Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

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.

Andrea J. Glenn, MSc, RD, PhD

Contributor

Andrea J. Glenn is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University, and a visiting scientist in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research interests include how dietary patterns (particularly plant-based diets) influence the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and healthy aging. Glenn trained as a registered dietitian at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. She earned a master’s and doctoral degree in nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto, and completed postdoctoral training in nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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.

Scott Goldberg, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Scott Goldberg is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of emergency medical services at Mass General Brigham. He received his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine, completed residencies at the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the Mount Sinai Hospital, and did a fellowship at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Goldberg holds board certifications in both emergency medicine and emergency medical services.

Ilona T. Goldfarb, MD, MPH

Contributor

Ilona Goldfarb, MD, MPH, is a board-certified maternal fetal medicine specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She completed medical school and residency in California and a fellowship at MGH. Her areas of interest and expertise include public health, perinatal infectious diseases, and quality improvement in obstetrical care. She spends the majority of her time providing direct prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care to women with high-risk maternal or fetal conditions. In this capacity, she provides consultation on high-risk pregnancy patients across New England. In addition to patient care, Dr. Goldfarb is actively engaged in teaching medical students as the OB/GYN associate clerkship director for Harvard Medical School, directing clinical research projects with students, residents, and fellows, and participating on department as well as hospital-wide committees. She is also an avid theatergoer and mom to two wonderful teenagers.

Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD

Contributor

Dr. Samuel Z. Goldhaber, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is section head of vascular medicine in the cardiovascular medicine division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston. He is Director of the BWH Thrombosis Research Group, and serves as principal investigator of a broad range of randomized clinical trials and observational studies related to the prevention, treatment, and epidemiology of venous thromboembolism and stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Dr. Goldhaber serves as chair of the steering committee of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-sponsored ATTRACT Trial of DVT, which is testing pharmacomechanical low-dose thrombolysis against standard anticoagulation to prevent postthrombotic syndrome. For his work on prevention of venous thromboembolism, Dr. Goldhaber has received the Certificate of Appreciation from the Surgeon General of the United States. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association. Dr. Goldhaber is president and founding director of the nonprofit organization North American Thrombosis Forum (www.NATFonline.org). He serves as section editor of Clinician Update and the Cardiology Patient Page for Circulation. He runs a busy outpatient practice of general cardiology, venous thromboembolism, and atrial fibrillation patients, and oversees the inpatient cardiology consult service.

Corey Goldman, PT, DPT, CSCS

Contributor

Corey Goldman is a licensed doctor of physical therapy with extensive experience in orthopedic rehabilitation and sports performance. He earned his bachelor of science in exercise science from Endicott College, and his doctorate in physical therapy from MGH Institute of Health of Professions. Corey is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through NSCA. With a clinical background in musculoskeletal health and functional recovery, Corey specializes in helping patients overcome pain, restore mobility, and return to the activities they value most. He is currently a physical therapist in the Spaulding Outpatient Hospital systems, practicing out of the Framingham, MA and Westboro, MA locations. In his current role with Spaulding, he is the co-chair of the strength and conditioning special interest group.

Leslie Goldman, MPH

Health Writer

Leslie Goldman is a Chicago-based journalist specializing in women's health. Her writing regularly appears in Prevention, AARP, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, and more.

Alexander Goldowsky, MD

Contributor

Dr. Alexander Goldowsky is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a gastroenterologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Dr. Goldowsky completed his internal medicine residency at BIDMC, and his gastroenterology fellowship at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.

Jill M. Goldstein, PhD

Contributor

Jill M. Goldstein, PhD, is a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School, founder and executive director of the Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine (ICON) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Helen T. Moerschner Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair in Women’s Health. She is a clinical neuroscientist and expert in understanding sex differences in disorders of the brain and their co-occurrence with general medicine, such as cardiovascular disease. Her program of research (funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 30 years), called Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory of Sex Differences in the Brain, consists of an interdisciplinary clinical investigative team integrating brain imaging, physiology, neuroendocrinology, genetics, immunology, and collaborations with basic scientists. She has received numerous awards to support this work, served on scientific advisory boards, and participated in strategic planning for the National Institute of Mental Health, the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), and the Institute of Medicine. She has spent her career at Harvard training the next generation in women’s health and sex differences in medicine, including leading an ORWH/Harvard-wide junior faculty training program on building interdisciplinary careers in women’s health. In 2018, she launched ICON at MGH (a collaboration of psychiatry, neurology, cardiology, OB/GYN, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), whose mission is to enhance discoveries about sex differences in medicine and incorporate them into developing novel therapies and prevention strategies that are sex-selective.

Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Robert Goldstein (he/him/his) is an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as the medical director of the Transgender Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Goldstein received his undergraduate degree, MD, and PhD at Tufts University before coming to MGH for internship, residency, and chief residency. He completed the combined MGH/BWH infectious disease fellowship in the HIV clinician educator track, and joined the faculty in 2018 as an infectious disease physician and primary care provider in the Transgender Health Program. His clinical practice is focused on caring for the LGBTQ community, those living with HIV, and those at risk for HIV.

Toni Golen, MD

Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor

Dr. Toni Golen is a physician specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, practicing in Boston. Dr. Golen completed her residency training at George Washington University Medical Center in 1995, and is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. She has a special interest in health care quality and patient safety, and serves as the interim chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Golen is also co-director of labor and delivery, as well as vice chair of quality, safety, and performance Improvement. In these roles she is responsible for the development and implementation of quality improvement projects that advance the equity, safety, accessibility, and patient-centered focus of care that is provided to patients and their families. Dr. Golen is a past member of the board of directors of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, and lives in Wellesley with her husband and children.

Lais Lopes Almeida Gomes

Contributor

Dr. Lais Lopes Almeida Gomes is a dermatology research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a pediatric dermatologist in Brazil. Her clinical and research interests include atopic dermatitis and global health. She is part of the Manstein lab at the Cutaneous Biology Research Center.

Joyce Gomes-Osman, PhD, PT

Contributor

Dr. Joyce Gomes-Osman is a physical therapist and a neuroscientist. After completing her physical therapy degree in her native country of Brazil, she obtained her PhD at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gomes-Osman is an Assistant Professor at the Departments of Physical Therapy and Neurology at University of Miami and maintains her affiliation with the Berenson-Allen Center for Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. She divides her time between working in the Laboratory, and teaching neurophysiology and non-invasive brain stimulation. As a rehabilitation neuroscientist, Dr. Gomes-Osman is driven to answer questions that can impact people’s ability to live more functional and independent lives. She has published many research studies focused on figuring out ways to make rehabilitation therapies more effective for instance, by combining it with nerve stimulation and non-invasive brain stimulation. In addition to her interest in physical health, her work in recent years has focused on better understanding how we can promote brain health for individuals who are aging. This interest in brain health has stemmed both from scientific curiosity, and from experiencing the reality behind the statistics, witnessing memory deficits as a family member. She finds great joy in mentoring the next generation of physical therapy clinicians and clinician-scientists, whether it be in the classroom, or carrying out studies to disentangle the complex relationships between physical exercise, brain health and postural control in older adults and individuals with various neurological conditions. On her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and is passionate about cooking and growing tropical plants, including exotic orchids.

Deborah Gomez Kwolek, MD, FACP, FAMWA, MSCP

Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Deborah Gomez Kwolek is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, a certified specialist through the Menopause Society, and a practicing primary care physician. Dr. Gomez Kwolek has over 30 years of experience in women’s health and sex and gender medicine. Throughout her career, she has focused on improving education in this field at regional, national, and international levels. In addition to her educational work, Dr. Gomez Kwolek co-chairs the Sex and Gender Health Collaborative mentorship committee of the American Medical Women’s Association/Medical International Women’s Association.

Peter Gonzalez, MD

Contributor

Peter Gonzalez, MD, is a clinician and educator in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Rachael Moeller Gorman

Health Writer

Rachael Moeller Gorman is a science and health writer with more than 20 years of experience. She loves telling the stories behind the science, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian magazine, The Scientist, and Men’s Health; four of her EatingWell magazine features won James Beard Journalism Awards. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and neuroscience from Williams College, and a master’s degree in environmental studies from Brown University.

David C. Grabowski, PhD

Contributor

David C. Grabowski, PhD, is a professor in the department of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on long-term care financing, organization, and delivery of services. He is a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and he was on the recent CMS Coronavirus Nursing Home Commission.

Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH

Contributor

Shelly F. Greenfield, MD, MPH, is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and the Kristine M. Trustey Endowed Chair of Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, where she also serves as the chief academic officer. She is the chief of the division of women’s mental health, and the director of clinical and health services research and education in the alcohol, drug, and addiction treatment program at McLean Hospital. Dr. Greenfield is an addiction psychiatrist, clinician, and researcher. Dr. Greenfield has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on federally funded research focusing on treatment for substance use disorders, gender differences in substance disorders, and health services for substance disorders. She received a National Institute on Drug Abuse–funded career award in substance use disorder patient-oriented research (2005–2016). Funded by grants from NIH/NIDA, she developed and tested a new manual-based group therapy for women with substance use disorders, the Women’s Recovery Group (WRG). The WRG is an evidence-based treatment, and the manual for dissemination was published in 2016, Treating Women with Substance Use Disorders: The Women’s Recovery Group Manual. She is immediate past president of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, and current member and past chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Addiction Psychiatry. She is immediate past editor in chief of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, a position in which she served for 16 years (2002–2018). Dr. Greenfield was a member of the advisory committee on services for women for the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011–2017). She has been elected to the American College of Psychiatrists and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She received the R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the A. Clifford Barger Award for Excellence in Mentoring from Harvard Medical School.

Peter Grinspoon, MD

Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Peter Grinspoon is a primary care physician, educator, and cannabis specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital; an instructor at Harvard Medical School; and a certified health and wellness coach. He is the author of Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth About Marijuana, as well as the groundbreaking memoir Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction. He is a board member of the advocacy group Doctors for Cannabis Regulation. He is also a TedX speaker and commonly lectures on the topics of cannabis, psychedelics, addiction, opioids, and physician health.

Staci Gruber, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Staci Gruber received her PhD from Tufts University, and is currently an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core at McLean Hospital. Over the last several decades, her research has focused on the application of neurocognitive models and brain imaging to characterize risk factors for substance abuse and psychiatric conditions. Specifically, she has extensively researched the impact of recreational cannabis use on the brain using neurocognitive measures, clinical assessments, and brain imaging techniques. Given inherent differences between recreational and medical cannabis use, Dr. Gruber founded the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) program, designed to clarify the specific effects of medical cannabis use through observational, longitudinal, and survey studies, as well as innovative clinical trials. Recently, Dr. Gruber launched the Women’s Health Initiative at MIND (WHIM), the first cannabis-focused program designed specifically to address women’s health and disorders that disproportionately affect women as well as some transgender and nonbinary individuals.

James Sawalla Guseh, MD

Contributor

Dr. James Sawalla Guseh is director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He trained at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and completed his internal medicine residency at Mass General, where he also served as chief resident. His research focuses on human performance, aerobic fitness, and cardiovascular health; he is a recipient of the AHA Laennec Young Clinician Award, the Roman DeSanctis Clinical Scholar Award, and the Macomber Family Endowed Scholar in Cardiovascular Performance Innovation. He is a primary author of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Scientific Statement on sports participation in athletes with cardiovascular abnormalities, and served as a lead author on the task force addressing myocarditis, pericardial disease, and other acquired cardiovascular conditions.

Perihan Esra Guvenek-Cokol

Contributor

Perihan Esra Guvenek-Cokol, MD, is double board-certified as a child/adolescent and adult psychiatrist. She specializes in emerging mental illness in teens and young adults. Her expertise is in the early stages of psychotic and bipolar disorders, along with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Dr. Guvenek-Cokol serves as the medical director for McLean Hospital's Child and Adolescent OCD Institute (OCDI Jr.) and the Support, Treatment, and Resilience (STAR) program, an outpatient program for teens and young adults. She is an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Emily Gelsomin, MLA, RD, LDN

James S. Gessner, MD

Ellen S. Glazer, LICSW

Andrea J. Glenn, MSc, RD, PhD

Heidi Godman

Scott Goldberg, MD, MPH

Ilona T. Goldfarb, MD, MPH

Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD

Corey Goldman, PT, DPT, CSCS

Leslie Goldman, MPH

Alexander Goldowsky, MD

Jill M. Goldstein, PhD

Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD

Toni Golen, MD

Lais Lopes Almeida Gomes

Joyce Gomes-Osman, PhD, PT

Deborah Gomez Kwolek, MD, FACP, FAMWA, MSCP

Peter Gonzalez, MD

Rachael Moeller Gorman

David C. Grabowski, PhD

Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH

Peter Grinspoon, MD

Staci Gruber, PhD

James Sawalla Guseh, MD

Perihan Esra Guvenek-Cokol