PGY1 Residents
General Track
Anjali Chandra, M.D.
Emory University School of Medicine
Anjali attended Harvard College where she studied Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology. Before med school, she worked on opioid overdose prevention in rural Appalachia through a non-profit coalition. Anjali attended Emory University School of Medicine. During med school she was involved in refugee health care, as a member of the Physician's for Human Rights organization, where she helped perform asylum evaluations for refugees. She also helped found and run the refugee mental healthcare clinic in Clarkston GA, home to over 50,000 refugees. Her fourth year research projects under the guidance of Dr. Altaf Saadi examined incidence of depression, anxiety and TBI amongst asylum seekers who had sustained blunt force trauma. She also examined assessment of cognitive impairment in the aging prison population. Anjali's psychiatry interests include CL, neuropsychiatry and global mental health/capacity building. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, running, baking, and exploring various parts of New England.
William French, M.D.
University of Washington School of Medicine
William grew up on his family’s farm in Central Montana. He graduated with honors from Carroll College, majoring in Biology and Biomolecular Chemistry with minors in Chemistry and English Writing. In college, William founded the 501c(3) non-profit organization, Little Wings, assisting families experiencing pregnancy loss. The organization has served families across the United States, and William continues to serve as its president. William earned his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine where he was named a George F. Odland Scholar. There, he conducted research exploring how telemedicine could be better implemented in rural communities most affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. William served in a number leadership positions in medical school, including Vice President of his class and leader of student interest groups. William was also the first medical student elected to the RTT Collaborative’s board of directors—a national organization devoted to enriching rural medical training—where he served two terms. William is interested in perinatal psychiatry, neuropsychiatry and expanding healthcare access to rural and underserved communities. Outside of work, William enjoys writing, archery, all-things agriculture and is an exceptionally-mediocre fishermen. He especially loves spending time with his wife and son, who share his passion for the outdoors and adventure.
Julia Golden, M.D.
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Julia graduated from Mount Holyoke College majoring in psychology with a Spanish minor. After college she worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT where she discovered her love for psychiatry and medicine. This realization prompted her to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at the University of Virginia. Prior to starting medical school at the University of Connecticut, she worked as a clinical research coordinator in the Cardiac Psychiatry Research Program at Mass General Hospital. During medical school, Julia developed an interest in geriatric mental health and led studies investigating older patients’ perspectives on integrative medicine as well as caregiver burden in Alzheimer’s Disease. In her free time, Julia enjoys taking long walks around Boston, trying new restaurants, and tending to her ever-growing plant collection.
Naihua Natalie Gong, M.D., Ph.D.
​Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Naihua graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in neuroscience and minors in chemistry and biology. She earned her MD/PhD at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During her graduate work with Dr. Matthew Kayser she used Drosophila melanogaster to study molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying early life sleep and sleep disruptions in neurodevelopmental disorders. Her work in Drosophila provided the basis for the identification of human genetic variants in a chromatin remodeler as a cause of a novel syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder. In residency, she plans to pursue her research and clinical interests in how neurodevelopmental events relate to psychopathology later in life. Outside of work, she is an enthusiastic amateur distance runner and enjoys exploring the numerous parks of Boston.
David Brendan Johnson, M.D.
University of Minnesota Medical School
Brendan graduated from St. Olaf College where he studied Chemistry and Norwegian before enrolling at the University of Minnesota Medical School in his hometown of Minneapolis. During medical school, Brendan trained at the state's main safety net hospital (Hennepin Healthcare), in rural medicine through the Rural Physicians Associate Program (RPAP), and in the state mental health hospital system. Brendan additionally completed a masters through Duke Divinity School's Fellowship in Theology, Medicine, and Culture, where he focused on liberation theology's influence on the social medicine movement. He has spoken and written on topics such as medical humanities, accompaniment, racial capitalism, the origins of the hospital, and the intersection of religion and colonialism in healthcare. Most recently, Brendan was a Visiting Research Scholar at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, where he conducted research on 'the mental commons' and its enclosure as a paradigm for explaining worsening mental health in society at large. He cohosts the Social Medicine On Air podcast, whose episodes been incorporated in multiple curricula across the United States. His clinical interests include community psychiatry, social medicine and global health, psychotherapy, and interventional psychiatry. He enjoys reading, weekly house dinners in his co-housing community, and riding around town on his new e-bike.
Jennifer Jolivert, M.D.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Jenn graduated from Haverford College with a B.S. in mathematics, andshe attended Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During med school, she served as co-president of the psychiatry interest group. She engaged in work connecting community members of underserved populations in West Philadelphia to health and behavioral healthcare. She also spent a significant amount of time in Kensington, doing community outreach and providing harm reduction supplies for people who use drugs. She graduated AOA and was a recipient of a Glasgow-Rubin Memorial Achievement Citation.
Her interests within psychiatry include addictions, CL, collaborative care, and computational psychiatry.
Outside of medicine, she enjoys powerlifting, dance, and playing violin.
Yu Kyung Lee, M.D.
Yale School of Medicine
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Jin Pyon, M.D.
Weill Cornell Medicine
Jin received his B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Arizona, where he conducted research investigating the inflammatory response in Toxoplasma gondii infection and the synaptic proteins that mediate neuronal transmission using a Drosophila model for neurodegenerative disorders. After college, Jin completed his M.D. at Weill Cornell Medical College where he served as Class President and graduated with AOA Honors. Jin's career interests include personality disorders, psychotherapy, and neuromodulation.
Olivia Rivera, M.D., M.P.H., M.L.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
​Levy is passionate about health advocacy in all its forms, with a specific focus on health policy. She is interested in correctional psychiatry and thinking about the role of physicians in contributing to the carceral state. When she's not at work, you can find Levy trying out new baking recipes, playing video games with her roommate, or hosting watch parties for all Philadelphia sports.
Monique Sager, M.D., M.B.A.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Monique graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania. After college, she worked in healthcare technology at Flatiron Health where she became interested in pursuing a career in medicine. She then attended the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, concentrated on Healthcare Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology and graduated as a member of AOA. While in medical school, she led the school’s psychiatry interest group and conducted research on detecting health misinformation on social media. She subsequently pursued an MBA at the Wharton School of Business where she co-founded Wharton Femtech, a group that focuses on advancing the field of women’s health through increased advocacy, careers, and partnership opportunities with startups in the space. Monique is passionate about women’s mental health and plans to pursue a career in reproductive psychiatry.
Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Joseph graduated from Duke University with a major in philosophy. After college, he went on to complete a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. His PhD research explored the ethical complexities of cancer screening. At Brown Medical School, Joseph became interested in medical education and served on the Medical Curriculum Committee. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. Joseph is currently interested in medical psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, and psycho-oncology. His hobbies include water polo, board games, spike ball, and cooking with his partner.
Child Track
Sahana Nazeer, M.D.
​Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Sahana graduated with honors from Brown University with a ScB in Neuroscience. She received the Solsbery Fellowship for her research on the effects of trauma and ecological stressors at distinct developmental stages on PTSD-like phenotype. She attended Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where she earned letters of distinction in pre-clinical research, problem-based learning (peer nominated), psychiatry clerkship, and pediatrics clerkship. In medical school, Sahana served as Class President, Psychiatry Interest Group President, No One Dies Alone (NODA) officer, and class representative for a Task Force proposing short- and long-term changes to address diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the school, hospital system, and community. She also volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate through the Children's Trust for children and adolescents involved in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Roanoke. Sahana's career interests include child and adolescent psychiatry, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and medical education. She is an avid fan of the Boston Celtics, and she enjoys spending her free time swimming or playing tennis.
​Mary Sun, M.D., M.S.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Mary is a first-generation physician who cares deeply about refugee, immigrant, and low-income communities. She received her dual B.A. and B.S.E. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School, where she majored in Computational Biology, Finance, and Healthcare Management & Policy. Prior to medical school, she worked in software development at Microsoft and was a performing poet on the West Coast. She then earned her M.D. at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as a FlexMed Scholar, where she led several student organizations, co-founded the Diversity Innovation Hub, and was awarded the Dr. M. Ralph Kaufman Prize in Psychiatry. Additionally, Mary was a Bioinformatics Research Fellow at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and completed master’s degrees in Clinical Research at Mount Sinai and Software Engineering at Harvard. Her clinical interests include digital health innovation and equity, child and adolescent psychiatry, cross-cultural psychotherapy, and psychodermatology. Outside of medicine, Mary can be found reading, making music, and climbing big hills.
Research Track
Abigail Greene, M.D., Ph.D.
Yale School of Medicine
Abby attended Princeton, where she studied psychology in the lab of Jonathan Cohen, and received certificates in Quantitative and Computational Neuroscience and French. Following graduation, Abby received a ReachOut56-81-06 fellowship to support a year working in the healthcare department of ProMujer Nicaragua. In 2014, she joined Yale's MD/PhD program, where she worked in Todd Constable's lab in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She received her PhD in 2021 and her MD in 2023.
Abby's research focuses on the application of computational modeling and machine learning techniques to human neuroimaging data to reveal the neural bases of complex cognitive processes, traits, and clinical symptoms. Outside of lab, Abby worked with the Behavioral Health Department at Yale's student-run free clinic (HAVEN), which she directed from 2017-2018, and as a Pivotal Response Treatment clinician at the Child Study Center under the supervision of Dr. Pamela Ventola. She has presented her work at various conferences, including the Society for Neuroscience, ACNP, Organization for Human Brain Mapping, and Flux Congress meetings, and has received various recognitions for her work, including an F1000 recommendation, the NIH Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience award, and the YCCI Multidisciplinary Pre-doctoral Training Program in Translational Research Fellowship.
As a resident, Abby hopes to apply approaches she developed during her PhD to the study of learning, memory, and affect in both health and disease. Clinically, she is particularly interested in traumatic sequelae and in the development and implementation of interventional psychiatric modalities.
When not in the lab or hospital, Abby can be found being walked by her "spirited" pup, Leo, exploring hiking trails near and far, or cooking with her family.
Kwadwo Owusu-Boaitey, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Kwadwo received his B.A. in Philosophy and B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he studied as a Meyerhoff Scholar. In college, he conducted laboratory research on BRCA1-associated breast cancer, served on the Meyerhoff Student Council, and enjoyed time as a member of his school's Ethics Bowl Team and Club Soccer Team. Kwadwo completed his MD and PhD training in the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD program. His PhD work was in regenerative biology, where he used single-cell genomics and spatial transcriptomics tools to study stem cells in regenerating animals (planarians). In graduate school, he received multiple teaching awards from the MIT Biology Department, along with the Jerome and Florence Brill Fellowship for Outstanding Research in Stem Cell Biology. Kwadwo also lived for seven years as a Graduate Resident Advisor in the Next House dormitory at MIT, helping support MIT undergraduates as a live-in mentor. In medical school, Kwadwo served as a student leader in Harvard's Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA) and worked with minority students in Boston high schools/colleges as the Pipeline Coordinator for Harvard’s Student National Medical Association (SNMA). Throughout his time in Boston, he has also been a regular volunteer with Miracle Mile Ministries - a multi-church outreach ministry that serves people experiencing homelessness and substance addiction near Boston Medical Center. Kwadwo's clinical interests are in addiction medicine/psychiatry, new drug development, and spiritual aspects of holistic addiction/psychiatric care. He is a recipient of the 2024 Ruth Fox Scholarship from the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the 2023 Regional Travel Award from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. Outside of medicine, Kwadwo enjoys competitive soccer/basketball, studying Biblical literature/languages with friends, spoken word, Disney karaoke, and visual storytelling (especially the story of the Bible!).
Avin Veerakumar, M.D., Ph.D
Stanford University School of Medicine
​Avin received a B.S.E. in Bioengineering and B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he conducted research on neuroplasticity of the serotonin system. He received an M.D. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Stanford University, where he identified neural circuits controlling cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary physiology and a neural circuit controlling sound volume. His interests within psychiatry include genetics, neuropsychiatry, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Outside of medicine he enjoys traveling, SCUBA diving, and photography.
PGY2 Residents
General Track
Stephanie Fagbemi, M.D.
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Stephanie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology. In medical school, she was the President of the Student Government Association, cofounded her school’s Diversity Council, and started a food pantry for her classmates who were food insecure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she assisted the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in distributing personal protective equipment to healthcare sites and senior living facilities that were in the greatest need. She also helped to distribute donated electronic devices to patients and senior residents, so they could stay connected with their loved ones despite social distancing. Her research in medical school focused on finding ways for Black and Hispanic North Philadelphia community members to become involved in the medical student applicant selection process. Stephanie also did research in Episcopal Hospital’s Crisis Response Center, looking for factors that determine whether patients are admitted or discharged following a 23 hour observation. Her interests include women’s mental health, trauma, schizophrenia, mood disorders, community mental health, and cultural psychiatry.
Josie François, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School
Josie graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor’s in Chemistry and attended Harvard Medical School. In medical school, she mentored premedical students and volunteered at The Family Van, providing health education and screenings to the local community. Her research in medical school focused on the use of digital technology in psychiatric care. She obtained an MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her MPH focused on health disparities, health equity, and population mental health. Josie‘s interests include public and community psychiatry, cross-cultural psychiatry, global mental health, psychotherapy, and consultation-liaison psychiatry.
Jack Huang, M.D., M.B.A.
​Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
​Jack graduated from Harvard College, where he started HealthPALs (Health Peer Advisors and Liaisons), a team of student community health workers. He also worked with the MGH Chelsea Healthcare Center on quality improvement initiatives. After college, Jack worked in population health management at Mass General Brigham as well as health policy research at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He then completed a MD at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and a MBA at the Wharton School. At the start of the COVID pandemic, Jack worked with Penn's Department of Psychiatry and Center for Healthcare Innovation to launch a community-based digital mental health platform. He also has experience advising startups and larger organizations at the intersection of mental health, healthcare technology, and delivery system innovation. Jack is interested in healthcare delivery system innovation, cross-cultural psychiatry, healthcare technology, and physician leadership. In his free time, Jack likes to hike, spend time with friends and family, and play piano for karaoke and jam sessions.
Todd Jones, M.D.
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Todd received his AB degree in Classical Languages and Literatures from Harvard College with a secondary concentration in Mathematics. In college, Todd founded a philosophical parliamentary debate society and participated in the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club as an actor and director. In medical school, Todd conducted research in virtual reality exposure therapy, filming and compiling 3D videos for patients with post-intensive care syndrome. Todd's academic interests include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, hypnosis, and the incorporation of psychiatry into cutting-edge theories of work, flow, and challenge.
Sarah Kovan, M.D., M.Sc.
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Sarah graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Comparative Cultures and Politics and a B.S. in Human Biology. Her extensive work on understanding the barriers to health access in a global context led her to complete an M.Sc. in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and an M.Sc. in Medical Anthropology, both at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Following her graduate education, she attended the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Sarah is a recipient of the U.S. Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health Award, recognized for expanding access to health care services for individuals without housing in Vermont and New Hampshire. She is currently interested in community psychiatry and global mental health, with a focus on transitional age youth. Sarah enjoys gardening (and fresh produce), canoeing, most soccer-related activities, and a good memoir.
Deborah Park, M.D., M.S.
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University
Deborah graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she majored in biology as part of the Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions (GPPA) in medicine. At the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Deborah participated in the medical humanities journal, student government, and the communication skills course for the M1 and M2 class. During medical school, Deborah additionally obtained a Master’s in Clinical Research with a research focus in psycho-oncology. Her other interests include the intersection between theology and psychiatry, mood disorders, women’s mental health, and medical education.
Mary Shen, M.D., M.Sc
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Mary graduated from the University of North Carolina graduating with highest honors in Nutrition. After college, she pursued a Master's in Nutrition at Columbia University. She then returned to UNC for medical school, where she gained several university and national awards for her work in leading mentorship initiatives for women in surgery, including The Society of Thoracic Surgeons 'Looking to the Future' Medical Student Scholarship, the University Award for the Advancement of Women, and the Association of Womens Surgeons Patricia Numann Outstanding Medical Student Award. Prior to joining Brigham & Women's Hospital, Mary trained in general surgery at the University of Michigan, where she also served as an NIH T32 research fellow, publishing over 30 peer-reviewed papers. During this time, she received 5 awards for her efforts in promoting culture and teaching, served as Achievement Director for the surgical residents, while creating a novel near-peer, vertical mentoring structure in academic surgery that was published and replicated in several specialties. Mary is interested in treatment-resistant depression, interventional psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and healthcare workforce wellbeing. She enjoys hot yoga, hiking, and live music.
Evelina Sterina, M.D., M.S.
​Emory University School of Medicine
Evelina Sterina graduated from the University of Chicago with majors in Psychology and Biological Sciences with Specialization in Neuroscience. In Chicago, she received honors for her thesis exploring the neural mechanism of ultradian (<24 hour) biological rhythms, co-founded a public health case competition, and managed a team of researchers at NowPow, a social impact technology start-up. In medical school at Emory University, Evelina led a primary care student clinic for low-income immigrant communities on the West Side of Atlanta and a mental health student clinic for the refugee and asylee community in Clarkston, Georgia. Evelina also received an NIH TL1 grant to complete a Master’s in Clinical Research at Emory University, where she studied the effects of trauma timing and cortisol rhythmicity on PTSD symptomatology. She was selected as an American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Scholar for her work studying the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of older adults and volunteering at Emory’s geriatric neuromodulation clinic. Her interests include geriatric psychiatry, consult-liaison psychiatry, immigrant mental health, neuromodulation, and biological rhythms. Her hobbies include yoga, raising animals, international film and literature, and all things arts and crafts, most recently cross-stitching.
Jason West, M.D.
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at University of Nevada Las Vegas
Jason majored in Physiology and Developmental Biology from Brigham Young University. In college, he established social venture projects based out of Madagascar that specifically focused on pig farming and sustainable agriculture. During this time, he also performed research into salt-tolerant halophyte bacteria in stimulating alfalfa growth. As a medical student, Jason served as Treasurer for the Student National Medical Association and was an integral part of the LEAAD-UP initiative that focused on integrating anti-racism into the medical curriculum while advancing health equity in Las Vegas. Jason’s interests include consultation-liaison psychiatry, global mental health, interventional psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and cross-cultural psychiatry.
Bijan Zarrabi, M.D.
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
​Bijan graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) majoring in Psychobiology with a minor in Theater. After graduating, Bijan worked as a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technician at a TMS clinic specializing in neuronavigation-based TMS for mood disorders and tinnitus. Bijan later became the clinical director of the practice while also performing stand-up comedy across Los Angeles. During medical school, Bijan became the president and founder of the Rush University COVID-19 Journal Club, an organization dedicated to informing clinicians and the general public on new research findings related to COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. Bijan was the recipient of Rush University’s Department of Psychiatry Award for Student Excellence and was nominated for the American Medical Association’s Physicians of Tomorrow Award. He also graduated from Second City’s Improvisational Comedy training program in Chicago. Bijan is interested in neuromodulation, mood disorders, and young adult/child and adolescent psychiatry.
Child Track
Jad Hilal, M.D.
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Jad studied International Relations, music, and Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. During his studies, he worked for Pittsburgh City Council, conducting legislative research and outreach regarding marijuana decriminalization and protecting residents from housing discrimination based on income. After graduating, he was selected as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, working for the historically-underrepresented Wilkinsburg Borough, for the Obama Foundation on a project to support men and boys of color, and for a biostatistics firm authoring a white paper regarding the state of NOWS healthcare. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, he served as a social medicine fellow, working to reform the curriculum and build a home visiting program to better address inequities in healthcare. He was a regular volunteer at the local needle exchange clinic and free clinic, and organized a home-visiting program for medical students and pediatrics residents. He also chaired the school addiction medicine area of concentration and was selected to attend the Hazelton Betty Ford summer fellowship in addiction medicine in Rancho Mirage, CA. Stemming from his interest in policy and addictions, his research pertained to state policies affecting maternal-infant wellbeing in families affected by substance use disorders, the results of which were presented at several national conferences with a manuscript pending publication. He has been an avid violinist since age 4, a godfather to two delightful cousins, and an average but generous cook.
Jeremy Wortzel, M.D, M.P.H., M.Phil
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Jeremy Wortzel earned his ScB at Brown University where he studied Biology and Geology. During college, he worked with non-profits and governmental agencies to help improve the state of healthy and sustainable housing for low-income and immigrant families and mentored inner-city high school students in a wilderness immersion therapy program. He then pursued an MPhil at the University of Cambridge in clinical research and experimental medicine. Jeremy then attended the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where he was the Student Wellness Chair of the Gold Humanism Honors Society. He focused his clinical work on addressing youth homelessness and mental health in Philadelphia and his research on studying social inequity in Asbestos exposure with the Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. Jeremy then pursued a Master of Public Health at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus in Environmental Health. His research studied the intersection of toxic environmental stress, greenspace, climate change, and mental health. Professionally, Jeremy is interested in child and adolescent psychiatry, climate change, environmental and social determinants of mental health, mindfulness, community psychiatry, and health equity advocacy. Outside of medicine, Jeremy enjoys playing guitar around various campfires across America’s national parks, jogging through any greenspace he can find, and working on fun art projects with his wife!
Research Track
Katharine Brieger, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Michigan Medical School
Kate graduated from Pomona College with a major in Environmental Analysis. In college, she studied environmental contaminants impacting human health, led the Writing Center, and ran on the cross country and track teams. She then went on a Fulbright Research Scholarship to the University of Geneva to study oxidative stress in neurons. Kate completed her MD/PhD at the University of Michigan, where her dissertation in epidemiology focused on modifiable risk factors during the prenatal and post-menopausal periods. Her main projects examined gene-environment interactions relevant to the development of autism spectrum disorder and on behavioral and medical factors extending ovarian cancer survival. Her final dissertation project has now motivated a large clinical trial investigating hormone replacement therapy among ovarian cancer patients. While in medical school she also taught at the School of Public Health, edited the medical school’s literary and arts magazine, and led the MD/PhD student-faculty group for PhDs in the social sciences and humanities. During residency, Kate looks forward to combining her passion for research and clinical work by developing intervention-focused research. Her current interests include child and adolescent health, women’s mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, psychotherapy, and medical education.
Leela Chakravarti Dilley, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Leela Chakravarti Dilley graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a major in neuroscience. She then completed the University of Pennsylvania MD-PhD program, earning a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology. Using Drosophila as a model, her PhD work identified the first known gene that specifically regulates the high amounts of sleep seen in early life across species, thought to be essential for early brain development. She also explored how a single ASD-associated gene acts in several different circuits and at different developmental timepoints to affect sleep, learning and memory. Prior to joining BWH Psychiatry, Leela completed two years of training in medicine and neurology at MGH/Brigham. She aims to use this training to inform the ongoing development of mechanistic approaches to psychiatry, with specific interests in bipolar and psychotic disorders. She plans to continue research exploring the cellular and molecular underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. Her hobbies include reading, cooking without recipes, crafts (recently watercolor painting) and hikes with her husband, Robert.
Rachel Kery, M.D., Ph.D.
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Rachel Kery earned a BA from Wellesley College with a double major in neuroscience and anthropology. She then went on to attend the Stoney Brook University School of Medicine Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) for her MD, PhD training, earning a PhD in Neuroscience in 2020. While part of the MSTP, Rachel was awarded a prestigious F30 Fellowship from NIMH, a teaching award from her efforts as a TA in the Neuroscience Department, and served as a founding member and president of the Underrepresented Genders in Stony Brook’s MSTP. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, Rachel was part of a team of Stony Brook graduate students who engineered a test for SARS-COVID-2 infection using what limited resources were available at the time, and personally tested hundreds of patients. Rachel’s research has focused on understanding complex thalamocortical pathways critical for sensory perception, with particular interest in understanding sensory hypersensitivities commonly seen in neurodivergent patients. A passionate advocate for neurodiversity and ASD/ADHD pride and acceptance (over mere awareness), her interests in psychiatry include neuropsychiatry and child psychiatry.
PGY3 Residents
General Track
Marie Desir, M.D.
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Marie graduated from the Honors College at Florida International University with a major in Biological Science. She worked as an ER medical scribe and participated in medical missions to both Haiti and Nicaragua after college. In medical school, she was the treasurer of the Psychiatry Student Interest Group and the Vice President of NutriGardens, a program that educates children on healthy foods and nutrition. She also served as a worship leader in her church. Marie’s research through the multi-center STOP-COVID collaboration focused on the effects of renal dysfunction on mortality in COVID patients. She has also conducted a project evaluating potential biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment. Marie’s interests are in consultation-liaison psychiatry, psychodynamic psychotherapy, interventional psychiatry, and the interface of technology and mental health treatment.
Grace Ma, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Grace majored in biology at the University of Miami. During college she volunteered at a hospice center and was the president of a student group that volunteered at a local nursing home and organized educational activities around aging related topics. Grace attended medical school at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. While in medical school she was co-president of the geriatrics interest group and involved in a program that organized cultural educational activities for children adopted from Asian countries. She developed interest in neuropsychiatry and geriatric psychiatry, publishing work on epilepsy and presenting on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in older adults. In residency, Grace continues to pursue interests in geriatric psychiatry, preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia, and vulnerabilities and resilience in the older adult population through research and clinical work.
Kabir Nigam, M.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Kabir majored in Neuroscience at the UCLA. He went on to complete a Master’s degree in Experimental Neuroscience at the Imperial College of London where he worked on one of the first trials using psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. In medical school, Kabir served as the co-president of the student psychiatric society, conducted research on diminished inhibitory control in individuals with cocaine use disorder and co-authored a review article on hallucinogens as treatments for substance use disorders. While at BWH, he has been actively involved with research at Dana Farber using psilocybin as an intervention for demoralization in hospice patients. Kabir is interested in consultation-liaison psychiatry, psychodynamic theory and novel interventional techniques that bridge psychopharmacology, spirituality and exploration of the self.
Harish Pudukodu, M.D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Harish graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with majors in Environmental Health Sciences and Biology, then continued on at UNC Chapel Hill to complete medical school. In college, he co-led the Neuroscience Club and worked with NeuroCare leadership to connect students with psychiatry-related service opportunities. In medical school, Harish created a medical student podcast to foster student well-being, performed volunteer work in urban underserved communities as part of his community engagement scholarship, led a program to offer support to high-risk patients during COVID, and engaged in research focused on the effects of CFTR modulators on depression/anxiety. Now in residency, Harish has taken an interest in educational leadership through his work on the medical student psychiatry curriculum, has served in committee roles to support resident wellness and social life, and has reinforced his clinical learning through preparation and publication of case reports. Harish is interested in the outpatient management of bipolar disorder, consult-liaison psychiatry, and teaching.
Lucas Wittman, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School
Lucas completed his undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests focused on characterizing the effects of poverty and childhood adversity on brain development. During his time at Harvard Medical School, Lucas was involved in student mental health advocacy and public health research. He completed his MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in population mental health. He is interested in community psychiatry, improving access to mental health care, and the intersection of faith and mental health.
Child Track
Bryana Bayly, M.D.
University of Michigan Medical School
Bryana graduated from the University of Michigan with majors in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience and Spanish. In medical school, Bryana was a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and was an active volunteer in the No One Dies Alone Program, assisting in end-of-life support for patients. Bryana also created the MedConnect program in conjunction with the School of Social Work to provide virtual social support for patients at risk for negative mental health outcomes associated with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research in medical school has focused on epigenetic modification of Fragile X patient-derived cells. Bryana’s interests include child and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, neuroscience, geriatric psychiatry, and medical education.
Margaret Duncan, M.D.
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Margaret was a Pre-Professional Studies and Theology double major at University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, Margaret played in the drumline, acted as a mentor for high school students, and wrote a regular column in the student newspaper. In medical school, Margaret established a narrative medicine interest group, created a program to build resilience for classmates during COVID-19, and served as Peer Advocate to help students access resources. Margaret was selected for a Fellowship at Auschwitz to study at their Professional Ethics Program. Her interests include women’s mental health, child and adolescent psychiatry, advocacy, consultation-liaison psychiatry and palliative care.
Research Track
Andrew Pines, M.D., M.A.
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine-Arizona
Andrew completed his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Economics at the University of Denver. After college, Andrew completed a Master’s in Philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Before medical school, Andrew worked as a research technician in a neurosurgery lab that focused on educating patients and residents using 3D printing, augmented reality, and simulation modules. In medical school, Andrew designed and taught a wilderness medicine course, received a grant for educational innovation, and earned a certificate in the Science of Health Care Delivery. In residency, Andrew has had broad clinical interests with a particular focus on psychosis. Andrew joined the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics when coming to Brigham and has since been using causal sources of data—such as lesions, cortical stimulation, and deep brain stimulation—to localize the neuroanatomy responsible for psychotic symptoms.
Ali Raza, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Ali graduated from Columbia University with a major in Biology. In college, Ali created and taught an introductory neuroscience course to a group of under-privileged New York City high school students and acted in a play directed by a Tony Award recipient. Prior to medical school, Ali completed a Ph.D in Neurobiology and Behavior at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia. During medical school, Ali developed a database to connect medical students to COVID-related volunteer opportunities in the community which led to the establishment of 501c3. Ali’s work as a research assistant at McLean led to a curated database of reduced fee mental health providers for residents. His interests include mood disorders, advocacy, and the intersection of clinical psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, research and technology.
Erin Reed, M.D., Ph.D.
Yale School of Medicine
Erin graduated from Davidson College with a major in Neuroscience. In college, Erin was a member of the Bio-Math Connections Club and participated in the Honor Council. During medical school, Erin completed a Ph.D in neuroscience at Yale. Erin received the Austen Riggs Scholarship in Computational Psychiatry & Representation and was recognized for computational and translational research in cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry. Her research involves computational modeling in patients, healthy participants and animals in order to ascertain underlying mechanisms of generating and updating beliefs. Erin is also interested in depressive disorders, alcohol use disorder, and consultation-liaison psychiatry (especially liver transplant).
PGY4 Residents
General Track
Alyssa Ehrlich, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Alyssa graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with majors in Neuroscience and Philosophy. At Columbia, she discovered a passion for near-peer teaching and worked as a teaching assistant and tutor throughout college. During medical school at Harvard, Alyssa spent a year working in a translational hepatology laboratory investigating clinical and genomic predictors of hepatic fibrosis progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease while funded by an NIH T32 predoctoral research fellowship. In medical school, she also founded an online education company that helps medical students prepare for standardized exams like the USMLE. Prior to joining Brigham Psychiatry, Alyssa completed her internship in internal medicine at Stanford University. Professionally, she is interested in medical education, psychotherapy, women’s mental health, and consultation-liaison psychiatry. Alyssa’s hobbies include speed chess, improv and sketch comedy, hot yoga, figure skating, downhill skiing, and playing with her corgi.
Nichola Haddad, M.D.
Administrative Co-Chief Resident
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Nikki graduated from Brown University with a concentration in Health and Human Biology. During her senior year of college, Nikki created and led her own course “Music as Medicine.” At Brown Medical School, she created an arts-based curriculum in medical education and was an advocate at a sexual assault and trauma center. Nikki’s clinical interests and expertise in residency revolve around women’s mental health. She works in Brigham’s Women’s Mental Health Clinic, which has helped her build a foundation in treating psychiatric disorders that disproportionately affect women. She is currently enrolled in the South Shore Sexual Health Center (SSSHC) American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) Certificate Program to become a certified sex-therapist. She sees patients for sex and couples therapy in her general outpatient clinic and is passionate about the intersection between reproductive health, sexuality, and psychiatry. Her hobbies include singing jazz/R&B, guitar, and barre classes.
Amanda Kim, M.D., J.D.
Administrative Co-Chief Resident
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Amanda graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Psychology from Northwestern University, followed by a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She then worked as an attorney for a number of years prior to pursuing and receiving an M.D. from the University of Chicago. During medical school, she became involved with opioid policy, and took time off after her second year to serve as the Deputy Director of Strategic Health Initiatives at the Illinois Department of Public Health, directing statewide opioid initiatives. She is a recipient of the Source Research Foundation 2021 SRF Connection Award to support psychedelics research, a 2023 graduate of the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a current Fellow pursuing psychoanalytic training at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She is currently the Resident Director of Ketamine Integration Services at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, working with psychiatry and chaplaincy trainees to provide integration therapy to ketamine and esketamine patients. Her clinical and scholarly interests are in psychotherapy, psychedelic therapies, addiction psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Her hobbies include playing classical piano and harp, learning languages, traveling, and cuddling with her dog Sonic.
Maria Kryatova, M.D.
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Maria graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University with a major in biology and then attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Societies. In college, Maria created and taught a free MCAT preparatory course for low-income pre-medical students. During medical school Maria spent two years conducting research in a genetics laboratory where she studied the role transposable elements play in human disease while funded by a fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She also volunteered with MERIT, an organization that helps low-income Baltimore City high school students with an interest in health professions prepare for the SAT and for college. Maria is interested in inpatient psychiatry and neurotherapeutics. She enjoys theater, foreign movies, hiking, and has a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Kritika Kulkarni, M.D.
Chief Resident of Outpatient Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Kritika graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a major in Biological Sciences. In college and through medical school, she volunteered at the First Trinity Homeless Ministry to provide lunches and companionship to homeless residents. Kritika served as a guest columnist for an online Indian magazine on the topics of personal development, mental health and wellness within the South Asian community. Kritika also studied the physical and psychosocial effects of breast reduction in adolescent patients as well as, the most common types of secondary malignancies in patients with circulating tumor cells. Kritika is interested in consultation-liaison psychiatry, global mental health, cross cultural psychiatry, palliative care and psycho-oncology. Her hobbies include fitness and weightlifting, coffee shop exploration, and dance.
Cynthia Peng, M.D.
Brigham-McLean Chief Resident
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Cynthia graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to medical school, she was an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the Lab of Brain and Cognition at the NIH, where she studied the functional connectivity of higher-order visual cognition using 3T and 7T fMRI methods. In medical school at Brown, Cynthia developed an interest in arts interventions in patient care. She pioneered a study investigating live music on symptomology in palliative care patients, of which the narrative medicine part was published in JAMA Oncology. She has also studied the impact of reflective writing and a painting program on quality of life in chemotherapy patients. Clinical interests include general adult psychiatry, psycho-oncology, psychodynamic psychotherapy, performance anxiety, and seasonal affective disorder. More broadly, Cynthia is passionate about the medical humanities and integrating them into patient care and physician wellness initiatives alike. Cynthia’s hobbies playing music (flute), figure skating, acroyoga (a form of acrobatics and partner balancing yoga), hiking, skiing, and photography. She enjoys hanging out with her miniature cavapoo puppy named Razzy.
Pranav Reddy, M.D.
Chief Resident of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Pranav majored in Political Science and Microbiology at the Ohio State University. In college, he researched the impact of hypoxia on transcriptional responses in neonatal mice, worked for the Parliament of Canada (Liberal Health Critic in the Official Opposition), and defended a thesis on democratization and health reform in southern India. After college, he worked with Calcutta Kids, a maternal and child health NGO in West Bengal, India where he implemented use of behavior change indices and started a pediatric diarrhea treatment center. In medical school, Pranav established a design incubator with the Rhode Island School of Design (Design+Health), founded Rhode Island’s asylum clinic, and taught bioethics to high school students. Pranav also conducted research in Santiago, Dominican Republic on retention of pregnant women in HIV care. After medical school, he obtained a Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School with a concentration in social and urban policy. There he studied public narrative and crisis leadership, and researched links between civil rights, housing, and health. Prior to training in psychiatry, he trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale. Pranav’s clinical focus is on stress and intergenerational trauma, interventional immunopsychiatry, and how social forces are biologically embedded through neural, endocrine, and immune mechanisms. He enjoys hitting the courts (basketball, squash, and tennis), magical realism in literature and film, and exploring nature.
Research Track
Matthew Baum, M.D., Ph.D., D.Phil
Academic Co-Chief Resident
Harvard Medical School
Matt holds a B.S. and M.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University; an M.Sc. in Neuroscience from Trinity College, Dublin (where he was a George Mitchell Scholar); a D.Phil. in Neuroethics from Oxford University (where he was a Rhodes Scholar); and an M.D. and Ph.D. (in Neuroscience) from Harvard Medical School. He is the author of the book, “The Neuroethics of Biomarkers: What the Development of Bioprediction Means for Moral Responsibility, Justice, and the Nature of Mental Disorder” (published by Oxford University Press), which was awarded the Carol Davis Ethics prize by the American Psychiatric Association for an “outstanding contribution to literature on the ethics of psychiatry”; He has given plenary lectures on the Neuroethics of biomarkers at the annual meeting of the International Neuroethics Society, the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting, has taught medical ethics at Oxford and Harvard. His neuroscientific work at Harvard focused on the complement cascade, and its regulation, in a synaptic pruning hypothesis of schizophrenia; for this work, he received the Sanger Award graduation prize for research related to psychiatry. During residency, he hopes to develop an integrated scientific, neuroethical, and clinical pursuit of immune-molecule dysfunction in psychosis and mood disorders. He is currently interested in immunological biomarker discovery in bipolar disorder, workup of secondary psychoses, pharmacogenomics, and is a recipient of the NIMH outstanding resident award. Matt also enjoys fermentation (intellectual and actual), a collaborative pursuit that has yielded “Microgli-Ale”, a tribute to the brain cells that engulf synaptic components, and a beer to be “engulfed responsibly”.
Yong Hoon Kim, M.D., Ph.D.
Academic Co-Chief Resident
Perelman School of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Yong graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a major in Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine for his MD and PhD. During graduate school, he investigated how 3D chromatin architecture modulates circadian gene expression, which led to a first-author publication in Science. For his thesis work, he received numerous research awards, including the Saul Winegrad Award for Outstanding Dissertation. In medical school, he founded a student interest group, the Precision Medicine Initiative, to foster translational research in personalized diagnostics and therapeutics. Yong is a recipient of the Kenneth E. Appel Graduation Award for his outstanding performance in psychiatry and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Travel Award. His clinical interests include novel psychopharmaceutical discovery and psychiatric genetics. Yong enjoys kickboxing and outdoor activities, including hiking and fishing.
Amanda Koire, M.D., Ph.D
Academic Co-Chief Resident
Baylor College of Medicine
Amanda graduated from Pomona College with a major in Molecular Biology. She then went on to Baylor College of Medicine to complete her MD/PhD with her PhD work in Quantitative and Computational Biosciences. In medical school, she served as co-president of the AOA honor society and the co-founder of the infectious disease student interest group. Her PhD research entailed developing a computational method for identifying rare genetic variants that contribute to the development of autism. Currently, her clinical interests are in perinatal psychiatry, and while in residency she co-founded the trainee interest group Repro Psych Trainees (www.repropsychtrainees.com). She is an APA Leadership Fellow and AWP Alexandra Symonds fellow. Outside of work, she enjoys reading sci-fi and watching NCAA gymnastics!