The Depression Clinical & Research Program (DCRP) includes 13 psychiatrists, four psychologists, three research fellows, eight research coordinators, one program coordinator, one data analyst, one practice manager, and one patient service coordinator.
More About our Program
APPOINTMENTS AND TREATMENT
An appointment at the DCRP can be arranged by calling 617-726-8895, option 4, for an initial phone screen to determine whether this program is appropriate for you. In many cases, treatment studies provide an excellent option for prospective patients.
OUR STAFF:
Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD
Heidi Ashih, MD, PhD
Paolo Cassano, MD
Trina Chang, MD
Cristina Cusin, MD
Marasha de Jong, MD
Christina Dording, MD
Amy Farabaugh, PhD
Maurizio Fava, MD
Hong Jin Jeon, MD, PhD
David Mischoulon, MD
Andrew Nierenberg, MD
Maren Nyer, PhD
George Papakostas, MD
Joel Pava, PhD
Paola Pedrelli, PhD
David Soskin, MD
Nhi-Ha Trinh, MD, MPH
Ottavio Vitolo, MD
Janet Witte, MD
Mimi Works, MD
Albert Yeung, MD
Data Analyst:
Alisabet Clain, MS
Administration:
Natalie Butler (Patient Service Coordinator)
Program Coordinator:
Kiki Fehling
Administrative Program Coordinator:
Max Martinson
Research Coordinators:
Amber Cardoos
Clair Cassiello
Moneika DiPierro
Jim Doorley
Kelley Durham
Aya Inamori
Angela Pisoni
Rosemary Walker
Natalie Butler has worked as an administrative assistant at the DCRP since February 2008. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2007, with a BA in English Literature and Art History.
Amber Cardoos graduated from Williams College in June 2012 with a B.A. in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she completed an honors thesis under the guidance of Dr. Amie Ashley Hane, which examined self-regulation in six-month-old infants during brief periods of maternal non-responsiveness. She also worked as a research assistant working with Alzhiemer’s patients at The Memory Clinic in Bennington, VT. After her time at the DCRP, Amber plans to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology.
Clair Cassiello graduated from Hamilton College in May 2011 with a B.A. in Psychology. As a senior, she completed a thesis examining the prevalence of executive functioning deficits, as well as risk factors that may make one more prone to experiencing such deficits, among students at the House of the Good Shepherd (a residential treatment facility for teenagers in Utica, NY), under the guidance of Professor Tara McKee. As a junior, she completed an internship at the House of the Good Shepherd, where she later completed her thesis. She also completed an internship during her senior year at Central New York Psychiatric Center, a maximum security psychiatric facility for prisoners. At both internships she aided clinical psychologists in running group lessons and completing psychological/neuropsychological testing. At the end of her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Clair plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Neuropsychology.
Paolo Cassano received his Ph.D. in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and his M.D. from the University of Pisa in Italy. He completed a Clinical Research Fellowship at St. Pierre Hospital in Brussels in the Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and then went on to completed a Clinical Fellowship at S.Chiara-Hospital at the University of Pisa. In 2001 Dr. Cassano started his research fellowship at the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Cassano has been awarded several honors including an NCDEU New Investigator Award in May 2003, as well as being the author of several articles on depression and treatment-resistant depression. He has been awarded a number of current research grants, and his primary research interests include the spectrum of anxiety disorders, specifically panic symptoms and social phobia in major depression.
Dr. Marasha de Jong received her M.D. from Maastricht University, the Netherlands, in 2006 and attended most of her residency program in Psychiatry at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands. In 2011 she joined the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital as a research fellow and she is currently completing the final year of her residency program.
Her research work mainly focuses on complimentary and alternative approaches of depression treatment and on treatment modalities of depression for the medically ill. For her PhD trajectory she is involved in the design and conduct of a study on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for the treatment of depression in patients with neuropathic pain.
Moneika DiPierro graduated from Bard College in May 2011 with a BA in Psychology. As an undergraduate, Moneika served as research assistant in Bard's social psychology lab, assessing the effects of environmental priming on identity activation and suppression. As a research assistant in the clinical psychology lab at Bard, Moneika developed and co-led a mindfulness-based stress reduction workshop for the campus. Moneika worked with a local child advocacy center to create a child abuse awareness program geared toward children during her sophomore year. This past summer, she was a residential counselor at Wediko, a summer program for children and adolescents with behavioral and emotional challenges. For her senior thesis, Moneika examined the social and psychological factors involved in the interpretation of religious experiences. Moneika plans to combine her clinical and research-related interests in a clinical psychology PhD program after her time at the DCRP.
Jim Doorley graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2012 with a B.A. in Psychology. As a sophomore, he worked in a behavioral neuroendocrinology research lab with adult rhesus monkeys, assessing changes in their cognitive and motor abilities as a function of exogenous testosterone. During his junior and senior years, Jim worked under Dr. Michael Constantino in the Psychotherapy Research Lab investigating corrective experiences in psychotherapy. After his junior year, Jim completed a summer internship at the Rhode Island Hospital Department of Outpatient Psychiatry where he grew increasingly interested in mood disorders research. He served as a teaching assistant for an Abnormal Psychology course under Dr. Richard Halgin and a Social Psychology course under Dr. John Bickford. Jim also volunteered at the Hampshire County Jail in Northampton, MA as a decisional trainer for an individual inmate and at the VA Medical Center, providing direct care and companionship for patients. After his two years at the DCRP, Jim plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Kelley Durham graduated from Boston College in 2012 with a B.A. in Psychology with a clinical concentration. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab and completed a senior thesis project investigating the effect of stress occurring at memory encoding versus retrieval on false memories. Kelley also volunteered at the Yale Child Study Center Trauma Clinic and she continues to assist with research at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute on a study investigating the effect of trauma-sensitive yoga on childhood onset, treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder. At the end of her two years at the DCRP, Kelley hopes to pursue graduate school in clinical psychology.
Kiki Fehling graduated from Yale University in May 2011 with a B.A. in Psychology. As an undergraduate, she served as a research assistant in the Regulation of Emotion and Anxiety Disorders Lab and in the Intergroup Relations Lab. She also worked as a clinical intern at Fellowship Place, an organization in New Haven, CT that offers various social services to individuals with chronic mental illness. Kiki received Yale's Solomon Research Fellowship the summer before her senior year and, under the guidance of Dr. Margaret Drickamer, dedicated her senior thesis to the qualitative study of LGBT Elder Sexual Health and Sexuality. At the end of her time at the DCRP, Kiki hopes to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology.
Aya Inamori graduated from Stanford University in 2011 with a B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics. As an undergraduate, she worked on psycholinguistic research examining the role of language in constructing agency, specifically comparing English, Japanese and Spanish. She also served as an intern at the Stanford Pediatric Bipolar Disorders Program administering clinical assessments on children with or at high-risk for bipolar disorder. She became a residential counselor at Wediko Children's Services the summer before her senior year. The experience mentoring and counseling adolescents with socioemotional problems solidified her decision to continue mental health work at the DCRP. After her two years at DCRP, Aya hopes to pursue graduate school in clinical psychology.
Dr. Hong Jin Jeon is an associate professor of Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, and executive professor of Depression Center of Samsung Medical Center. Dr. Jeon graduated Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1996, and he completed his internship, residency and fellowship in Seoul National University Hospital. He worked as a professor in the field of depression and mood disorder in Samsung Medical Center and Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine from 2008. He also worked as executive professor of Depression Center of Samsung Medical Center.
His research has focused on major depressive disorder and suicide prevention. Dr. Jeon has authored or co-authored more than 40 original articles, review articles, and book chapters. Dr. Jeon received Young Investigator Awards from the American Psychosomatic Association, the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, the Korean Society for Depressive and Bipolar Disorders, and the Korean Psychosomatic Society. Dr. Jeon received many national and intramural grants such as the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Samsung Biomedical Research Institute grant (SBRI).
Dr. Jeon joined the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a visiting scholar and research fellow from 2011. His research focused on biologic understanding and treatment of major depressive disorder and prevention of suicide.
Max Martinson graduated from McGill University in 2010 with a B.S. in psychology. As an undergraduate, he volunteered with the Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation to increase awareness of brain and spinal disorders in West Africa. During summers and after graduation he worked as a residence counselor at McLean Hospital. At the end of his time at the DCRP, Max plans to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
Dr. Maren Nyer is a clinical and research fellow at MGH and clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP). She is the Director of Professional Development for the Research Coordinators at the DCRP.
She received her BA from Cornell University and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. She completed her internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Nyer is the recipient of the 2011-2012 Kaplen Fellowship and Livingston Award through the Harvard Medical School. She was given this award to adapt and evaluate Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills groups for patients with depression and suicidal ideation. In addition to her work at the DCRP, she does clinical work and research on the Blake 11 Inpatient Unit at MGH and is a part of the MGH DBT Program. Additionally, she is the principal investigator of a pilot study examining the use of Bikram Yoga as an intervention for depression.
Research: Dr. Nyer’s research interests include innovative treatments for depression and psychiatric disturbance. She is currently focused on adapting Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills groups for patients with suicidal ideation and depression and evaluating Bikram Yoga as an intervention for mood disturbance.
Angela Pisoni graduated from Brandeis University in May 2012 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Italian Studies. As an undergraduate she coordinated community service endeavors for Brandeis students, and researched the interaction between peer victimization and parental intervention in a developmental psychology research lab. Angela also spent time volunteer at the Jenny Waelder Hall Center for Children in Washington, D.C. for children with Autism spectrum disorders. After her time at the DCRP, Angela plans to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology.
Rosemary Walker graduated from Bucknell University in 2011 with a B.A. in Psychology and Women’s studies and a minor in Mathematics. As a senior, she completed an independent research project examining work-family conflict in a cross-cultural context. She developed this project while studying abroad in Denmark, one of the five Nordic countries that have distinguished themselves by their active work to promote gender equality. To investigate the influence that culture and national policies have on the antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict, she interviewed Danish and American mothers about their experience of work-family conflict. Rosemary also worked in the Office of LGBT Awareness for her four years at Bucknell University. In addition, she volunteered at SVWIT, a shelter for female survivors of violence. At SVWIT, Rosemary led weekly group counseling sessions that focused on helping women transition to lives of safety and independence. At the end of her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Rosemary hopes to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology.
