Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Elena H. Chartoff, PhD

Contributor

Elena H. Chartoff, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and director of the Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior Laboratory at McLean Hospital. She is interested in the neurobiological mechanisms that connect depression and anxiety with drug addiction. The work in her laboratory has broad implications for understanding basic brain mechanisms that control mood and motivated behavior. Within her wider interest, Dr. Chartoff’s laboratory focuses on sex differences in molecular and genetic contributions to addictive behaviors, the role of glutamatergic transmission in affective states and the role of kappa opioid receptors in drug withdrawal-induced depressive-like states. Elena earned her B.S. in biology from Carnegie Mellon University in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior from the University of Washington in 2001.

Isabelle Chase, DDS, FRCD(C)

Contributor

Dr. Isabelle Chase is a board-certified pediatric dentist, and an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She completed her dental degree at Dalhousie School of Dentistry in 2000, and pediatric dental specialty at the University of Rochester and Eastman Dental Center in 2002. Dr. Chase joined the faculty of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 2006, and the majority of her time has been spent providing direct clinical supervision and didactic teaching of pediatric dental residents as director of the residency program. In the past 15 years she has taught over 70 pediatric dental residents and over 450 dental students. Dr. Chase also provides direct patient care, either in the clinical setting or the operating room, with a focus on the management of early childhood tooth decay; the treatment of young, anxious patients; and patients with special health care needs, with a particular focus on children with autism. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband and their two children.

Adam S. Cheifetz, MD

Contributor

Dr. Adam Cheifetz is director of the center for inflammatory bowel disease and medical director of infusion services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a well-recognized leader in the treatment of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and other inflammatory bowel diseases. He is involved in multiple research projects relating to IBD, and has published over 200 articles and chapters on the subject. His research currently focuses on therapeutic drug monitoring and optimizing the use of biologics through the proactive use of drug concentrations and antibodies, and he has published extensively in this area. Dr. Cheifetz was the first to demonstrate that proactive monitoring of infliximab and adalimumab concentrations and dosing to a therapeutic window improves outcomes when compared to standard of care.

Justin A. Chen, MD, MPH

Contributor

Justin A. Chen, MD, MPH, is medical director of the outpatient psychiatry division and co-director of primary care psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).â€¯Clinically, he specializes inâ€¯the treatment of adult mood and anxiety disorders. He is also dedicated to teaching and mentorship, serving as co-director of medical student education in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS); co-director and core facultyâ€¯inâ€¯the mind, brain, and behavior preclinical neurosciences course at HMS; and co-director of the longitudinal sociocultural psychiatry curriculum for MGH/McLean psychiatry residents. An assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, his research focuses primarily onâ€¯cross-cultural psychiatry, stigma, racial/ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization, and medical education. He is a co-editor ofâ€¯Sociocultural Issues in Psychiatry: A Casebook and Curriculum, published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. As executive director and cofounder of the nonprofit volunteer-operated MGH Center for Cross-Cultural Student Emotional Wellness (www.mghstudentwellness.org), he delivers talks and trainings for families, clinicians, and educators throughout the United States on promoting theâ€¯mental health of diverse students. He is a 2020–23 fellow of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program for a project entitled, “Breaking Silences in the Model Minority: A National Intervention to Increase Mental Health Awareness and Decrease Stigma in Asian Immigrant Families.” Dr. Chen received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Yale University. He completed his psychiatry residency and chief residency at MGH/McLean, followed by a master of public health degree at the Harvard-T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a Dupont-Warren Research Fellowship focused on improving engagement of depressed Chinese immigrants into mental health care at South Cove Community Health Center in Boston's Chinatown.

Steven Chen, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Steven Chen is a board-certified internist and dermatologist. He is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chen earned his MD and an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. He then pursued residency training at Harvard, where he completed an internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a dermatology residency in the Harvard dermatology program. Dr. Chen attends on both the dermatology and internal medicine services with a clinical and research interest in oncodermatology. He co-directs the comprehensive cutaneous lymphoma program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and serves as an associate program director for the Harvard dermatology residency program.

Wendy Y. Chen, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Wendy Y. Chen is a breast oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Chen received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. She completed her internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and her fellowship in hematology-oncology at Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare. She received her master of public health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 1999. Dr. Chen has been on staff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a research associate at the Channing Laboratory since 1999.

Hsinlin Thomas Cheng, MD, PhD

Contributor

Hsinlin Thomas Cheng, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Headache and Neuropathic Pain Unit in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He specializes in both adult Neurology and Pain Medicine. Dr. Cheng treats patients suffering from headache and other neuropathic pain syndromes.

Andrea Chisholm, MD

Contributor

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.

Lynne Christensen

Staff Writer

Lynne Christensen is a staff writer who contributes articles to Harvard Health Publishing’s flagship website and its four newsletters: the Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Heart Letter, Harvard Women’s Health Watch, and Harvard Men’s Health Watch. She has also authored Harvard Health Publishing special reports on a variety of health topics. Previously, she served as executive editor of the Cleveland Clinic Arthritis Advisor newsletter and executive editor of Focus on Healthy Aging, a newsletter of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Family Practice News, Genetic Engineering News, and publications of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. She developed patient education materials for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, and created award-winning reports on improving care for older adults. She earned a master’s degree at New York University.

Andrea S. Christopher, MD

Contributor

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.

Raymond Chung, MD

Contributor

Raymond Chung, MD is the Director of Hepatology and Liver Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chung completed his B.A. at Harvard College and his MD from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Chung’s focus has been fundamental and translational research in HCV infection. Major focus of his research has been elucidating the basis for the observed accelerated liver disease pathogenesis in HCV-HIV coinfection. In this regard his research has made important contributions to the current understanding of hepatic pathogenesis of coinfection.

Bruce M. Cohen, MD, PhD

Contributor

Bruce M. Cohen, MD, PhD, is the Robertson-Steele Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Program for Neuropsychiatric Research at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA. He leads a group of investigators and clinicians seeking evidence from clinical, laboratory, and brain imaging studies to define mechanisms underlying mental health and illness and develop new treatments for psychiatric disorders. Dr. Cohen is the author of over 300 manuscripts of original research, and co-author of Living with Someone Who Has Bipolar Disorder: A Practical Guide for Family, Friends, and Co-Workers, which was written for a general audience. He has five granted patents and multiple awards for research, teaching, and clinical care.

Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Stephanie Collier is the director of education in the division of geriatric psychiatry at McLean Hospital; consulting psychiatrist for the population health management team at Newton-Wellesley Hospital; and instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her professional interests include the interface of medicine and psychiatry, the treatment of mental illnesses in the primary care setting, and the optimization of training and supervision of nonspecialist clinicians to deliver mental health interventions in resource-limited settings.

Rita Colorito

Health Writer

Rita Colorito is a health care journalist based in greater Chicago. Her work has been published by Chicago Tribune, Chicago Health, WebMD, Health Central, SilverSneakers.com, WeightWatchers.com, and many other outlets. She's also a frequent contributor to WSMA Reports, the magazine of the Washington State Medical Association. Rita earned her master's in international affairs from Columbia University and her bachelor's in English from Trinity College, Washington, DC.

Francesca Coltrera

Editor, Harvard Health Blog

Francesca Coltrera is editor of the Harvard Health Blog, and associate editor of multimedia content for Harvard Health Publishing. She is an award-winning medical writer and co-author of Living Through Breast Cancer and The Breast Cancer Survivor’s Fitness Plan. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, SELF, and the Boston Herald, among other venues. She is interested in many health topics, including coronavirus and COVID-19, emotional and physical wellness, parenting and children’s health, women’s health, exercise, longevity, cancer, caregiving, and end-of-life issues.

Amy S. Colwell, MD, FACS

Contributor

Amy S. Colwell, MD, FACS, is a board-certified plastic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. She is nationally recognized for her work with direct-to-implant breast reconstruction, and reconstruction after nipple-sparing mastectomy. Dr. Colwell also has specific interests in restoration of the face and body after aging, weight changes, and pregnancy. Dr. Colwell is the co-editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She is chair for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons spring meeting, and has been co-chair for the Reconstruction Symposium of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons for the past three years. Dr. Colwell has co-authored over 100 publications and 18 book chapters. She was awarded the prestigious Leonard R. Rubin award for the best paper presented at the American Association of Plastic Surgeons Meeting in 2011 and again in 2023.

Amy Comander, MD

Contributor

Dr. Amy Comander is a breast oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Dr. Comander is director of breast oncology and cancer survivorship at the Mass General Cancer Center in Waltham, MA and at Newton Wellesley Hospital, and medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center in Waltham. She is director of lifestyle medicine at the Mass General Cancer Center, which is the first cancer center to have a dedicated lifestyle medicine program. Given her strong interest in cancer survivorship and lifestyle medicine, Dr. Comander is dedicated to improving the quality of life, well-being, and outcome of individuals with cancer through important lifestyle interventions, including exercise, diet, and mind/body interventions. She promotes healthy lifestyles for both her active treatment patients as well as those in the survivorship phase of care. In collaboration with Dr Beth Frates, she has launched “PAVING the Path to Wellness,” a 12-week lifestyle medicine-based survivorship program for women with breast cancer. Along with Dr. Frates and Dr. Michelle Tollefson, she has published the “PAVING the Path to Wellness” workbook.

Hilary Connery, MD, PhD

Contributor

Hilary Connery, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and serves as the clinical director for McLean Hospital’s division of alcohol, drugs, and addiction. Dr. Connery’s expertise includes treatment of opioid use disorders and integrated treatments for co-occurring substance use disorders and other mental illnesses. Her current research efforts are directed toward public health prevention strategies for addressing self-injury mortality, and patient-focused investigation regarding suicidal motivations contributing to drug overdose. Dr. Connery is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has served within the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry as New England area director, co-chair of the policy committee, and as a national mentor within the national mentoring program through Providers Clinical Support System. In these roles, she actively advocates for more effective responses to the drug overdose and suicide epidemics, and also nationally mentors clinicians in evidence-based treatment of substance use disorders.

Kathryn Corelli, MD

Contributor

Dr. Kathryn Corelli is an internal medicine physician, menopause specialist, and associate medical director of strategy and new program development at Mass General Brigham Population Health, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in internal medicine and primary care at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a two-year population health leadership fellowship at Mass General Brigham. Her work focuses on systems-level transformation, preventive care, and value-based health care delivery. Dr. Corelli has a clinical interest in menopause and female sexual dysfunction, and is a certified menopause society practitioner with The Menopause Society.

Julie Corliss

Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter

Julie Corliss has been the executive editor of the Harvard Heart Letter since 2013. She also writes for the Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Women’s Health Watch, and Harvard Men’s Health Watch, as well as for Harvard Health Publishing’s flagship website. Julie’s work has been published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, UptoDate, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin, and the Massachusetts Medical Society. Julie is co-author of Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep it Off. Julie earned a BA in biology from Oberlin College and a master’s certificate in science communication from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Jennifer Crystal, MFA

Senior Writer and Patient Experience Representative

Jennifer Crystal is the Senior Writer and Patient Experience Representative for the Lyme Wellness Initiative. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA from Emerson College, and has completed a summer of study at the Bread Loaf School of English and a workshop in narrative medicine at Columbia University.

Gregory Curfman, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Former Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Gregory Curfman is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of Harvard Health Publishing. He is also on the affiliated faculty of Harvard Law School. Before joining Harvard Health Publishing, Dr. Curfman was the Executive Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, which has the highest impact factor of any medical journal. Dr. Curfman is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology. He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He directed the Coronary Care Unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Cardiovascular Health Center, a heart disease prevention program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Sharon G. Curhan, MD, ScM

Contributor

Dr. Sharon Curhan is a physician and epidemiologist in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. As a clinical researcher in life course epidemiology, healthy aging and longevity, and chronic disease prevention, she leads several large investigations aimed at identifying risk factors for developing shingles (herpes zoster), and the adverse health and quality of life effects that shingles can have, including cardiovascular disease and dementia. Her research is based in large ongoing cohort studies, including the Nurses’ Health Studies, Growing Up Today Study, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. She is also the co-founder and director of the Conservation of Hearing Study (CHEARS), a large longitudinal investigation study of ear and hearing disorders, and has published extensively on risk factors for hearing loss and tinnitus. Dr. Curhan received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her master of science in epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Vijay Daryanani, PT, MS

Contributor

Vijay Daryanani has worked for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital for over 25 years, with the last 12 years as a site supervisor overseeing two clinics in Marblehead, MA. He also has a personal training/life coaching company, V-Fit Productions. For over 20 years he also has worked with ESPN at both the winter and summer X games as a physical therapist, trainer, massage therapist, and educator.

Shinjita Das, MD

Contributor

Shinjita Das, MD is a board-certified dermatologist and Instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BS in Biology. Dr. Das returned to her home state of Texas for medical school at the University of Southwestern Medical Center, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. After internship in Dallas, she ventured back to Boston for residency at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program, where she served in leadership positions on the Quality Improvement and Program Education committees. She is currently pursuing her Master in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition to practicing general dermatology, Dr. Das serves as the MGH Department of Dermatology’s inaugural Technology Director. In this capacity, she spear-headed the expansion of the department’s electronic consult (eConsult) service to provide timely outpatient dermatology consultations. She also developed the dermatology eVisit program to allow established patients to have formal check-ins with their dermatologist in-between office visits. As Technology Director, Dr. Das leads and implements operational projects and patient education initiatives using technology-based solutions. Her current research is focused on evaluating ways technology can improve access to high-quality dermatologic care in an efficient manner.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Elena H. Chartoff, PhD

Isabelle Chase, DDS, FRCD(C)

Adam S. Cheifetz, MD

Justin A. Chen, MD, MPH

Steven Chen, MD, MPH

Wendy Y. Chen, MD, MPH

Hsinlin Thomas Cheng, MD, PhD

Andrea Chisholm, MD

Lynne Christensen

Andrea S. Christopher, MD

Raymond Chung, MD

Bruce M. Cohen, MD, PhD

Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH

Rita Colorito

Francesca Coltrera

Amy S. Colwell, MD, FACS

Amy Comander, MD

Hilary Connery, MD, PhD

Kathryn Corelli, MD

Julie Corliss

Jennifer Crystal, MFA

Gregory Curfman, MD

Sharon G. Curhan, MD, ScM

Vijay Daryanani, PT, MS

Shinjita Das, MD