Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Caroline Sokol, MD

Contributor

Dr. Caroline Sokol is a physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she is a practicing allergist/immunologist as well as the principal investigator of a laboratory focused on determining the initial immunologic steps leading to allergic diseases. Her laboratory has made fundamental discoveries linking the sensory nervous system with allergen detection and the allergic immune response. She is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, where she teaches immunology to medical and graduate students. She is also the associate program director of the Stanbury Physician-Scientist Program, which is part of the internal medicine residency program at MGH. Dr. Sokol earned her medical degree and doctorate degree in immunology from Yale University School of Medicine. She then completed her internal medicine residency and fellowship in allergy/immunology at MGH.

Matthew Solan

Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch

Matthew Solan is the executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. He previously served as executive editor for UCLA Health’s Healthy Years and as a contributor to Duke Medicine’s Health News and Weill Cornell Medical College’s Women Nutrition Connection and Women’s Health Advisor. Matthew’s articles on medicine, exercise science, and nutrition have appeared in Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Runner’s World, and Yoga Journal. He earned a master of fine arts in writing from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Florida.

Jessica Solodar

Health Writer

Jessica Solodar is an award-winning medical writer and editor. Her content for consumers and clinicians has been published by Massachusetts General Hospital, the American Heart Association, psychologytoday.com, the Epilepsy Therapy Project, the International League Against Epilepsy, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and others. Jessica is a past president of the American Medical Writers Association New England Chapter.

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD

Contributor

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD is the director of the bladder cancer program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He completed his medical oncology fellowship at Indiana University. His primary focus is on clinical trials to develop new drugs and combinations to treat urologic cancers, particularly bladder cancer. He also has led translational projects and developed prognostic classifications and endpoints focused on bladder cancer. He is a member of the Genitourinary Committee of Southwest Oncology Group and the Bladder Cancer Task Force of the National Cancer Institute Genitourinary Steering Committee.

Celia Smoak Spell

Assistant Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

Celia is an assistant editor at Harvard Health Publishing. Celia received her B.A. from Wake Forest University where she studied Biology and Classical Studies, and she recently earned her Masters in Science in Science Journalism from Boston University.

Jacqueline Sperling, PhD

Contributor

Jacqueline Sperling, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, faculty at Harvard Medical School, and the cofounder and co-program director of the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program at McLean Hospital. She is also the author of the young adult nonfiction book Find Your Fierce: How to Put Social Anxiety in Its Place. Dr. Sperling specializes in implementing evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and working with youth who present with anxiety disorders and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder. She also focuses on providing parent guidance by using treatments, such as behavioral parent training, to help families address children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Corporate Learning Staff

Harvard Medical School’s Corporate Learning solutions provide emerging and established companies with the knowledge they need to address the industry's toughest business challenges. Their extensive portfolio of learning solutions helps teams achieve their potential by advancing their knowledge and capabilities in areas ranging from medical science and emerging diseases to employee health and wellness. A comprehensive ecosystem of online, in-person, and hybrid solutions supports learners at all levels — from new hires to CEOs and their leadership teams.

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, FAAP, FACP, FTOS

Contributor

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA, FAAP, FACP, FAHA, FAMWA, FTOS is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and an obesity medicine physician scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is the Director Equity for the MGH Endocrine Division and Director of Diversity for the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (NORCH). She is one of the most sought after international experts in the fields of obesity and health disparities.

Wendy Stead, MD

Contributor

Dr. Wendy Stead is the program director of the BIDMC infectious diseases fellowship and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Stead received her BA from George Washington University and her MD from the University of Massachusetts. She completed her residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, followed by her fellowship in infectious diseases, and joined the BIDMC faculty with a joint appointment in the divisions of infectious diseases and general medicine and primary care in 2003. Her research interests include examining the effects of interspecialty education strategies on communication and collaboration between specialty services; developing resident and fellowship curricula in HIV, general infectious diseases, and trainee wellness; and communication skills in patients with opioid use disorders.

Adam P. Stern, MD

Contributor

Adam P. Stern, MD, is the director of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has published in journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The American Journal of Psychiatry, as well as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and STAT News. He is also the author of Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training, an upcoming memoir.

Nicole Stern, MD

Contributor

Dr. Nicole Stern is currently a Commonwealth Fund Fellow in minority health policy at Harvard University. She is completing a master of public health degree in health management. Dr. Stern is board certified in internal medicine and sports medicine, and is a past president of the Association of American Indian Physicians. A critical focus for Dr. Stern's work is to increase the number of American Indian and Alaska Native health care professionals who can best reverse health care disparity trends common in American Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities.

Balachundhar Subramaniam , MD, MPH, FASA

Contributor

Dr. Subramaniam earned his medical degree from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India. He then pursued his anesthesiology residency from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and gained expertise in cardiac anesthesiology following a degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston. He also completed a master of public health in clinical effectiveness research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston. He was awarded the Ellison “Jeep” Pierce Chair of Anesthesia. He is the director of the Center for Anesthesia Research Excellence at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an associate professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School. He conducts research in perioperative outcomes and has special interest in meditation as a pre-habilitation tool in cardiac surgical population. He also researches the effects of meditation on sleep quality, postoperative delirium, and physician burnout, and other topics.

Dawn Sugarman, PhD

Contributor

Dawn E. Sugarman, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a research psychologist at McLean Hospital in the division of alcohol, drugs, and addiction. Dr. Sugarman received her PhD from Syracuse University, and completed predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at Yale School of Medicine. Her research primarily focuses on the use of technology in increasing access to evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders, with an emphasis on special populations such as women and individuals with substance use and other co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Dr. Sugarman was the inaugural recipient of the Sarles Young Investigator Award for Research on Women and Addiction at McLean Hospital. She is the current recipient of a National Institute on Drug Abuse–funded career development award focused on increasing women’s engagement in medication treatment for opioid use disorder through digital intervention. Dr. Sugarman also serves as the communications editor for the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Carol Sullivan, MS, RD, CSO, LDN

Contributor

Carol Sullivan, MS, RD, CSO, LDN is a senior dietitian at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She has more than 15 years of experience in the field, including more than a decade practicing as a Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition. At MGH she has been fortunate to work with many people and their loved ones undertaking the scary world of a cancer diagnosis, and treatment. Her pragmatic, evidenced based and individualized approach to nutrition has helped many thrive through the challenges of treatment and the often-confusing time after treatments are complete. She sees patients in survivorship through the MGH Cancer Center Oncology Lifestyle Medicine program to help people make positive nutrition and health behavior change. Carol is passionate about helping people see the good in food. At home she loves spending time in the kitchen and outside with her 2 young boys.

Siva Sundaram, BA

Contributor

Siva Sundaram is a fourth-year MD student at Harvard Medical School with interests in addiction medicine, child and adolescent psychiatry, and public health policy. Before medical school, he worked as a field guide at a wilderness therapy program in Utah for teenagers struggling with problematic substance use. As a medical student, he has spent his extracurricular time advocating for more comprehensive training in addiction medicine in medical schools and for expanded access to evidence-based addiction treatment.

Meera Sunder, MBBS, MRCOG

Contributor

Dr. Sunder is a seasoned clinician whose medical career has spanned three continents. She is a primary care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance, Massachusetts. Her interests include reproductive health, integrative medicine, health education, teaching and public health. She is a strong advocate of a holistic approach to medicine and wellness.

Joji Suzuki, MD

Dr. Suzuki is the Director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry and Director of Addictions Education in the Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His areas of clinical and research interests are the assessment and management of substance use disorders and related conditions in general medical settings, motivational interviewing, office-based opioid treatment, implementation of collaborative models of care, and medical education. He is the site director for the Partners Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, and is involved with teaching medical students, residents, and allied health professionals. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters related to addiction psychiatry.

Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH

Contributor

Aswita Tan-McGrory MBA, MSPH is director of the Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) and administrative director of the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She also is an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University. Ms. Tan-McGrory’s interests are in providing equitable care to BIPOC and immigrant populations. She speaks nationally and internationally to organizations about how race, ethnicity, and language impact the quality of care.

Christy N. Taylor, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Christy Taylor is an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General Hospital. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies, in biology and public health respectively, at the University of Miami. She subsequently completed her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Monique Tello, MD, MPH

Contributor

Dr. Monique Tello is a practicing physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, director of research and academic affairs for the MGH DGM Healthy Lifestyle Program, clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, and author of the evidence-based lifestyle change guide Healthy Habits for Your Heart. She completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency training program at Yale/New Haven Hospital. After residency, she earned a master’s in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and fellowship in general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is half Latina, speaks Spanish, and maintains a close relationship with her extended family in Guatemala. She is married to local sports broadcaster Bob Socci, and they have two young children, one with autism. She writes a popular blog, www.DrMoniqueTello.com, about achieving balance, health, and wellness from the perspective of doctor and mother.

Robyn Thom, MD

Contributor

Dr. Robyn Thom is a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. She will begin practicing at the Lurie Center for Autism as a staff psychiatrist when she completes her fellowship training in July 2020. She is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Toronto Medical School, and the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Her clinical and research interests include autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders, the interface between medical and psychiatric co-morbidity, and psychopharmacology.

Rebecca P. Thomas, PhD

Contributor

Rebecca P. Thomas is a clinical psychology fellow in the division of developmental medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a research fellow in the laboratories of cognitive neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital. She completed her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. Her clinical work focuses on complex neurodevelopmental assessments in pediatric populations. Her research addresses gaps in understanding in the trajectory of social communication profiles in young children with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, and developing tools to categorize progress in language and communication development.

Pritesh Topiwala, MD

Contributor

Dr. Pritesh Topiwala is an Interventional Pain Management physician and Anesthesiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is the Medical Director of the Brigham and Women’s Foxboro Pain Management clinic. His clinical interests are neuromodulation and interventional oncologic pain therapies. Dr. Topiwala finished his Anesthesiology residency and Pain Medicine fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

David R. Topor, PhD, MS-HPEd

Contributor

Dr. David Topor is a clinical psychologist, and the associate director for healthcare professional education at the VA Boston Healthcare System. He is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Elena Toschi, MD

Contributor

Elena Toschi, MD, is an Italian physician who has worked in Italy with Ele Ferrannini on insulin action and glucose metabolism in the late 1990’s. She then moved to Boston, USA to join Susan Bonner-Weir’s lab as a post-doctoral fellow working on the biology of islets of Langerhans and their regeneration. After obtaining her American medical license and specialization in Endocrinology at the joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/ Joslin program she has joined the Joslin adult clinic to work with Dr Howard Wolpert. Her clinical work has focused on use of technology in T1D to improve outcome. She has been involved in several multicenter trial on use of technology for the management of diabetes: REPLACE-BG and DIAMOND study among others. These studies have evaluated the benefit of CGM use by patients on multiple daily injections of insulin, have changed healthcare policy, with CGM now recommended to all patients with Type 1 Diabetes and CGM are now covered by Medicare. She is currently working on the use of technology to improve diabetes management and reduce the risk of hypoglycemia in the eldery with T1D (NIDDK DP3-Tango Study) in collaboration with Dr Munshi, and on restoration of hypoglycemia awareness in people with T1D and problematic hypoglycemia in collaboration with Dr Amiel. (JDRF – HARP.doc). She has been recently appointed Director of the Young Adult Clinic in the Adult Diabetes Section at Joslin Diabetes Center.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Caroline Sokol, MD

Matthew Solan

Jessica Solodar

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD

Celia Smoak Spell

Jacqueline Sperling, PhD

Corporate Learning Staff

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, FAAP, FACP, FTOS

Wendy Stead, MD

Adam P. Stern, MD

Nicole Stern, MD

Balachundhar Subramaniam , MD, MPH, FASA

Dawn Sugarman, PhD

Carol Sullivan, MS, RD, CSO, LDN

Siva Sundaram, BA

Meera Sunder, MBBS, MRCOG

Joji Suzuki, MD

Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH

Christy N. Taylor, MD, MPH

Monique Tello, MD, MPH

Robyn Thom, MD

Rebecca P. Thomas, PhD

Pritesh Topiwala, MD

David R. Topor, PhD, MS-HPEd

Elena Toschi, MD