The Brain & Body Program includes a multidisciplinary team of specialists who work together to provide each player with personalized, comprehensive treatment.
Beth A. Adams, MEd, LRC
Program Manager, Brain & Body Program
Neurotrauma Rehabilitation Specialist
Beth Adams, MEd, LRC is a neurotrauma rehabilitation specialist with clinical expertise in post-concussion rehabilitation. She assists players in navigating the Brain and Body Program. She has been in the brain injury field for over twenty years serving a multitude of players as a neurotrauma case manager and cognitive rehabilitation specialist in a variety of sports organizations, including the NCAA, NFL, MMA, WWE, MLS and NHL. She is on the medical advisory board for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Boxing Commission.
Ross Zafonte, DO
President of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network
Chief of the Department of PM&R Massachusetts General Hospital
Director, Brain & Body Program
Ross D. Zafonte, DO, is the Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, senior vice president of medical affairs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a decorated researcher and serves as the clinical and research leader in traumatic brain injury for the Mass General/Red Sox Foundation Home Base Program as well as the co-primary investigator on the Brain Injury Model System at Spaulding. Dr. Zafonte is also currently the PI on an eight-center NIH multi-site clinical trial for the treatment of traumatic brain injury–the largest clinical treatment trial in the history of North America.
As a world-renowned expert on traumatic brain injury, he has made numerous media appearances and testified many times to Congress on brain injury related issues such as concussions in youth sports. Dr. Zafonte has received the William Caveness award for outstanding clinical care and research from the Brain Injury Association of America, the Joel DeLisa Prize from the Kessler Foundation and the Moody Prize for Brain Injury research and care. In 2017 Dr. Zafonte was selected as the Physician of the Year by the American Osteopathic Foundation.
Aaron L. Baggish, MD
Cardiology
Aaron L. Baggish, MD, is the associate director of the Mass General Cardiovascular Performance Program, which is designed to provide comprehensive cardiovascular care to athletes. His clinical practice, dedicated to the care of athletes and active individuals, serves people across the spectrum from elite professional and Olympic competitors to recreational athletes.
Dr. Baggish is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Sports Medicine. He serves as medical director for the BAA Boston Marathon and cardiologist for Harvard University Athletics, the New England Patriots and the Boston Bruins. His research interests include exercise-induced cardiac remodeling, pre-participation screening/sudden death prevention and the cardiovascular effects of anabolic steroid use. His research group, the Harvard Athlete Initiative, conducted the first blinded comparison of competitive athlete screening with and without 12-lead ECG screening.
Dr. Baggish was the lead author on the RACER Study, a decade long effort designed to examine sudden death during long distance running events. He currently maintains independent research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the NFL Players Association and the Department of Defense.
David N. Caplan, MD
Neurology
David Caplan, MD is professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, and a leading clinical investigator in chronic cognitive deficits and treatments. He also serves as the director of the Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit in the Department of Neurology and directs the Sports Concussion Clinic.
Daniel H. Daneshvar, MD, PhD
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Daniel H. Daneshvar, MD, PhD, serves as Chief of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and Principal Investigator of the LATE-TBI Lab at Spaulding Rehabilitation, where he conducts research on the long-term effects of moderate-severe traumatic brain injury, concussion, and repetitive head impacts, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Dr. Daneshvar has authored and co-authored over 70 scientific papers including in JAMA, Nature Communications, and Brain, and his work has been featured broadly including in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and ESPN.
He also founded Team Up Against Concussions, the first scientifically validated concussion education program for kids, for which he received the 2016 Excellence in Public Health award from the United States Public Health Services. He is the Director of the Institute for Brain Research and Innovation at TeachAids, which created CrashCourse: a free, scientifically validated virtual reality and computer-based concussion education program, for which he received the 2021 Dean’s Community Service Award from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Daneshvar received his S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed his M.D./Ph.D. at the Boston University CTE Center, where his research resulted in the first dissertation in history to study CTE. He completed residency at Stanford University before joining the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
Lenore Herget, PT, DPT, MEd
Physical Therapy
Lenore Herget, PT, DPT, MEd is a senior physical therapist, certified clinical instructor and certified emergency medical responder at the Mass General Sports Medicine Center and serves as the rehabilitation consultant to the Mass General Sports Concussion Clinic. Her practice focuses on sports concussion, most specifically evaluating and treating high school through professional level athletes who have sustained concussions, then assisting in their safe return to play.
Her research has focused on management of athletes with post-concussion syndrome and the efficacy of pre-season and post-season visuo-vestibular testing to aid in return to play decision-making. She has lectured nationally on the topics of concussion and the non-acute management of athletes with post-concussive syndrome. Her clinical expertise is in the cervicogenic contributions and visuo-vestibular treatment of athletes who sustain concussions as well as the progression of exercise through exertional protocols. Additionally, Dr. Herget focuses her orthopaedic practice on the biomechanical assessment and management of lower quarter injuries.
Kevin E. Houston, OD, MSc
Vision Rehabilitation
Kevin Houston is the director of the Vision Rehabilitation Service at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, an investigator at Mass Eye and Ear’s Schepens Eye Research Institute and is an instructor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Houston provides expert consultation to patients in the Brain and Body Program for suspected binocular vision problems. These issues are extremely common after head injuries, are often not detected in routine eye exams and can exacerbate vestibular and cognitive symptoms.
Grant L. Iverson, PhD
Psychiatry
Grant L. Iverson, PhD, is an internationally-recognized clinician scientist in the areas of evidence-based neurocognitive assessment in psychiatry and neurology, sport-related concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. Dr. Iverson has a longstanding research interest in outcomes from mild traumatic brain injury. He is involved in ongoing clinical research with injured athletes, civilians, active duty military personnel and veterans.
He has published more than 280 articles and book chapters. He served as a consensus panel member for the 3rd and 4th International Conferences on Concussion in Sport in Zurich, Switzerland in 2008 and 2012.
Catherine L. Leveroni, PhD, ABPP
Psychiatry
Catherine L. Leveroni, PhD, ABPP is a neuropsychologist in the Mass General Psychology Assessment Center, an instructor in the Department of Neurology and the director for neuropsychology internship training in the Internship in Clinical Psychology at Mass General/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Leveroni received her PhD from Rosalind Franklin University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School. She completed her clinical internship training at Brown University and clinical/research fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has been a psychologist at Mass General since 2001.
John D. Matthews, MD
Psychiatry
John D. Matthews, MD, is a psychiatrist at Mass General. He serves as the medical director of the Bulfinch Program at Mass General and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In his role with the Bulfinch Program, Dr. Matthews has developed an integrated health care model that defines an individual’s state of wellness in terms of the interactions among psychiatric disorders, medical disorders and the hyper-reactive stress response. This model determines the approach taken for evaluation and treatment of participating patients.
Lars C. Richardson, MD
Orthopaedics
Lars C. Richardson, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon in the Sports Medicine Center at Mass General and an instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as the team physician for the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins and is the head orthopaedist for Harvard Athletics. Dr. Richardson specializes in athletic and traumatic injuries of the knee, ankle and shoulder. He has extensive experience in the care of athletes ranging from professionals to weekend warriors.
Janet C. Sherman, PhD
Psychiatry
Janet Sherman, PhD is the clinical director of the Mass General Psychology Assessment Center and chief neuropsychologist at Mass General. She also co-directs the Harvard Mass General Brigham Consortium postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology. She is an assistant professor of psychology in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sherman is a regional leader in the neuropsychological assessment and treatment of young athletes with concussion.
Nicholas Tritos, MD, DSc
Neuroendocrinology
Nicholas Tritos, MD, DSc, currently serves as a staff neuroendocrinologist in the Neuroendocrine Unit at Mass General and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Tritos’ research and clinical interests include pituitary disorders, including pituitary tumors and hypopituitarism. He has authored or co-authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service
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