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Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

photo of Gregory Curfman, MD

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.
Read more about Gregory Curfman, MD
photo of Shinjita Das, MD

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.
Read more about Shinjita Das, MD
photo of Emma Davies, MD

Emma Davies, MD

Contributor

Emma Davies, MD, has a broad-base of clinical interests to effectively manage patients with corneal and lenticular pathology. She is specialized in complex cataract surgery, partial thickness corneal transplantation including Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK) and Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK), and refractive surgery. As a full-time member of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Service at Mass. Eye and Ear, she offers exceptional, personalized, and detailed care both in the clinical and surgical settings. She has practices at the Mass. Eye and Ear Main Campus, Mass. Eye and Ear Longwood Campus, and Mass. Eye and Ear Waltham sites.    Dr. Davies earned her bachelor of science in biology with a concentration in marine biology at Duke University. She fulfilled an honors thesis with research in the chemical and visual orientation of estuarine crustaceans. She completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Davies was granted a Clinical Neuroscience Research Grant to complete research in ganglion cell loss after optic neuritis in multiple sclerosis patients. She was awarded the University of Pennsylvania Ophthalmology Excellence Award at medical school graduation for her work. She completed her medical internship at the Pennsylvania Hospital in the University of Pennsylvania Health Care System. Dr. Davies went on to join the Harvard Ophthalmology residency program at Mass. Eye and Ear. She was awarded the Best Resident Research Award in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Mass. Eye and Ear for her work in changing trends in herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) presentation. She continued at Mass. Eye and Ear for her fellowship in Cornea, Refractive Surgery, and External Diseases. She completed work in surgical outcomes for a variety of complex cataract surgery procedures, including scleral-fixated lens placement and cataract surgery in retinitis pigmentosa patients, and investigated predictive factors for corneal clearance after Descemet’s membrane stripping only for patients with Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy. Dr. Davies brings cutting-edge diagnostic procedures and surgical techniques to her practice at Mass Eye and Ear. She trained with Dr. Pineda for complex cataract surgery techniques (including intra-scleral fixation of a lens after trauma or vitreoretinal surgery) and Dr. Veldman for DMEK techniques (including pre-loaded DMEK grafts) and is eager to continue to expand our advances in corneal and refractive surgery.     As a clinician scientist, Dr. Davies has published a number of studies regarding complex cataract surgery outcomes and techniques as well as the management of complicated corneal infections, including corneal ulcers, infections after keratoprosthesis, and herpes zoster ophthalmicus. She is the author of the corneal ulcer algorithm that has standardized care of corneal ulcers in the Mass. Eye and Ear Emergency Room. She has also published multiple studies regarding state-of-the-art treatments for Fuchs corneal dystrophy patients, particularly Descemet’s membrane stripping without endothelial keratoplasty (DWEK). She currently is studying rho kinase inhibitor impact on corneal clearance after DWEK. 
Read more about Emma Davies, MD
photo of Paul F. Dellaripa, MD

Paul F. Dellaripa, MD

Contributor

Paul F. Dellaripa is a rheumatologist and internist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. At BWH, he specializes in lung disorders associated with autoimmune diseases. He participates in clinical trials and clinical investigation to better understand and treat these disorders.
Read more about Paul F. Dellaripa, MD
photo of Anne Densmore, Ed.D.

Anne Densmore, Ed.D.

Anne Densmore, Ed.D., is a certified speech pathologist as well as a speech and play therapist. She as also the author of Your Successful Preschooler, a Harvard Health Publishing book published by Jossey-Bass (2011).
Read more about Anne Densmore, Ed.D.
photo of Neelam V. Desai, MD

Neelam V. Desai, MD

Contributor

Dr. Neelam Desai is a breast medical oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is also a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests are in cancer genetics and HER2-positive breast cancer.
Read more about Neelam V. Desai, MD
photo of Nisa Desai, MD

Nisa Desai, MD

Contributor

Dr. Nisa Desai is a practicing hospitalist physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. She completed undergraduate education at Northwestern University, followed by medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago and internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia. She enjoys working with patients with complex medical histories, and is interested in gastrointestinal disorders. For fun, she enjoys traveling, fitness classes, and trying new recipes.
Read more about Nisa Desai, MD
photo of Jorg Dietrich, MD, PhD

Jorg Dietrich, MD, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Jorg Dietrich (MD, PhD, MMSc, FANA, FAAN) is the director of the Cancer & Neurotoxicity Clinic and Brain Repair Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, and attending physician at MGH. His clinical interests are management of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, and neurologic complications of cancer therapy, including toxicity from radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapies. His research activities include clinical, translational, and basic research in the fields of brain tumor biology, biomarkers of cancer, neurotoxicity from cancer therapies, and brain repair mechanisms. Dr. Dietrich is the author of over 150 publications, including original research articles, review papers, book chapters, and other scientific contributions. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Neurology, and other foundations.
Read more about Jorg Dietrich, MD, PhD
photo of Sara W. Dong, MD

Sara W. Dong, MD

Contributor

Dr. Sara W. Dong is a combined adult and pediatric infectious diseases fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital. She earned her MD from the Medical University of South Carolina. She completed her internal medicine and pediatrics residency and chief residency at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her academic interests include transplant and global health.
Read more about Sara W. Dong, MD
photo of Darshan Doshi, MD, MS

Darshan Doshi, MD, MS

Contributor

Darshan Doshi, MD, is an interventional cardiologist who specializes in complex and high-risk coronary interventions. Dr. Doshi received his BA from Columbia University’s Columbia College and his MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internal medicine residency, and his cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology fellowships at the Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Doshi also underwent additional dedicated training at Columbia in complex and high-risk interventional procedures. He was then recruited to the faculty in the Division of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 2018. Dr. Doshi also holds a MS in patient-oriented research from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health with a research interest focused on clinical trials evaluating novel cardiovascular devices and therapeutics in interventional cardiology. He has authored several original manuscripts in translational and clinical cardiovascular medicine, and has published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Circulation, among many others.
Read more about Darshan Doshi, MD, MS
photo of Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH

Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH

Contributor

Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH is an assistant physician and clinical researcher at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She board-certified in both internal medicine and integrative medicine. She received her MD and PhD in immunology from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine and research fellowship in complementary and integrative medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. During her fellowship she received a MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Dossett is also a certified Ananda Yoga (RYT 200), restorative yoga, and meditation teacher. Dr. Dossett’s research interests include mind body medicine, the patient-clinician relationship, and clinician well-being. 
Read more about Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH
photo of Caleb Dresser, MD, MPH

Caleb Dresser, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Caleb Dresser is an emergency physician and assistant director of the Climate and Human Health Fellowship, cohosted by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Harvard FXB Center, and Harvard C-CHANGE. His research focuses on understanding the health implications of climate-related disasters, and he is actively involved in efforts to educate health care workers, policymakers, and the general public about the value of action to protect human health in the context of the climate crisis.
Read more about Caleb Dresser, MD, MPH
photo of Valeria Duque, Au.D., CCC-A

Valeria Duque, Au.D., CCC-A

Contributor

Valeria Duque graduated with her doctor of audiology degree from Northeastern University in 2016. She has been a part of the Beth Israel otolaryngology team since February 2019, working with patients diagnosing hearing loss, fitting hearing aids, and conducting vestibular evaluations.
Read more about Valeria Duque, Au.D., CCC-A
photo of Jeffrey Ecker, MD

Jeffrey Ecker, MD

Contributing Editor

is a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital where he leads his department’s efforts in quality and safety and is a professor at Harvard Medical School. He is the current chair of the Committee on Obstetric Practice for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Read more about Jeffrey Ecker, MD
photo of Robert R. Edwards, Ph.D.

Robert R. Edwards, Ph.D.

Contributing Editor

Dr. Edwards is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Pain Management Center at Brigham & Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. He attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, completing a Ph.D. in Medical Psychology and a Master’s in Public Health. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Pain Psychology at Johns Hopkins, before joining the faculty in Psychiatry there. He moved to Brigham & Women’s Hospital in 2008. Dr. Edwards functions in a clinical capacity as a psychologist at the BWH Pain Management Center, where his responsibilities include assessment and treatment of chronic pain patients referred to the Pain Center. He screens for candidacy for opioid therapy and implantable devices and offers behavioral medicine services such as biofeedback for pain management. He mentors junior faculty members in several Departments and institutions, he has published numerous scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters on pain, and he serves on the editorial boards of several pain and psychology journals. Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on biobehavioral aspects of acute and chronic pain. Specifically, he studies individual differences in pain responses, and the neurobiological mechanisms by which psychosocial processes shape those individual differences. Some of his current NIH-funded work focuses on the impact of pain-related catastrophizing on neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses to pain, as well as individual differences in central nervous system pain processing, and their implications for long-term pain-related outcomes. He is involved in several studies that use functional neuroimaging techniques to assess the neurobiology of pain-related thoughts and emotions. In addition, his research group is working in the area of predicting and preventing misuse of opioids by patients with persistent pain.
Read more about Robert R. Edwards, Ph.D.
photo of Andrew Eidelberg, MD

Andrew Eidelberg, MD

Contributor

Dr. Andrew Eidelberg is a third-year internal medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. After graduating from the University of Miami and Weill Cornell Medical College, he decided to pursue a career in gastroenterology, specifically inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He is passionate about the intersection of LGBTQ+ sexual health and how it relates to gastrointestinal conditions to provide holistic and affirming care to all patients.
Read more about Andrew Eidelberg, MD
photo of David J. Einstein, MD

David J. Einstein, MD

Contributor

Dr. David J. Einstein is a genitourinary medical oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In addition to patient care, he leads clinical/translational research in immunotherapy and targeted approaches to prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers. He is a medical advisor to the Boston Prostate Cancer Support Group and the Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Coalition.
Read more about David J. Einstein, MD
photo of Todd Ellerin, MD

Todd Ellerin, MD

Contributor

Dr. Todd Ellerin has been director of infectious diseases and vice chairman of the department of medicine at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, MA for 17 years. He is an associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Additionally, he serves as medical director of the Weymouth Department of Public Health, and was the medical technical specialist for SARS, H1NI, Ebola, and now 2019-nCoronavirus at South Shore Health.
Read more about Todd Ellerin, MD
photo of Lauren Elson, MD

Lauren Elson, MD

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Lauren Elson is board certified in sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation. She attended Tufts University School of Medicine, and did her residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia/Cornell. She then completed a fellowship in sports medicine at Stanford University. Besides her experience with Division I athletes, she has covered multiple endurance races and marathons, including the Racing the Planet series in Chile and Egypt, the World’s Strongest Man Competition, and United Football League Games. She is currently the team physician for Lasell College. As a former professional dancer, she has a passion for taking care of dancers and performing artists. She is the chair of the Freelance Dancer Committee on the Dance USA Taskforce on Dance Health and is a member of Performing Arts Medical Association. She has spoken at the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science meetings and gives lectures on dance health and injury prevention to dancers and professional organizations. She has served as a volunteer physician at dance medicine clinics and organizes injury prevention screening exams. With more than 35 years of experience as a dancer, including training in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, African dance, modern, salsa, lindy hop, Pilates and yoga, Dr. Elson understands the goals and challenges of the physically active population. Dr. Elson is interested in developing dance health and education programs in the Boston area, as well uniting the dance medicine community to provide dancers better access to specialized care.
Read more about Lauren Elson, MD
photo of Lawrence Epstein, MD

Lawrence Epstein, MD

Contributor

Lawrence Epstein, MD is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Assistant Medical Director of the Sleep Disorders Service and Program Director for the sleep medicine fellowship program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care Medicine and Sleep Medicine. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Medical Editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Health Report: Improving Sleep.
Read more about Lawrence Epstein, MD
photo of Christopher Estiverne, MD

Christopher Estiverne, MD

Contributor

Originally from New Jersey, Dr. Christopher Estiverne is currently a staff nephrologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he specializes in care of patients with chronic kidney disease. He completed his medical degree and Internal Medicine training at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and is a recent graduate from the combined Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital nephrology fellowship program. His other interests include studying health care inequities and medical education.
Read more about Christopher Estiverne, MD
photo of Huma Farid, MD

Huma Farid, MD

Contributor

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.
Read more about Huma Farid, MD
photo of Susan Farrell, MD

Susan Farrell, MD

Contributing Editor

Dr. Susan Farrell is the Director of the comprehensive clinical skills OSCE examination at Harvard Medical School, and worked as an educator in the Partners Healthcare Office for Graduate Medical Education, before taking her current position as a Program Director at Partners Healthcare International in 2011. Dr. Farrell graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in engineering, and earned her M.D. at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1990. Her clinical training was in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, both at The Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Read more about Susan Farrell, MD
photo of Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS

Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS

Contributor

Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD MS MA, is an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital and Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York, after graduating from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MD, MS in Biomedical Sciences). He is the cohost of FOAMcast, an award-winning free medical education podcast bridging core emergency medicine content with cutting-edge topics, which has been downloaded nearly 2 million times. He is a frequent contributor to Slate, has published essays in the New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Mother Jones and has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) and The Takeaway (Public Radio International/WNYC/WGBH). He serves on the editorial board of the Annals of Emergency Medicine and ACEP Now, and has served as a content editor for the New England Journal of Medicine Resident 360 Series. Peer review publications include the Annals of Emergency Medicine, EM Clinics of North America, Emergency Medicine Practice, Emergency Medicine Australasia, and Critical Ultrasound Journal. He has presented internationally at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Social Media and Critical Care (SMACC), and for the United Nations Medical Services Division, and domestically for the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, The Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors, Resuscitation, and Controversies and Consensus in Emergency Medicine. He graduated from Williams College with Honors in Music and holds a Masters Degree in Music Composition and Theory from UC Davis. He is the associate conductor of the Longwood Chorus (an ensemble of medical professionals and students) and serves as board president of the Grammy-award winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. His wife Kate Taylor is a Metro reporter for the New York Times. Their baby daughter Maya is awesome. Follow him on Twitter @JeremyFaust.
Read more about Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS
photo of Sara Fazio, MD, FACP

Sara Fazio, MD, FACP

Contributing Editor

MD practices General Internal Medicine at the BIDMC, and is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. She received her undergraduate and medical degree from Brown University. After completing her internal medicine training at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, she was a chief resident at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and subsequently completed a Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education. She is the chair of the Board of Directors for the Alliance in Academic Internal Medicine. At Harvard, she is the Master of the Walter Bradford Cannon Society and the Associate Director of Innovation in Medical Education at the HMS Center for Primary Care. She directed the BIDMC Internal Medicine clerkship from 1999-2015 and was the CME Editor for the New England Journal of Medicine from 2011-2014. Dr. Fazio served as the SGIM (Society of General Internal Medicine) editor of the national CDIM (Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine)-SGIM Curriculum in Internal Medicine. She has received numerous teaching awards, including the Best Clinical Teacher Award from the classes of 2003, 2005 and 2007 at Harvard Medical School, the Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the Louis Pangaro Educational Program Development Award from CDIM, the S. Robert Stone Award for Excellence in Teaching at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the SGIM National Award for Scholarship in Medical Education. Dr. Fazio is among a team of educators who were recently named winners of the second annual Costs of Care and American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely Challenge.
Read more about Sara Fazio, MD, FACP
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