Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Randie Black-Schaffer, MD

Contributor

Dr. Randie Black-Schaffer is a physiatrist specializing in stroke rehabilitation. She founded the first young adult stroke rehabilitation program in the country, and started the young adult stroke service at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, as well as directing the Spaulding inpatient stroke program. Dr. Black-Schaffer has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on stroke in young adults and stroke rehabilitation, and is invited regionally and nationally to speak on these topics. As a national stroke rehabilitation expert she chaired the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s stroke care strategic planning committee in 2015. Dr. Black-Schaffer has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor each year since 2011, a Distinguished Woman in Medicine since 2018, and a Boston Magazine Top Doctor since 2016, and has received numerous Partners in Excellence Awards for clinical quality improvement initiatives. She has mentored trainees at all medical levels and twice received Teacher of the Year swards from PM&R resident physicians.

Rachel A. Blake, MD

Contributor

Dr. Rachel A. Blake is an obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. She also spends time each year working at Princess Marina Hospital in Gabarone, Botswana. She attended the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and serves on the Brown Medical Alumni Association board of directors.

Sara N. Bleich, PhD

Contributor

Sara N. Bleich is a professor of public health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Sara served as a White House Fellow (2015–2016), where she was a senior policy advisor to the US Department of Agriculture and the first lady’s Let’s Move initiative.

Susan D. Block, MD

Contributor

Dr. Susan D. Block received her AB from Stanford University, her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed residencies in internal medicine and psychiatry at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston; she is board certified in both fields. She has been a national leader in the development of the field of palliative medicine. She is known as an expert in medical education, communication, psychosocial oncology, faculty development, and health system change. Dr. Block was the founding chair of the department of psychosocial oncology and palliative care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; a founding director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care, a national center of excellence for palliative care education; and the founder and director of the serious illness care program at Ariadne Labs. She is the author of over 200 publications and has won numerous awards for education, research, and leadership in both palliative medicine and psychiatry.

Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc

Contributor

Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc is an Allergist/Immunologist and drug allergy researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is also the Director of Allergy/Immunology Clinical Epidemiology Research within the Division of Rheumatology Allergy and Immunology, the Quality and Safety Officer for Allergy at the Edward P. Lawrence Center for Quality and Safety, and the Quality Director for Allergy/Immunology. Dr. Blumenthal performs drug allergy research that uses methods of epidemiology, informatics, economics, and decision science. Her research is funded by the NIH and foundations, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Foundation and CRICO, the risk management foundation. Dr. Blumenthal is recognized nationally for having created innovative approaches to the evaluation of penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotic allergies in the hospital that have since been adopted by other hospitals throughout the US and internationally, broadly referenced, and incorporated into expert recommendations. Dr. Blumenthal graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Economics. She studied medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, which she completed in 2009, before training at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Internal Medicine and Allergy and Immunology. She completed a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2017.

Kathryn D. Boger, PhD, ABPP

Contributor

Kathryn D. Boger, PhD, ABPP, is board certified in clinical child and adolescent psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety and mood disorders. She has extensive training and experience in the delivery of evidence-based treatments, in both outpatient and residential levels of care. Dr. Boger co-founded the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP) in 2013 and has served as program director since the program’s inception. In 2021,â€¯she transitioned to senior clinical consultant to MAMP so that she could co-found a new company with the mission to provide accessible, effective, and efficient anxiety and OCD interventions for children, teens, and families.

Emeric Bojarski, MD

Contributor

Emeric F. Bojarski, M.D. is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. He founded Equilibrium Behavioral Health, a telepsychiatry private practice, to harness the power of telemedicine in addressing the prominent shortage of psychiatrists nationwide. Dr. Bojarski graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency in adult psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He did his fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, where he continued to teach students about child development and psychodynamic aspects of suicide in LGBTQ youth. Dr. Bojarski specializes in identity formation across the lifespan and ameliorating treatment-resistant depression.

Christopher M. Bono, MD

Contributor

Dr. Christopher M. Bono is a board-certified, fellowship-trained adult spine surgeon in the Orthopaedic Spine Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Bono obtained his medical degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Health Science Center at Brooklyn (now called SUNY Downstate Medical Center). He completed his orthopaedic residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Medical School (now called Rutgers New Jersey Medical School). Dr. Bono completed a spine surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Bono specializes in cervical spinal stenosis, cervical myelopathy, cervical disc herniations, lumbar spinal stenosis, lumbar disc herniations, and lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Joanne Borg Stein, MD

Contributor

Dr. Joanne Borg Stein received her BA from Tufts University and her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City, where she was chief resident and served as a faculty member for four years before relocating to the Boston area. She currently serves as the associate program director for the PM&R Sports Medicine Fellowship. She is team physician for Wellesley College. Dr. Borg Stein developed and is director of the Regenerative Medicine Program for Mass General Brigham Sports Medicine. Her research is focused on regenerative injection treatment for sports injury. She has authored many articles on treatment of musculoskeletal and sports injury with regenerative injections and sports ultrasound. She is the chair of the regenerative medicine council of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the orthobiologics committee of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

Elizabeth Boskey, PhD

Contributor

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.

Athos Bousvaros, MD

Contributor

Athos Bousvaros MD, MPH is a pediatric gastroenterologist who has worked at Boston Children’s Hospital for over 25 years. He completed his undergraduate degree at Williams College, his medical degree and residency at Duke University, and his gastroenterology fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. As Associate Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease program at Children’s Hospital Boston, he spends much of his time treating complex cases of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis referred from across the country. His research interests include identifying the cause of IBD by studying the intestinal microbiome, developing new therapies for IBD, and examining the immune response of IBD patients to immunizations. He has over 100 original and review publications in the medical literature. He has served as chair of Chapter Medical Advisory Committee of the New England Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, chair of the CCFA Pediatric Affairs committee. He has also served as president of the North American Society for Pediatric GI and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), where he helped lead a campaign to promote child safety by getting high powered magnets out of the hands of toddlers. When not busy caring for patients or doing research, he enjoys developing patient education materials for children with chronic illness. These include the medical comics: “Pete Learns All About Crohn’s and Colitis” (with the CCFA), “Amy Goes Gluten Free”, “JD Shapes Up”, and Sophie’s Science Project”. He also has co-authored the NASPGHAN book “Your Child with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Hayden Box, MD

Contributor

Dr. Hayden Box is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon specializing in primary and revision hip and knee replacement. He graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering. He attended Harvard Medical School and completed a five-year orthopaedic surgery residency in Dallas, TX, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he had extensive training in fracture management and joint replacement. Dr. Box finished his training with a fellowship in hip and knee replacement at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2019.

Shafik Boyaji, MD

Contributor

Dr. Boyaji earned his medical degree from University of Aleppo, Syria. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Michigan State University and an Anesthesiology residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Currently he is in fellowship for Interventional Pain Management. He has a special interest in non-opioid pain management modalities, including neuromodulation for pain.

David Boyce, MD

Contributor

Dr. David Boyce is board-certified in general anesthesiology and pain medicine. After graduating from Tufts University School of Medicine, he completed his residency and a pain medicine fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is currently an Instructor in Anesthesiology at HMS and the anesthesiologist-in-charge of the main operating room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he also attends on the in-patient Chronic Pain Service. Dr. Boyce provides care for patients in an outpatient pain clinic and he has given regional and national talks on back pain, including hands-on ultrasound workshops for the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). His clinical interests include safer surgery and non-opioid alternatives to managing chronic pain.

Ellen Braaten, PhD

Contributor

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.

Annie Brewster, MD

Contributor

Annie Brewster is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. She is also a patient, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001. She has been collecting and sharing patient stories since 2010. In 2013 she founded Health Story Collaborative, a nonprofit organization committed to empowering patients and their loved ones, building community, strengthening patient-provider connections, and ultimately transforming healthcare through storytelling. Dr. Brewster is the author of The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss. Twitter: @HealthStoryCo Instagram: @healthstorycollaborative Facebook: Health Story Collaborative

Ryan Brewster, MD

Guest Contributor

Dr. Ryan Brewster is a first-year pediatrics resident in the combined residency program at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center as part of the Urban Health and Advocacy Track and Global Health Pathway. His work focuses on building and scaling low-cost technologies to address health inequities. Dr. Brewster earned his MD from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Lori Brightman, PT, MPT, CLT

Contributor

Lori Brightman, PT, MPT, CLT, is a clinical specialist physical therapist working at MGB Spaulding Outpatient Center in Plymouth, MA. She has specialized certifications in pelvic and obstetric physical therapy through the American Physical Therapy Association, as well as Certified in Lymphedema Therapy (CLT) training. Lori enjoys working with patients to improve their functional outcomes and improve their quality of life.

James A. Brink, MD

Contributor

Dr. James A. Brink is chair of enterprise radiology at the Mass General Brigham (MGB) Health System, and the Juan M. Taveras Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Brink served as chair of the Yale department of diagnostic radiology prior to appointment as radiologist-in-chief at MGH. In 2021, his responsibilities expanded to include those as chair of radiology at BWH and chief of enterprise radiology at MGB. Dr. Brink has broad experience in medical imaging, including the utilization and management of imaging resources, with specific interest and expertise in issues related to the monitoring and control of medical radiation exposure.

Melissa Brodrick, MEd

Contributor

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.

Barbara Brody

Executive Editor, Special Health Reports

Barbara Brody is the executive editor of Harvard Health Publishing's Special Health Reports. In this role, she creates in-depth guides designed to help readers lead healthier lives. Previously, Barbara spent many years as an independent writer and editor. Her work has appeared in WebMD, Prevention, Health, Fortune Well, Health Central, and AARP, among other outlets. She has also written for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, the Global Healthy Living Foundation, and medical schools including Mount Sinai, Columbia, and NYU. Earlier in her career, Barbara served as Health Director at Shape. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and a graduate of Cornell University.

Kemar Brown, MD

Contributor

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.

William Brugge, MD

Contributor

Dr. William Brugge is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a teacher-clinician in the gastroenterology division at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a gastroenterologist and therapeutic endoscopist, the vast majority of his time is spent on outpatient care in the endoscopy unit and his office. Dr. Brugge’s academic and research focus involves the field of advanced endoscopy, and he was one of the pioneers in the development of endoscopic ultrasound, introducing this technique to Massachusetts General Hospital in 1993.

Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha, DO

Contributor

Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha, DO, is Division Chief of Infectious Diseases and Medical Director of Infection Prevention at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). She chairs the Infection Prevention Committee and co-directs the Antibiotic Stewardship Team. She has an appointment at Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor and teaches residents and medical students. Dr. Bruno-Murtha received her DO degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed an Internal Medicine residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in Manhattan and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Boston University Medical Center. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She has conducted clinical research on antibiotic cycling, the molecular epidemiology of MRSA and complicated skin infections. Quality improvement interests have included optimizing and maintaining exceptional hand hygiene compliance, assessing and improving environmental cleanliness, evaluating the utility of UV disinfection in the OR, implementing a process for total body cleansing with chlorhexidine for selected surgical patients, improving appropriateness of urine cultures and initiating a strategy to reduce hospital-onset C. difficile infections. Dr. Bruno-Murtha served on the Massachusetts Expert Panel on Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), whose work culminated in guidelines for infection prevention programs in Massachusetts and formulated the basis for public reporting of selected HAIs. She is currently serving on the Massachusetts Healthcare Associated Infection/Antibiotic Resistance Technical Advisory Group, whose charge is to facilitate improving antibiotic use across the continuum of care. Dr. Bruno-Murtha is a member of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology task force on community-based healthcare epidemiologists. She has published original research, reviews, case reports and abstracts and has lectured both regionally and nationally. Dr. Bruno-Murtha has received awards for excellence in teaching, collaboration, and in clinical care. She is a member of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American College of Physicians.

Glen Buchberger, MD

Contributor

Glenn K. Buchberger, MD is a primary care physician for children and adults practicing at the CHA Everett Care Center in Everett, Massachusetts. He earned an A.B. in English Literature at Dartmouth College and completed his Medical Doctor degree and residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. As a resident he was involved in several projects to raise awareness of the dangers posed by excess sugar consumption. In addition to his primary care practice he provides office based treatment for opioid use disorder at a sister clinic in Revere, Massachusetts several times each month.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Randie Black-Schaffer, MD

Rachel A. Blake, MD

Sara N. Bleich, PhD

Susan D. Block, MD

Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc

Kathryn D. Boger, PhD, ABPP

Emeric Bojarski, MD

Christopher M. Bono, MD

Joanne Borg Stein, MD

Elizabeth Boskey, PhD

Athos Bousvaros, MD

Hayden Box, MD

Shafik Boyaji, MD

David Boyce, MD

Ellen Braaten, PhD

Annie Brewster, MD

Ryan Brewster, MD

Lori Brightman, PT, MPT, CLT

James A. Brink, MD

Melissa Brodrick, MEd

Barbara Brody

Kemar Brown, MD

William Brugge, MD

Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha, DO

Glen Buchberger, MD