The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders (CATSD) has trained many of outstanding clinical investigators in Anxiety Disorders Members of the CATSD and its faculty have published over 400 original articles in chapters, reviews and books and are currently conducting over 20 research projects.
Psychiatrists
Naomi M. Simon, M.D., MSc
Director, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Director, Complicated Grief Program
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Publications by Dr. Simon
Dr. Naomi M. Simon, a board-certified psychiatrist, is Associate Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon received an MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed a medical internship and residency in psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital/ New York State Psychiatric Institute where she also served as Chief Resident. In addition, she completed fellowship training in consultation psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and has a Masters in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Simon’s major clinical and research interests include initial and next step treatments for anxiety disorders, anxiety comorbid with mood disorders, complicated grief, and the biological impact of chronic stress due to these disorders. She has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous studies examining the phenomenology and treatment of complicated grief, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Simon has participated as Principal Investigator, Project Director or Co-investigator on studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health examining complicated grief, treatment refractory panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, anxiety comorbidity in bipolar disorder (STEP-BD), and the impact of chronic stress and depression on cellular aging.
Dr. Simon is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and an Associate Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
T. Eric Bui, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Director for Research, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Publications by Dr. Bui
T.H. Eric Bui, M.D., Ph.D. currently serves as the Associate Director for Research at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies and Complicated Grief Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He was initially trained in France as a psychiatrist where he worked as a researcher, teacher and clinician in a University Hospital and acquired a broad experience in these areas. In 2010, he came to the MGH in order to pursue a research fellowship under the supervision of Drs. Pollack and Simon, so as to further develop his research skills as well as focus specifically on anxiety and stress-related conditions. To date, he has published over 65 scientific articles and book chapters in the field of anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, complicated grief and related disorders.
John A. Fromson, M.D.
Associate Director for Clinical Services, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Director of Professional Development, Department of Psychiatry
Publications by Dr. Fromson
John A. Fromson, M.D. is director of professional development in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH, designing and participating in live and web based medical education and outcome measures research. He is also editor of Career Resources for Physicians of the New England Journal of Medicine online CareerCenter.
His clinical and additional research activities focus on issues relating to physician and medical student health, professional development, and patient safety. He was the founding director, served as president, and is currently on the board of Physician Health Services, a national model in identifying and monitoring physicians and medical students with substance use disorders and mental and physical illness. He is chair of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry's Committee on Physician Health, past chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Physician Health, Illness and Impairment, and past president of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs. In 2010 he was elected Class A Trustee of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc. (AA).
Dr. Fromson is also past president of the Mass. Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors. He chaired its Restraint Consensus Group that developed the first statewide best practices for creating restraint-free environments in hospitals, long term care, and psychiatric facilities. For his work in the areas of patient safety and physician and medical student health, Doctor Fromson is the recipient of the Mass. Psychiatric Society's 2008 Outstanding Psychiatrist Award for Advancement of the Profession. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Fromson is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and received the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Tutoring Award for the academic year 2007 and 2010.
John J. Worthington, M.D.
Staff Psychiatrist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Publications by Dr. Worthington
Dr. Worthington is a Staff Psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He received his M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., completed his residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, N.C. and did a research fellowship in Clinical Psychopharmacology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Currently he is an investigator on several National Institutes of Mental Health studies involving the course of treatment-refractory panic disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and the predication of outcome during antidepressant discontinuation. He is also an investigator in numerous phase II and phase III clinical trials sponsored by several pharmaceutical companies. He has published over 110 articles, reviews and posters and he lectures in national and international forums. His areas of clinical interest include the effects of alcohol and substance use on mood and anxiety disorders, acute and long-term treatment plans of patients with panic disorder and depression, development of novel pharmacologic agents for mood and anxiety disorders, and uses of combined cognitive-behavioral and pharmacologic therapies for treatment-refractory patients.
Elizabeth A. Hoge, M.D.
Staff Psychiatrist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Publications by Dr. Hoge
Dr. Elizabeth A. Hoge is a board-certified psychiatrist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is a co-investigator at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Related Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hoge studies biological changes that occur in the body as a result of stress and trauma, which may serve as markers for anxiety disorders and may elucidate pathophysiology of these disorders and indicate pathways that could be targeted for novel pharmacologic therapies. Her work also focuses on identifying biological markers of resilience which may protect some people from developing anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder after a trauma. Dr. Hoge has received awards from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America and the New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit of the National Institute of Mental Health related to her work in anxiety disorders. She also received a Harvard Medical School Dupont Warren Fellowship award to study the effect of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Dr. Hoge also received a five-year NIH grant to measure the effect of meditation training on anxiety and biological markers of stress, such as stress hormones and inflammatory markers. Recently Dr. Hoge also was awarded a CIMIT Innovation grant to examine the effect of the neuropeptide oxytocin on memory consolidation.
Mireya Nadal, M.D., Ph.D.
Staff Psychiatrist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Publications by Dr. Nadal
Dr. Mireya Nadal-Vicens, a board-certified psychiatrist, is an Assistant in the Department of Psychiatry and an Instructor at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Nadal earned her M.D. from Harvard Medical School and her Ph.D. from the Department of Neurosciences at Harvard University. Dr. Nadal completed a medical internship in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and adult psychiatry residency as well as a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. In addition, Dr. Nadal has a Masters in Science from Stanford University and is obtaining a Masters in Medical Scicence from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Nadal’s research interests include unraveling the biological and molecular mechanisms underlying anxiety and mood disorders. She is a co-investigator on multiple clinical trials in anxiety and traumatic stress disorders and a principal investigator for a basic science project focused on possible new drug discovery for compounds relevant to psychiatric disease. Dr. Nadal has been awarded the George Ginsberg fellowship for excellence in education and teaching, and was one of two researchers nationally to be awarded the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education/ Wyeth Psychiatric Research Fellowship in 2008. In addition she has been awarded funding from the NARSAD Foundation (the Brain and Behavior Research Fund) and is the 2010-2011 Rappaport Research Scholar in Neuroscience at MGH.
Devon Hinton, M.D., Ph.D.
Staff Psychiatrist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Publications by Dr. Hinton
Dr. Devon Hinton is a board-certified psychiatrist and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. After receiving his M.D., Dr. Hinton completed his medical internship and his residency in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (Longwood program). He also has a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from Harvard University.
Dr. Hinton’s major clinical and research interests include the culturally sensitive assessment and treatment of PTSD and panic disorder in traumatized refugee and ethnic minority populations. He is fluent in several languages, including Cambodian and Spanish. He has served as a principal investigator on numerous studies examining the phenomenology and treatment of PTSD, panic attacks, and panic disorder in Southeast Asian (Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese) and Latino populations. Dr. Hinton has been the Principal Investigator on studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health on developing culturally sensitive treatment of traumatized refugees.
Dr. Hinton is a member of the DSM-V Cultural Study subgroup and an advisor to the Anxiety, OC, Posttraumatic, and Dissociative Disorders Work Group of DSM–V (American Psychiatric Association). He is the co-editor (with Byron Good) of the book Culture and Panic Disorder (Stanford University Press) and is the first author on over 100 chapters or original research articles.
Psychologists
Elizabeth Goetter, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders and The Home Base Program
Publications by Dr. Goetter
Dr. Elizabeth Goetter is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders. Dr. Goetter received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Drexel University and completed her doctoral internship at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego VA Healthcare System.
Dr. Goetter’s clinical and research interests include the efficacy and dissemination of empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders. Dr. Goetter has been trained in a variety of evidence-based assessment methods and cognitive behavioral therapies for anxiety and traumatic stress disorders, including social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Dr. Goetter’s research has focused on the use of telemental health applications in the treatment of anxiety disorders as a means of increasing individuals’ access to mental health care. Dr. Goetter is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS).
Luana Marques, Ph.D.
Director; The MGH Hispanic Clinical and Research Program
Assistant in Psychology; Massachusetts General Hospital
Instructor of Psychiatry; Harvard Medical School
Publications by Dr. Marques
Dr. Luana Marques is the Director of the Hispanic Clinical and Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital, a Clinical Psychologist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders (MGH), and an Instructor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Marques completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and her clinical internship in the Cognitive Behavioral Track (CBT) at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in 2007.
Dr. Marques’ major clinical and research interests include the treatment of anxiety disorders, with a particular focus on the implementation of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) for patients suffering from the various anxiety disorders in community health clinical (CMHCs). Dr. Marques’ ultimate research goal is to decrease disparities in care for psychiatric patients, especially among low-income and ethnic minority patients. Dr. Marques has extensive experience in treating patient with trauma and grief disorders utilizing a variety of empirically supported treatments such as prolonged exposure and complicated grief therapy. Dr. Marques is an active member of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America and the Association for the Advancement of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy.
Steffany Fredman, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders
Publications by Dr. Fredman
Dr. Steffany Fredman is Assistant in Psychology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fredman received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was awarded the Martin S. Wallach Award as Outstanding Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology. She completed her doctoral internship at the Boston Consortium in Clinical Psychology and subsequently pursued postdoctoral training at the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD.
Dr. Fredman’s clinical and research interests focus on empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders, including ways that partner/family involvement in treatment optimizes outcomes for those with these conditions. Her work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Fredman is active in several associations, including the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. She is the co-author of Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD and has conducted numerous workshops for mental health providers on conjoint approaches to the treatment of PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
Meredith Charney, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist, The Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders and The Home Base Program
Publications by Dr. Charney
Dr. Meredith Charney is a clinical psychologist in the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders and is an Assistant in Psychology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Charney received her Ph.D. from Boston University and completed her doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Charney’s clinical interests include the use of empirically supported treatments for various anxiety disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Charney has extensive experience providing cognitive-behavioral therapy including Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy to patients with PTSD. Dr. Charney’s research has focused on the impact of traumatic exposure on psychological and psychosocial functioning in various patient populations including refugees and veterans. Dr. Charney is a member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and of the American Psychological Association Division 56 (Trauma Psychology).
Statistician
Aparna Keshaviah, Sc.M.
Biostatistician
Publications by Ms. Keshaviah
Aparna Keshaviah is a biostatistician with over 12 years of experience in clinical investigation. She has served as the principal statistician on pivotal trials approved by the FDA and health authorities worldwide and has designed and analyzed Phase I-III studies in oncology, alternative medicine, drug addiction, and psychology. Her expertise extends beyond statistical analysis into the optimization of data workflows, bringing the rigor of a regulatory framework to academia. She routinely trains research assistants, data managers, and statisticians on principles of good clinical practice, and she has served as a statistical reviewer for psychiatric journals.
Aparna’s clinical interests are in population screening and disease prevention. In addition to a career in biostatistics, she is a professional classical Indian dancer. Aparna holds a Master’s degree in Biostatistics from the Harvard School of Public Health and is a Fulbright scholar in Dance.
Graduate Students and Clinical Interns
Don Robinaugh, M.A.
Graduate Student in Psychology
Harvard University
Donald Robinaugh is a Clinical Fellow in Psychology (Psychiatry) at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical Science program at Harvard University. Donald’s clinical training has focused on empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders and complicated grief (CG). Donald’s research focuses on examining cognitive processes involved in the development and maintenance of emotional disorders following loss or trauma. He is currently conducting studies examining autobiographical memory and prospection deficits in CG, information processing biases in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the association between overgeneral/abstract cognitive biases and memory deficits in CG and PTSD.
Kristen Ellard, M.A.
Clinical Fellow in Psychology
Kristen Ellard is a Clinical Fellow in Psychology (Psychiatry) at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Boston University (BU). At BU, she received training in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, and was co-developer of a transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders.
In addition, she received training in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) through collaborations at MIT and MGH. Her primary research interests are in characterizing neural mechanisms of change in cognitive behavioral therapy, exploring neural correlates of transdiagnostic versus disorder-specific cognitive and affective processing in the emotional disorders, and investigating the transdiagnostic treatment of anxiety and comorbid mood disorders.
Research Assistants
Laura Fischer, B.A., University of Rhode Island
Clinical Research Coordinator
Laura Morris, B.A., Emory University
Clinical Research Coordinator
Rebecca Ojserkis, B.A., Amherst College
Program Coordinator
Noah Schwarz, B.A., Oberlin College
Clinical Research Coordinator
Riva Shah, B.S., Brown University
Clinical Research Coordinator
