and digital health solutions across the Brigham Health enterprise, while maintaining a focus on excellence.

David M. Vernick, MD is a graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School. He completed his postgraduate surgical training at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1979 Dr. Vernick continued his training as a resident in Otolaryngology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Subsequently, he became a fellow in Otology, Neurotology skull base surgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Upon completion, he returned to the Boston area and has worked as a surgeon in Otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Lisa Zakhary, MD, PhD, serves as Co-Director of Psychopharmacology in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) OCD and Related Disorders Program and Director of Psychopharmacology in the MGH Excoriation Clinic and Research Unit. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Additionally, she earned a PhD in molecular neurobiology during her medical training. Following medical school, she completed the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency and the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Fellowship before going on to join the MGH faculty. As Assistant in Psychiatry at MGH, she splits her time between MGH Primary Care Psychiatry and the MGH OCD and Related Disorders Program. Additionally, she is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is part of a group private practice in Arlington, Massachusetts. Dr. Zakhary has a special interest in psychodermatology and as a resident, she co-founded the MGH Comprehensive Skin Management Clinic, a psychiatry/dermatology clinic providing collaborative treatment for patients with compulsive skin picking, trichotillomania, body dysmorphic disorder, and delusions of parasitosis. As staff, she continues to explore ways to optimize psychodermatologic treatment through collaboration, education, and research. 

Since 1985, Melissa has served as a mediator, facilitator and trainer in the field of dispute resolution. She has worked in private practice, helping clients to engage in effective communications and problem solving while navigating high impact work and family issues. She has also worked with numerous academic institutions, health care organizations, Fortune 500 companies; state and federal agencies; and non-profit groups. Melissa has served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs and Practitioners, Director of The Children’s Hearings Project and mediator of educational appeals for the Massachusetts Department of Education. She is the recipient of numerous awards in her field and holds an MEd from Harvard University and a BA from Amherst College.

Elena Toschi, MD, is an Italian physician who has worked in Italy with Ele Ferrannini on insulin action and glucose metabolism in the late 1990’s. She then moved to Boston, USA to join Susan Bonner-Weir’s lab as a post-doctoral fellow working on the biology of islets of Langerhans and their regeneration. After obtaining her American medical license and specialization in Endocrinology at the joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Joslin program she has joined the Joslin adult clinic to work with Dr Howard Wolpert. Her clinical work has focused on use of technology in T1D to improve outcome. She has been involved in several multicenter trial on use of technology for the management of diabetes: REPLACE-BG and DIAMOND study among others. These studies have evaluated the benefit of CGM use by patients on multiple daily injections of insulin, have changed healthcare policy, with CGM now recommended to all patients with Type 1 Diabetes and CGM are now covered by Medicare. She is currently working on the use of technology to improve diabetes management and reduce the risk of hypoglycemia in the eldery with T1D (NIDDK DP3-Tango Study) in collaboration with Dr Munshi, and on restoration of hypoglycemia awareness in people with T1D and problematic hypoglycemia in collaboration with Dr Amiel. (JDRF – HARP.doc). She has been recently appointed Director of the Young Adult Clinic in the Adult Diabetes Section at Joslin Diabetes Center.

Dr. Schuman-Olivier is the Medical Director, Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance. He is also an Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and a board-certified addiction psychiatrist with expertise in opioid use disorder treatment and substance abuse treatment for people with co-occurring disorders. After graduating from Tufts University School of Medicine, he completed psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School (HMS)/Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), and the HMS addiction psychiatry fellowship. He trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Addiction Recovery Management Service, specializing in addiction treatment with young adults. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society opioids task force. He received the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Young Investigator Award for research on buprenorphine diversion. He is funded through the NIH Science of Behavior Change Initiative to investigate how mindfulness influences self-regulation and medical regimen adherence. With NIDA funding through the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (www.c4tbh.org) at Dartmouth, he has been developing MySafeRx, an integrated mobile platform for enhancing buprenorphine adherence and diversion prevention among young adults with opioid use disorders. He is on the Board of Directors of the 501(c)3 scientific non-profit organization, MySafeRx, Inc., which aims to develop, evaluate, implement and disseminate technology-based solutions to adherence in mental health and addiction treatment.

Eric H. Holbrook, M.D. graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelors in Science and from the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse with a Masters in Science and a Degree in Medicine. He completed a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral fellowship and residency in otolaryngology at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University. He completed further training with a fellowship in Rhinology and Sinus Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center under Dr. Donald Leopold. He has been a member of the full time faculty at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) since 2003, is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at the Harvard Medical School, and serves as the Chief of the Rhinology Division at MEEI. His principal clinical interests are diseases of the nose and sinuses, chronic rhinosinusitis, endoscopic skull base surgery, and olfactory disorders. His research interests include immunohistochemical characterization of human olfactory tissue, effects of odor exposure on olfactory regeneration, and manipulating human olfactory stem cells for potential restoration of function.

Dr. Valera is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a Research Scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has been working in the field of domestic violence for nearly 25 years and is recognized internationally for her work in understanding the effects of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) sustained from intimate partner violence (IPV). Her current work uses a range of methodologies to understand the neural, cognitive, and psychological consequences of such TBIs. She published one of the first studies examining the prevalence of IPV-related TBI and its relationship to cognitive and psychological functioning, and has more recently provided the first neural mechanistic evidence of IPV-related TBI. To support her IPV-TBI work, Dr. Valera has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, and more recently the Rappaport Research Fellowship in Neurology. Dr. Valera’s dissemination efforts include lectures for academics, judges and other justice involved personnel, police departments, front-line staff for IPV support and shelter, and women with lived experience. Her research is ongoing and expanding to address other potential neural consequences of TBIs from partner violence.

James L. Januzzi, MD, is the Hutter Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a staff cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Senior Cardiometabolic Faculty at Baim Institute for Clinical Research. After completing his undergraduate studies at Holy Cross College in 1988, Dr. Januzzi graduated at the top-ranked student at New York Medical College, and subsequently performed a residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowship in Cardiology and Cardiac Ultrasound at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined the Cardiology Division at MGH in 2000. Dr. Januzzi is a clinician, teacher and clinical trialist. His research has contributed to the understanding of cardiac biomarker testing, where his studies have set international standards for use in diagnosis, prognosis, and management of patients suffering from acutely decompensated heart failure, chronic heart failure as well as those with acute coronary syndromes. Dr Januzzi has published more than 500 manuscripts, book chapters and review articles, has edited two text books on cardiac biomarker testing and the MGH Cardiology Board Review Textbook. He is among the top 1% most cited researchers, according to Clarivate/Web of Science. He is an Associate Editor at both Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure. He is currently the chair of the American College of Cardiology Task Force on Expert Consensus Decision Pathway Documents and will join the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology in 2019. He has participated in numerous guideline and consensus documents in cardiovascular medicine. Since 2005, Dr. Januzzi has also served on the Medical Staff of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club.

Nasrien Ibrahim, MD, is a board certified cardiologist in the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Section within the Division of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is also Associate Director of the Resynchronization & Cardiac Therapeutics Program at MGH. Dr. Ibrahim takes care of patients with advanced heart failure, left ventricular assist devices, and heart transplants. She completed her internal medicine residency and general cardiology fellowship at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati, OH. Next, she completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure and cardiac transplant at the University of Colorado in Denver, CO. Following that, Dr. Ibrahim completed a fellowship in clinical research at MGH. She is involved in several research studies in heart failure involving biomarkers and participate in several clinical trials all aimed at improving the management and outcomes of patients with heart failure.

Dr. Twark is an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a board member of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry, and a psychiatrist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she directs the Athlete Mind Program. Her interests include addiction psychiatry and sports psychiatry. Dr. Twark ran track and field and cross country for Harvard College, and is now a member of the Boston Triathlon Team. She qualified for and completed the 2014 Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Based on Ironman results in 2014, she was ranked 18th in the U.S. and 38th in the world (top 1%) in her age group. She is a four-time Ironman triathlon finisher and was awarded All-American Honors from USA Triathlon in 2015. Her own experience as an athlete has inspired her to promote exercise as a component of psychiatric treatment and help other athletes.

Daniel R. Kuritzkes, MD received his BS and MS degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his clinical and research training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a visiting scientist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Kuritzkes returned to Harvard Medical School in 2002, where he is now the Harriet Ryan Albee Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Kuritzkes has published extensively on antiretroviral therapy and drug resistance in HIV-1 infection. He has chaired several multicenter studies of HIV therapy and previously chaired the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. He has served on numerous NIH committees, including as a member of the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. He is a former member of the Department of Health and Human Services panel on guidelines for antiretroviral therapy and a past Chair of the HIV Medicine Association Board of Directors. He has been a member of several editorial boards, and serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. His research interests focus on HIV therapeutics, antiretroviral drug resistance, and HIV eradication.

Christian Thomas Ruff, MD, MPH, Director, Genetics Core Laboratory; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Christian T. Ruff, MD, MPH is the Director of General Cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Neurobiology and earned his medical degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr Ruff is an investigator in the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group and serves as the Director of the Genetics Core Laboratory and as Co-Director of the Clinical Events Committee. He has specific expertise in atrial fibrillation, risk stratification and implementation of antithrombotic therapy for stroke prevention, as well as the treatment and prevention of venous thromboembolism.

After spending almost 15 years in the U.S. Navy, with multiple deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism, Christopher Burns, MD, now practices trauma and acute care surgery, along with burn surgery, and surgical critical care at both the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the South Shore Hospital. Dr. Burns is the Vice-Chair of Critical Care at South Shore Hospital, and an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

Vasanti Malik, ScD., is a Research Scientist in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She obtained a MSc. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto and a dual doctorate in Nutrition and Epidemiology from the Harvard Chan School. Her research focuses on evaluating risk factors for obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease with an emphasis on diet quality. Dr. Malik also studies nutritional drivers of the global obesity and diabetes epidemics in countries undergoing epidemiologic transition and currently directs the Global Nutrition and Epidemiologic Transition Initiative; a collaborative project with 13 low- and- middle income countries that aims to reduce diabetes risk by improving diet and lifestyle. She is an Associate Editor for BMC Obesity and a Review Editor for Frontiers in Public Health. The ultimate goal of Dr. Malik’s work is to inform future large-scale community-based interventions and policy strategies to reduce the risk of obesity and related chronic diseases nationally and globally.