Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Christina Frank

Health Writer

Christina Frank has been an editor and writer for consumer publications, medical schools, and nonprofit organizations for over 20 years. Her work has been published by The Yale School of Medicine, Tufts Medical School, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation, Verywell Health, and GoodRx. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Richard Frank, PhD

Contributor

Richard G. Frank, PhD, is the Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. From 2009 to 2011, he served as the deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at DHHS directing the office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy. From 2013 to 2014, he served as a Special Advisor to the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, and from 2014 to 2016 he served as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services. His research is focused on the economics of mental health and substance abuse care, long term care financing policy, health care competition, implementation of health reform and disability policy. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine) in 1997. He is co-author with Sherry Glied of the book Better but Not Well (Johns Hopkins Press).

Samuel Frank, MD

Contributor

Dr. Samuel Frank is the director of clinical research network development and a movement disorder neurologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. He completed his fellowship in experimental therapeutics with a clinical focus on movement disorders at the University of Rochester. Since that time, over the course of 20 years, he has served as the site investigator and held leadership roles in over 50 clinical trials related to Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and dystonia.

Elizabeth Pegg Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM

Contributor

Dr. Beth Frates is a trained physiatrist and a health and wellness coach, with expertise in lifestyle medicine. She is an award-winning teacher at Harvard Medical School, where she is an assistant clinical professor. Dr. Frates is one of the first fellows of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and a pioneer in lifestyle medicine. She developed and taught a college lifestyle medicine curriculum at the Harvard Extension School in 2014, and it is still one of the most well-received courses offered at the school. She was voted president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in August 2020. Dr. Frates serves as President from 2022 to 2024.

Angelika Fretzen, PhD, MBA

Contributor

Angelika Fretzen serves as chief operating officer and technology translation director at the Wyss Institute, where she founded the Women’s Health Catalyst. In 2024 she received the Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women’s Careers at Harvard Medical School. Before joining Wyss, Angelika spent two decades in the pharmaceutical industry, including leading pharmaceutical development of Linzess at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. Angelika completed her undergraduate studies in Germany, earned her PhD in chemistry in Switzerland, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University. She holds an MBA from Suffolk University.

Gregory Fricchione, MD

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Gregory Fricchione is associate chief of psychiatry, director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and of the Chester Pierce Division of Global Psychiatry, and co-director of the McCance Center for Brain Health in the department of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Mind Body Medical Institute Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He specializes in neuropsychiatry and psychosomatic medicine, and for over 40 years has helped care for patients with severe medical, neurological, and surgical illnesses. He has published more than 250 publications and has authored or co-authored six books, including Compassion and Healing in Medicine: On the Nature and Uses of Attachment Solutions for Separation Challenges and The Science of Stress. His research interests include study of the catatonic syndrome, the neurophysiology of stress and resilience, and how the comparative neurology of brain evolution illuminates our concepts of health and illness and medical caregiving.

Lawrence S. Friedman, MD

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Lawrence Friedman is the Anton R. Fried, MD, Chair of the department of medicine at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, assistant chief of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Friedman graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Julia Frueh, MD

Guest Contributor

Julia Frueh, MD, is a fifth-year child neurology resident at Boston Children's Hospital. She has a special interest in autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disabilities, as well as transitions from pediatric to adult care.

Teresa Fung, ScD, RD

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Teresa Fung is an adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She received her BS and MS in nutrition from Cornell University, and her ScD in both nutrition and epidemiology from HSPH. She began her career as a registered dietitian at Yale-New Haven Hospital. In the last 20 years, her research has focused on methodology that assesses the quality of the entire diet, in particular the development of a number of diet quality indexes. She also examines the association of these diet quality measures and risk of chronic disease such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, elderly fracture, and weight change. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Nutrition, member of the editorial board for the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and a member of the Best Diet panel at U.S. News & World Report. She is also a professor of nutrition at Simmons University in Boston.

Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, FACP

Contributor

Robert A. Gabbay, MD, PhD, FACP, is Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Joslin Diabetes Center, and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He oversees the clinical care for over 25,000 patients at Joslin, as well as the education and care programs Joslin delivers nationally and internationally. His research focuses on innovative models of diabetes care to improve to enhance diabetes outcomes and improve the lives of people with diabetes. To meet these goals, he has traversed many arenas including an initial career as a basic scientist researcher to development of better patient communication tools, creating the first broad scale diabetes registry, designing and implementing a care management training program, leading Pennsylvania’s statewide implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home and defining the medical neighborhood and the role of centers of excellence in diabetes. Dr. Gabbay has received funding from the National Institute of Health Diabetes, Digestive and Kidneys Diseases (NIDDK), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation for his care transformation work. The reach of his work has been recognized through leadership roles in national and international activities to transform diabetes care. Dr. Gabbay has served as visiting professor, keynote speaker and organizing committees for global meetings of the American Diabetes Association, International Diabetes Federation, Endocrine Society, and the Diabetes Technology Society. Along with an extensive peer reviewed publication record, his views have appeared in popular press such as the New York Times, CNN, Oprah, the Washington Post and NPR. Dr. Gabbay completed his B.Sc. Degree at McGill University and his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin where he published on mechanisms of insulin signaling. He then went on to get his medical degree from the State University of New York at Brooklyn School of Medicine with a residency in Internal Medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell and fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at a joint Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess-Brigham and Women’s Hospital program at Harvard. Dr. Gabbay was a visiting scientist at MIT and a Professor of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and founding director of the Penn State Institute of Diabetes and Obesity before coming to Joslin.

Rebecca Gaffney, MD

Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Rebecca Gaffney is an instructor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Bullous Disease and Connective Tissue Disease clinics at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She graduated from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed dual training in internal medicine and dermatology at the Harvard Combined Residency Program. Her clinical and research interests include inflammatory skin diseases, rheumatologic dermatology, and inpatient dermatology.

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Contributor

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH, is a general cardiologist, educator, and clinical investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the cardiovascular medicine section leadership council and the cardiovascular continuing medical education oversight committee at MGH. She is the subspecialty core educator for the internal medicine residency at MGH, and is active in peer education through her role as editor and course director for the MGH Cardiology Board Review Book and on-demand cardiology education with Harvard Medical School Graduate Medical Education.

Joshua Gagne, PharmD, ScD

Contributor

Joshua J Gagne, PharmD, ScD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan). Josh is Co-Lead of the Methods Core of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Sentinel program, Co-Director of the Pharmacoepidemiology Program at Harvard Chan, and Co-Director of the Harvard-Brigham Drug Safety and Risk Management Research Center funded by the FDA. His research centers on methods for generating post-approval comparative safety and effectiveness evidence for new medical products. Josh teaches courses in pharmacoepidemiology and comparative effectiveness research at Harvard Chan and directs a course through Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center. His research is supported by the FDA, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Reagan-Udall Foundation, and pharmaceutical companies. Josh is a recipient of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Award for Excellence in Application of Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes Research. He serves on the editorial boards of Drug Safety and Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety and is an Associate Editor for PCORI.

Seth Gale, MD

Contributor

Dr. Seth Gale is a behavioral neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), co-director of the brain health program at BWH, and assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gale’s research interest is in lifestyle and nonpharmacologic interventions, including the use of mobile health and other technologies, to promote brain health and reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline. He is also involved in clinical and research ethics and philosophy of medicine. Dr. Gale works as an investigator in Alzheimer disease at the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at BWH.

Jeffrey Garber, MD, FACP, MACE

Contributor

Jeffrey R. Garber, MD, FACP, MACE is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at Atrius Health , and member of the endocrine divisions of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Garber is a past President of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology. He is the medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Health report on Thyroid Disease: Understanding hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.

John Garber, MD

Contributor

Over the past decade, John Garber, MD, has been deeply engaged in a dual program of clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology, while at the same time cultivating basic and translational research experience that has enabled me to focus on aspects of specific gastrointestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), celiac disease and eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE)—diseases whose pathogenesis are increasingly recognized to arise at the intersection of epithelial biology, host immunology and response to pathogens and dysregulated innate immune/allergic signaling processes. My initial experience in the lab during my fellowship provided me with a fundamental framework for approaching epithelial cell biology and the role of cytoskeletal regulation in maintaining gut homeostasis and response to pathogens. This work naturally complemented a growing clinical practice focusing on patients with IBD, and helped set the stage for subsequent human immunology studies of celiac disease and EoE. In the spring of 2012, I joined the full-time faculty in the Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in 2014 I helped establish the Adult Eosinophilic Esophagitis Clinic at MGH, which brings together gastroenterologists, allergists and nutritionists, and represents the first such clinic in the U.S. that provides coordinated, multidisciplinary care to adult EoE patients while also serving as a central mechanism for organizing cutting-edge basic and translational research on the underlying biology of EoE. During this time, my own laboratory has worked toward establishing novel methods for detailed studies of tissue eosinophils, and our initial efforts have specifically focused on understanding the roles of eosinophil integrins and vascular adhesion molecules and the mechanisms of eosinophil-epithelial cross talk in the pathogenesis of EoE. Utilizing the truly special resource of a large cohort of EoE patients while taking advantage of the significant research expertise in human immunology and translational research available at MGH and across Harvard Medical School, we have a unique opportunity to advance our fundamental understanding of the pathogenesis and potential treatments of EoE.

Matthew Gardiner, MD

Contributor

Dr. Matthew Gardiner is an ophthalmologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye & Ear in Boston. He is also the hospital’s associate chief for clinical affairs and the director of the ophthalmology emergency, consult, and hospitalist services. Dr. Gardiner is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, where he actively teaches at the medical student and graduate medical education levels. He attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and went on there to complete residencies in both internal medicine and ophthalmology.

Lilit Garibyan, MD, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Lilit Garibyan is an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, and a physician-scientist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research focuses on innovative biomedical discoveries aimed at identifying novel treatments for dermatologic diseases and beyond. Dr. Garibyan has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed original publications. She has lectured at the national and international level, and has developed a reputation as an expert and leader in dermatology and biomedical innovation. As a humanitarian, Dr. Garibyan has pioneered and established sustainable medical laser clinics in Armenia for effective treatments of scars and vascular anomalies. Dr. Garibyan received her BS summa cum laude from the University of California Los Angeles, her MD from Harvard Medical School, and her PhD from Harvard University in experimental pathology and immunology.

Marc B. Garnick, MD

Editor in Chief, Harvard Medical School Annual Report on Prostate Diseases; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Marc B. Garnick is an internationally renowned expert in medical oncology and urologic cancer. A clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, he also maintains an active clinical practice at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He has dedicated his career to the development of new therapies for the treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Garnick is the Editor in Chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org and Harvard Medical School’s Annual Report on Prostate Diseases, both of which emerged from his keen interest in explaining issues of medical importance to patients and their families to help them make appropriate treatment choices.

Emily Stern Gatof, MD

Guest Contributor

Dr. Emily Stern Gatof is a hematology/oncology fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). She is pursuing a career as a breast oncologist and has a special interest in hereditary cancer syndromes. After attending the University of Michigan, she graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at BIDMC. She works closely with many palliative care physicians and has a passion for practicing open, honest, and empathetic communication with her patients.

Alan Geller, MPH, RN

Contributor

Alan Geller, MPH, RN, is a senior lecturer in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he teaches a course entitled “Successes and Challenges in Health Behavior Change,” which focuses on large public health challenges and interventions, often incorporating studies from education, housing, and labor. He has a long-standing academic interest in cancer prevention and cancer screening, with a particular expertise in melanoma. Additionally, he has an avid interest in tobacco cessation in low-socioeconomic-status populations.

Emily Gelsomin, MLA, RD, LDN

Contributor

Emily Gelsomin, MLA, RD, LDN, is a senior clinical nutrition specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). As a registered dietitian, she counsels on medical nutrition therapy on an outpatient basis and is the co-director of Be Fit, the hospital’s employee wellness program. She has a Bachelor of Nutritional Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy from Boston University. She has worked at MGH since 2005 and helped develop Choose Well Eat Well, a traffic-light labeling system designed to promote healthier choices in MGH’s cafeterias. Emily enjoys freelance food writing and has received the Julia Child Award in Scholarship Excellence. She is passionate about improving our societal relationship with food and is an avid home cook.

James S. Gessner, MD

President Massachusetts Medical Society, Guest Contributor

James S. Gessner, M.D. is a physician with Anaesthesia Associates of Massachusetts, one of New England’s largest private practice anesthesiology groups serving major academic and medical centers throughout the Northeast. Board-certified in anesthesiology and pediatrics, he holds appointments in anesthesiology at the New England Baptist Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and Mount Auburn Hospital. A member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 1982, he has served the organization in a variety of capacities, most recently as President-Elect and Vice President, respectively, over the last two years. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2006 and the Society’s governing body, its House of Delegates, since 2003. He chaired the Committee on Finance for nine years, from 2005-2014 and has been a member of the Committees on Administration and Management, Strategic Planning, Legislation, Bylaws, and Member Services. From 2001-2003, he was president of the Norfolk District Medical Society. Dr. Gessner has long been active with anesthesia specialty societies, holding several leadership positions. He is a past president of the New England Society of Anesthesiologists and currently serves as its Secretary-Treasurer. From 1994-1995, he was president of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists, and he continues his service with that organization as a Government Officer and member of its Judicial Committee. On the national level, he was a Massachusetts delegate to the American Society of Anesthesiologists from 1984-2009. A cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bowdoin College with an A.B., Dr. Gessner received a B.M.S. from Dartmouth Medical School in 1970 and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1972. He completed residencies in pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital and in anesthesiology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. He was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1981. Dr. Gessner has also served long tenures on several key hospital committees. From 1986-1996, he was a member of the Risk Management Committee in the Department of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School; from 1986-1995, he was Chairman of the Bioethics Committee at New England Deaconess Hospital; and from 1993-2013, he was a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at Faulkner Hospital. Since 2000, he has been an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Boston Medical Center, and was a Clinical Instructor in Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School from 1979-1998.

Ellen S. Glazer, LICSW

Guest Contributor

Ellen S. Glazer, LICSW, is a clinical social worker whose practice focuses on infertility. pregnancy loss, third-party reproduction, and adoption. She is the author or co-author of six books in the field, most recently Having Your Baby Through Egg Donation, which she wrote with Dr. Evelina Sterling.

Heidi Godman

Managing Director

Heidi Godman directs all news gathering for Harvard Health Publishing, and also directs the curation and production of HHP's four monthly subscription publications (the Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Heart Letter, Harvard Men's Health Watch, and Harvard Women's Health Watch). Previously, Heidi served as the executive editor of the Harvard Health Letter. She was also an award-winning television news anchor and medical reporter.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Christina Frank

Richard Frank, PhD

Samuel Frank, MD

Elizabeth Pegg Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM

Angelika Fretzen, PhD, MBA

Gregory Fricchione, MD

Lawrence S. Friedman, MD

Julia Frueh, MD

Teresa Fung, ScD, RD

Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, FACP

Rebecca Gaffney, MD

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Joshua Gagne, PharmD, ScD

Seth Gale, MD

Jeffrey Garber, MD, FACP, MACE

John Garber, MD

Matthew Gardiner, MD

Lilit Garibyan, MD, PhD

Marc B. Garnick, MD

Emily Stern Gatof, MD

Alan Geller, MPH, RN

Emily Gelsomin, MLA, RD, LDN

James S. Gessner, MD

Ellen S. Glazer, LICSW

Heidi Godman