Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Barbara Okun, PhD

Contributor

Barbara Okun, PhD, is a professor of counseling psychology at Northeastern University, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, and a clinical psychologist and family therapist.

Nancy Oliveira, MS, RD, LDN, CDCES

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Nancy Oliveira is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator. She received a master of science in nutrition communications from Tufts University, and completed her clinical nutrition internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Currently she is manager of the nutrition and wellness service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. In addition, she is the primary science writer at The Nutrition Source website from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and has co-authored chapters in nutrition textbooks. Her clinical focus with patients includes diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders including IBS and IBD, food sensitivities, and chronic disease prevention.

Rose McKeon Olson, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Rose McKeon Olson is an associate physician in the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has special research interests in trauma-informed care and the health impacts of gender-based violence.

Daniel Orr, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

Contributor

Daniel Orr is a licensed physical therapist and clinical supervisor at the Plymouth Outpatient Center of Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He earned his doctor of physical therapy from Boston University and is a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist. His clinical interests are in orthopedics, sports‑related injuries, and postoperative rehabilitation.

T. Salewa Oseni, MD

Contributor

T. Salewa Oseni, MD, is a breast surgical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. She specializes in breast oncoplastic surgery, and has an appointment as an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Her research areas include management of high-risk DCIS and health care disparities. Dr. Oseni received her undergraduate training at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and her medical degree from the Case Western Reserve University. Following this, she was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, and completed her general surgery training at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. She received her fellowship training in surgical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

Andrew Oseran, MD, MBA

Contributor

Andrew Oseran MD, MBA is a clinical cardiology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Oseran graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics in 2010. He received his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine as well as a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2019. His research interests include questions related to the delivery of health care and understanding how domestic policy initiatives impact health care outcomes and cost.

John W. Ostrominski, MD

Contributor

Dr. John W. Ostrominski is a fellow in cardiovascular medicine and an obesity medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic health, with specific interests in epidemiology, drug discovery, clinical trials, and health care delivery innovation. Dr. Ostrominski earned his medical degree from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also served as a chief medical resident at the West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and holds a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Reena L. Pande, MD

Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Reena Pande is a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on the mechanisms by which exercise benefits people with cardiovascular disease.

Ashley B. Parker, MD, MS

Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Originally from Rhode Island, Ashley made her way to North Carolina in 2010 to attend Davidson College. While at Davidson she majored in French and Francophone studies, which led her to spend a year after college teaching English to elementary school children in France. Ashley worked in pediatrics, gynecologic oncology, and anesthesiology research, and earned a master of biomedical science at Duke University before beginning medical school at UNC. While at UNC she conducted a quality improvement project on screening for intimate partner violence in a primary care clinic, researched sterilization in child-free people, and served as a student provider in the student-run gender-affirming care clinic.

Wendy E. Parmet, JD

Guest Contributor

Wendy E. Parmet is the Matthews Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, where she is also the faculty director of the Center for Health Policy & Law. Her research focuses on access to health care and the use of the law to protect public health.

Frances Parpos, RD

Contributor

Frances Parpos is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist. She received her bachelor of science in nutritional science from Boston University and master of public health with a concentration in nutrition from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She completed her dietetic internship at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. She specializes in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and weight management. She has been working for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital cardiac rehabilitation program since 2012. She is also the owner of Nutrition Makeovers, a private practice offering in-home nutrition consultations.

Ann Partridge, MD, MPH

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Ann Partridge is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is vice chair of medical oncology and director of the adult survivorship program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. As a medical oncologist and clinical and health services researcher, she has sought to improve the care and outcomes of patients with cancer by conducting research and by developing innovative clinical programming. She co-founded and directs the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer. This novel program aims to improve care and health outcomes in young women with breast cancer at Dana-Farber, throughout New England, and beyond. In light of this highly successful program, Dr. Partridge was selected to lead the adult survivorship program to enhance care and programming for the growing population of cancer survivors. Her research focuses on communications with cancer survivors; risk perceptions; decision-making and quality of life; behavioral aspects of cancer care, including adherence with anticancer therapy; age and race disparities in breast cancer outcomes; understanding and intervening to improve survivorship care; long-term effects of cancer and cancer treatment; and the unique disease and issues facing young women with breast cancer. Her main focus in recent years is younger women with breast cancer. Dr. Partridge is principal investigator for the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Study (YWS), a multi-institutional cohort of young women with breast cancer. The study enrolled over 1,300 women ages 40 and younger at diagnosis. Dr. Partridge also serves in numerous leadership roles nationally and internationally. She is co-chair of the Breast Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, chair of the scientific program committee for American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2018, and co-chair of the biennial ESMO-ESO sponsored Breast Cancer in Young Women Conference. She served as chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women from 2010 to 2017. She has received numerous awards and grants, including a Champions of Change award from the White House, an ASCO Improving Cancer Care Grant, and the Edward J. Benz Jr. Award for Advancing the Careers of Women Faculty. After graduating from Georgetown University, Dr. Partridge received her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, pursued an internal medicine residency at the Hospital for the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a medical oncology and hematology fellowship at Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare. She earned a master of public health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Alisa Pascale, MS, DNP

Contributor

Alisa Pascale is a board certified women’s health nurse practitioner who, in addition to her general gynecology and menopause practice, has over 25 years of experience treating chronic vulvovaginal conditions including vaginitis. In addition to her clinical practice, Alisa has served as a nurse practitioner educator, lectured at national conferences, and has published on the topics of bacterial vaginosis, desquamative inflammatory vaginitis, and lichen sclerosus. She currently practices at Vincent Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.

Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH

Contributor

Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH, is a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a recipient of a Research Scholar Award from the American Gastroenterological Association for her work studying the cellular underpinnings of gastrointestinal motility disorders. She is also a medical journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Chirag Patel, PhD

Contributor

Chirag Patel, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. His long-term research goal is to address problems in human health and disease by developing computational and informatics methods to reason over both genomic, metagenomic, and exposomic information, spanning molecules to populations toward more precise medicine, specifically type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Patel received his graduate degrees in biomedical informatics (MS, PhD) from Stanford University. https://www.chiragjpgroup.org/

Payal Patel, MD

Contributor

Dr. Payal Patel is a dermatology research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her clinical and research interests include autoimmune disease and procedural dermatology. She is part of the Cutaneous Biology Research Center, where she investigates medical applications of laser technology.

Vikram Patel, MBBS, PhD

Contributor

Vikram Patel, MBBS, PhD, is The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School. He was the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Laureate in Global Health in 2019, and was listed in Time magazine’s 100 most influential persons in 2015. To get involved with the GMH@Harvard initiative, write to: GMH_admin@hms.harvard.edu.

Daniel Pendick

Former Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch

Daniel Pendick is a former executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. He previously served as editor and chief writer for the Cleveland Clinic Men’s Health Advisor and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine’s Focus On Healthy Aging. Dan earned a master of arts degree in the history of science and medicine from the University of Wisconsin in 1992, and was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 1998–99. He is also a lecturer in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he teaches the next generation of physicians and biomedical researchers how to communicate more effectively with each other and the general public.

Numa Perez, MD

Contributor

Dr. Perez is a general surgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, and one of the 2018–20 Healthcare Innovation Research Fellows at the MGH Healthcare Transformation Lab. His research lies at the intersection of healthcare outcomes and disparities, and the use of mobile healthcare technology to improve patient experience while upholding equity. After completing his surgery residency, Dr. Perez hopes to pursue a career in pediatric surgery.

Edward Phillips, MD

Contributor

Dr. Edward M. Phillips is an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, and the founder and director of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. He’d like to see you end your war with food by tuning into the new WBUR podcast “Food, We Need to Talk,” an Apple Podcasts favorite. He is also co-host of the award-winning WBUR podcast “The Magic Pill.” Connect with him on Twitter @EddiePhillipsMD.

Shiv Pillai, PhD, MBBS

Contributor

Shiv Pillai, PhD, MBBS, is a professor of medicine and health sciences and technology at Harvard Medical School, director of the Harvard immunology PhD and master’s in medical sciences programs, director of MD student research for the Harvard-MIT health sciences and technology program, and program director of an NIH-funded autoimmune center of excellence at Massachusetts General Hospital, based at the Ragon Institute.

Srini Pillay, MD

Contributor

Srini Pillay, M.D. (www.drsrinipillay.com) is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry (Part-Time) at Harvard Medical School. After graduating as the overall top medical student in South Africa, he completed his residency in psychiatry at McLean Hospital—Harvard’s largest freestanding psychiatric hospital. There, he won more national awards than any resident in his class, and was one of the top three award winners in the US. Srini has completed fellowships in Psychopharmacology, Structural Brain Imaging and Functional Brain Imaging. In addition, he was Director of the Outpatient Anxiety Disorders Program at McLean Hospital. Srini was nationally funded by NIDA and was a co-investigator on many NIMH grants during his seventeen years of studying functional brain imaging at McLean Hospital, where he was Director of the Panic Disorders Research Program in the Brain Imaging Center. During this time he maintained an active clinical practice and still does. Srini is invested in translating research findings in psychiatry for the general public. A keen but non-nihilistic critic of certainty in any realm, he is invested in honoring qualitative and evidenced-based approaches from thoughtful examinations of psychological vulnerabilities. Srini received the “Books for a Better Life” award for his book, “Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear (Rodale, 2010). As an expert in brain-based leadership development and CEO of NeuroBusiness Group (www.neurobusinessgroup.com), he has also written “Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders (FT Press, 2011.)” Srini is also a LinkedIn educator who teaches people how to manage their depression in the workplace: (https://www.lynda.com/search?q=srini+pillay) Srini has contributed to developing leaders at The World Bank, IMF, United Nations, Fortune 500 Food and Beverage Companies, Lockheed Martin and many others. He is internationally recognized as an expert in applied brain science and human behavior, having been invited to speak throughout the US, London, Greece, Paris, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, Brazil and India. His expertise has also frequently been sought out by the media having been featured on CNN, Fox, NPR, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider and various other outlets. His upcoming book, a deeper examination of focus, distraction and human complexity will be published by Random House (Ballantine) in the Spring of 2017. Srini is also a musician and poet.

Jorge Plutzky, MD

Contributor

Dr. Jorge Plutzky is director of preventive cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and is on the Harvard Medical School faculty. In his position within preventive cardiology, Dr. Plutzky directs the BWH Lipid Clinic and the BWH Pollin Center for Women’s Cardiovascular Health. Dr. Plutzky is a recognized expert on preventive cardiology issues, with a particular focus on how metabolic abnormalities like diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia impact atherosclerosis. Dr. Plutzky received his BA, with highest distinction as an Echols Scholar, from the University of Virginia, and his MD from the University of North Carolina, with distinction for research accomplishments during medical school through an NIH fellowship. Internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship were completed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, which included a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Melanie Pogach, MD

Contributor

Dr. Melanie Pogach is a critical care and sleep medicine physician, the associate director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Sleep Center, and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is committed to clinical care, education, innovation, and research as they apply to respiratory and sleep health. Her clinical passion lies in understanding and treating complicated sleep-breathing disorders, circadian dysregulation, and chronic respiratory failure. She has developed a chronic respiratory failure management program, and is conducting clinical research on noninvasive ventilation in patients with advanced COPD.

Rani Polak, MD, Chef, MBA

Contributor

Dr. Rani Polak is the founding director of both the Culinary Healthcare Education Fundamentals (CHEF) coaching program at the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and the Center of Lifestyle Medicine at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; as well as a research associate at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School. Prior to this position he completed a research fellowship in lifestyle medicine at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School; and a residency in family medicine at the Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. His book, Delicious Diabetic Recipes, is a best seller. Dr. Polak’s focus, along with clinical care, is on nutrition education, and on clinical and translational research relating to culinary medicine and medical education. His current work is concentrated on the Culinary Coaching approach, which aims to improve nutrition through culinary training combined with health coaching principles. This was implemented in the Yale Preventive Medicine/Internal Medicine residency program, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and was recently approved by Harvard Medical School for Continuing Medical Education credits. Dr. Polak’s work has been featured in many media outlets including Scientific American, Herald Tribune, Jerusalem Post, and USA Today.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Barbara Okun, PhD

Nancy Oliveira, MS, RD, LDN, CDCES

Rose McKeon Olson, MD, MPH

Daniel Orr, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

T. Salewa Oseni, MD

Andrew Oseran, MD, MBA

John W. Ostrominski, MD

Reena L. Pande, MD

Ashley B. Parker, MD, MS

Wendy E. Parmet, JD

Frances Parpos, RD

Ann Partridge, MD, MPH

Alisa Pascale, MS, DNP

Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH

Chirag Patel, PhD

Payal Patel, MD

Vikram Patel, MBBS, PhD

Daniel Pendick

Numa Perez, MD

Edward Phillips, MD

Shiv Pillai, PhD, MBBS

Srini Pillay, MD

Jorge Plutzky, MD

Melanie Pogach, MD

Rani Polak, MD, Chef, MBA