Previous Staff
Monica Agoston, B.A.
Monica graduated from the University of Chicago in June 2005 with a BA in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (HIPSS) and a BA in Visual Arts. As an undergraduate, Monica worked in the John T. Cacioppo lab doing research on the psychological, physiological and sociological effects of loneliness on middle-aged adults. She wrote her HIPSS thesis on the impact of the marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies on the definitions and categorizations of depressive-type and anxiety-related illnesses. Her Visual Arts thesis analyzed pharmaceutical advertisements for antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications to reveal changes in the depiction of depressed and anxious patients over the last forty years. After completing her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Monica plans to pursue a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology.
Bettina Bankier, M.D.
Dr. Bankier obtained her medical degree from the University of Vienna Medical School, Austria, and did the psychiatry residency training at the Vienna General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry. During her residency training, Dr. Bankier was involved in numerous research projects, especially regarding depressive and anxiety disorders as well as somatoform disorders, and worked in the psychiatry consultation-liaison services for chronic pain patients and tinnitus patients. Before joining the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Dr. Bankier did a research fellowship at the Behavioral Medicine Division of Preventive Cardiology, Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and developed research focusing on prevalence rates of depressive disorders and additional psychiatric comorbidity in patients with coronary heart disease. Her areas of clinical and research interests include the biobehavioral and psychopharmacological aspects of the complex associations between psychiatric disorders and medical morbidity, the interface of psychiatry and cardiology, as well as womens mental health.
Erin Beaumont, B.A.
Erin Beaumont graduated from Amherst College with a Bachelor's degree in psychology in May 2003. As an undergraduate Erin conducted psychology research under Professor Amy Demorest. This research included a meticulous investigation into how emotions correlate with concurrent life events. In addition to her interest in personality psychology, she was also drawn to the field of health psychology, where her interest in depression spawned. Her passion for the inner workings of the human psyche, and her desire to help people brought her to the Depression Clinical and Research Program at MGH. Erin plans to attend a post baccalaureate program starting in the summer of 2004, and then to pursue psychiatry in medical school.
Massimiliano Beghi, MD
Massimiliano Beghi received his degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milano Bicocca, Italy in 2003. He is currently specializing in Psychiatry at the same University. He joined the DCRP in 2007, and contributed to the studies at the sites on the North Shore. His main interests involve prognosis and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, the risk factors for attempted and completed suicide, the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in neurological diseases, and the psychological implication of pseudo-epileptic seizures.
Alana Burns, B.A.
Alana Burns graduated from Bates College in May 2003 with a BA in psychology. As an undergraduate she completed a community service-learning thesis by volunteering hours in a highly restrictive alternative school for elementary students with behavioral and emotional problems and writing an action research paper on the effects of behavior interventions on students' classroom productivity. She also completed an independent research study on the effects of gender, communication, and touch on the assessment of sexual risk. After the completion of her time at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Alana will be attending the University of Maine at Orono in the fall of 2005 to pursue a PhD in developmental-clinical psychology.
Greg Chandler, M.D.
Dr. Chandler is a research fellow in the DCRP and BCRP. He comes to us by way of Canada. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Physiology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He completed his medical degree at McGill University in 2003. After that, he went to the University of Toronto for his Residency in Psychiatry, which he completed in 2008. In his fourth year, he served as Chief Resident at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Chandler has a particular interest in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the care of mood disorder patients.
Sarah Chuzi, B.A.
Sarah graduated from Williams College in June 2007 with a B.A. in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she completed various research projects in a behavioral neuroendocrinology animal lab under the supervision of Dr. Noah Sandstrom. Her research focused mainly on the role of estrogens on a number of behaviors, including response to amphetamines and learning and memory in male and female rats. Additionally, she designed an empirical project on the acute effects of sexual intercourse on levels of anxiety and depression in male rodents, which allowed her to pursue her interest in animal models of mental illness. During her senior year she completed an honors thesis under Dr. Sandstrom on the relationship between early life exploratory behavior in rats and anxiety-related behaviors and stress responsivity in adulthood. Sarah has also interned for a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in DC and in a clinic for pregnant mothers with HIV/AIDS in Cape Town, South Africa. At the end of her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Sarah plans to pursue her interest in psychiatry and neuroscience either in medical school or in a graduate program.
Christina Cusin, M.D.
Cristina Cusin, MD, received her degree in medicine and specialization in psychiatry from Milan University. She went on to complete a post doctoral fellowship at Vita-Salute University of Milan and has received several awards, including a national young scientist prize from the Society Italiana di Psicopatologia for her research on the impact of clinical variables on illness time course in mood disorders. Dr. Cusin has been an assistant instructor for both Psychiatry and Genetics at the University Vita-Salute. Her main interests include the clinical features, pharmacologic treatments, and long-term follow-up of mood disorders. She is also interested in the genetics of major psychoses, family studies, and pharmacogenetics. Currently, she is a research fellow at the Depression Clinical and Research Program and is primarily involved in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Initiative for depression in primary care.
Lauren Fisher, B.A.
Lauren Fisher graduated from Bates College in May 2005 with a Bachelor's degree in psychology. During the summer of 2003, Lauren completed an internship at the Brain Injury Day Treatment Program at NYU's Rusk Rehabilitation Institute. At the Rusk Institute, Lauren received her first hands-on clinical experience, working with traumatically brain-injured individuals to ameliorate their many cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and social deficits. The following summer, Lauren interned at Screening for Mental Health, Inc. in Wellesley Hills, MA, where she was first exposed to the topic of depression and suicide and was actively involved in the national collaborative campaign to prevent suicide in friends and loved ones, "Stop a Suicide, Today!" In her final semester at Bates, Lauren completed a two-part empirical research thesis on the effects of antidepressants on peoples' subjective attitudes toward depression. Lauren's past experiences and passion to help people with psychiatric disorders have led her to DCRP for the next two years. Upon her completion here, Lauren hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology.
Michele Fornaro, M.D.
Michele Fornaro received his M.D. from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 2002, attending his residency program at San Martino Hospital. In 2007, Dr. Fornaro started his research fellowship at the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). His interests include the clinical features and pharmacological treatment of Mood Disorders and Anxiety Disorders, focusing especially on their immunoneuroendocrinological correlates.
Renerio Fraguas
Renerio Fraguas is a post-doctoral research fellow supported by CNPQ-Brazil at the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his MD, residence training, and PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Sao Paulo Medical School-SP-Brazil (FMUSP). Dr. Fraguas was the chief of the Psychiatric Consultation Service at the Institute of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clinicas (HC) FMUSP from 1992 to 2003. He is one of the founders and has coordinated the course of specialization in General Hospital Psychology at the Division of Psychology, HC-FMUSP. He has also received two research grants from Fapesp-Brazil and the Hercilia Valadares award in 1997. Dr. Fraguas has a particular interest in the pathophysicology, treatment, and comorbidity of depression and medical disorders including cardiovascular, neurological and endocrinological conditions. He is one of the editors of 4 books about depression and psychiatry in the general hospital, and has written more than 15 book chapters.
Lesley M Graves, B.A.
Lesley Graves graduated from Wellesley College in May 2004 with a B.A. in Psychology. As an undergraduate Lesley spent the majority of her research on child development and personality psychology. However her interests became more clinically focused after her time abroad at the University of Nottingham in England. During the school year she worked as a teaching and research assistant at the Wellesley College Child Study Center. Back home in California, she spent her summers working as an assistant art therapist for developmentally disabled adults. In her last year of college she became an active volunteer for the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Related Disorders at MGH. After completing 2 years with the DCRP Lesley plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is also considering the additional goal of an M.A. in Art Therapy.
Cassandra Green, B.A.
Cassandra Green graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor's degree in May 2002 where she studied Sociology and Early Childhood Education. Her undergraduate and research interests include mental illness and behavioral disorders in children. Cassandra joined the Depression Research Program in the winter of 2002. After completing her time here, she will pursue a masters in counseling psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy at Santa Clara University. Her long-term professional goal is to counsel young children in a school or private setting.
Wendy Guyker, B.S.
Wendy Guyker graduated with a B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University. During Wendy's junior and senior years at Cornell, Wendy was an HIV test counselor at the university's health center. During the summer 2001, Wendy was a client services intern at AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts here in Boston. There, she helped provide case management alongside staff social workers and psychologists. She also completed a research project that examined housing stability patterns of clients. During Wendy's senior year, she completed a two-semester internship course, "Fieldwork in Psychopathology and the Helping Relationship" in which she met with two troubled children twice a week, received weekly supervision from a clinical psychologist and professor, and delivered case presentations. Upon graduating from Cornell in 2002, Wendy spent a year in Seoul, Korea where she taught children and volunteered in the post-adoption services department of her adoption agency, Eastern Social Welfare Society. Upon completion of her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Wendy will be starting a Ph.D. program in counseling psychology in the fall of 2005 at the University of Buffalo.
Lindsay A. Hallett, B.A.
Lindsay graduated from Middlebury College in May 2005 with a B.A. in psychology and minor in sociology. As an undergraduate she completed a cognitive psychology research project on the role of visual processing and the Spacing Effect. During summers Lindsay worked as a clinical intern at the Downey Summer Therapeutic Program in Brockton, MA where she assisted therapists in group sessions and in crisis intervention situations with mentally ill children. She also studied psychology at New York University and interned at Dress for Success Worldwide, a non-profit organization helping women with career development. After two years of furthering her research experience at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Lindsay hopes to pursue her interest in public health and healthcare policy.
Sarah Hamill, B.A.
Sarah Hamill graduated from Colgate University in May 2003, with Bachelor's degree in Psychology. As an undergraduate, Sarah worked as a counselor at a summer camp program for children and adolescents who were previously or currently homeless. From this experience she became interested in coping mechanisms used by children and adolescents in the face of adversity. She then completed a year-long independent senior research project on coping mechanisms and self-efficacy in adolescents. Upon graduating Colgate University Sarah joined the Depression Research Program as a research coordinator to expand her research experience and further her interest in mood disorders in an adult population. After completing her two years at the Depression Program Sarah will be starting a Ph.D in clinical psychology at the University of Wyoming beginning in the fall of 2005. She is particularly interested in depression in adolescents and adults, self-efficacy and cross-cultural psychopathology.
Sarah Hilliker, B.S.
Sarah Hilliker graduated with a B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University. As an undergraduate, Sarah worked as a research assistant for Gary Evans on a longitudinal project exploring the impact of poverty on social, physical, and emotional development. Sarah spent her sophomore and junior year summers employed at the Youth Employment Service of Ithaca, NY where she partook in case management for underprivileged adolescents. During her senior year, Sarah was employed as the "Youth Liaison" for the Tompkins County Ithaca Youth Bureau Board of directors and was able to assist several adolescents in becoming and staying active as youth representatives on the board. Also during her senior year, Sarah completed a two-semester internship in which she met with four troubled elementary students each week, received weekly supervision from a clinical psychologist, and delivered a case presentation to a Psychology professor and group of other psychology students. Sarah is planning on pursuing a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology upon completing her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program.
Caitlin Homberger, B.A.
Caitlin Homberger recently graduated in May 2004 from Bates College where she majored in Neuroscience. In her last year Caitlin completed a year long thesis titled "Metabotropic Glutamate 2/3 Receptor Agonist, LY379268, Reverses PCP-Induced Behaviors in a Model of Schizophrenia". Under her advisor John E. Kelsey, Caitlin's research had strong implications concerning the pathophysiology behind schizophrenia and consequently promise in its future treatment. In addition to her extensive bench lab work, Caitlin also completed a semester of research for the psychology department which investigated the difference between an individual's confidence levels on sequential versus simultaneous criminal identifications. The findings from this work carried important significance for the current justice system. Outside her research, Caitlin has spent time tutoring elementary aged refugees and looks forward to volunteering through the Red Cross. After two years at the DCRP, Caitlin plans on attending medical school or a neuroscience graduate program.
Dan Johnson, B.A.
Dan graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in May of 2006. After graduating he spent a year as a lab manager for the Child Study Center at UMass. As a lab manager, Dan helped coordinate and run projects investigating cognitive and motor skill development in infants and toddlers. As an undergraduate, Dan completed an honors thesis exploring cognitive-behavioral therapy for major depression, and it’s comparability to pharmacological treatments. In his junior year, Dan interned in the elementary school system of Orange, Massachusetts, counseling and educating young children with behavioral problems. His research interests involve finding appropriate balances between psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatments for individuals with depression. After completing his two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Dan plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology.
Yantao Ma, MD
Dr. Yantao Ma is currently a research fellow in the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and a staff psychiatrist in the Institute of Mental Health of Peking University in China. Her research in China has focused on prevalence and treatment strategy of bipolar depression and refractory depression. In addition, her experience in psychopharmacology, psychiatry, and psychology have led her to be interested in fields which bridge the gap between cross-cultural-sectional epidemiology, alternative treatment and health care evolution in minority populations with depression. Dr. Ma earned her undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychiatry and Mental Health at Peking University and subsequently completed her internship and residency in the Institute of Mental Health/Third Affiliated General Hospital of Peking University, and served as Chief Resident in Liaison Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health. She went on to graduate study at Peking University while serving as staff psychiatrist at the Institute of Mental Health. She has completed master’s level work and will earn the degree shortly. Her dissertation work in the lab of Dr. Xin Yu focused on the open-randomized study of lamotrigine monotherapy for the treatment of Chinese adults with bipolar depression. This is a pilot study in China of lamotrigine for treating Bipolar I depression as a new anti-depressive mood stabilizer. Dr. Ma has been honored with many awards, including the Outstanding Physician Award from Peking University, a travel award for the 2005 Japanese Biological Psychiatry Neuropsychopharmacology meeting in Osaka and a National Outstanding Teaching Award from the Chinese Scholarship Council.
Jessica L. Murakami, B.A.
Jessica Murakami graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2002 with a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy & Science. As an undergraduate, she spent two years as a research coordinator at the Center for the Treatment & Study of Anxiety. In her senior year, she pursued an honors thesis on self-blame as a predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder and a slower rate of recovery in female victims of assault. She also worked as a mental health associate at Friends Hospital in Philadelphia and volunteered in the inpatient psychiatric units at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at Stratheden Hospital in Scotland. Currently, she is a live-in counselor at Wellmet Project, Inc., a psychiatric halfway house in Cambridge. Jessica will pursue her Ph.D in clinical psychology beginning in the fall of 2004 at the University of Oregon. She is particularly interested in sex differences in depression, suicide prevention, and cross-cultural psychopathology.
Adrienne van Nieuwenhuizen, B.A.
Adrienne graduated from Tufts University in 2007 with a double major in Clinical Psychology and International Relations. As an undergraduate, she worked with immigrants, refugees, and torture-survivors in clinical and non-clinical settings. Together with her experiences living and studying abroad, this contributed to her interest in international psychiatry and the philosophy of psychiatry. After working as a research coordinator at the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP), she became the research coordinator for the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, although she is lucky enough to continue working with the DCRP on collaborative inpatient-outpatient depression studies. In the future, Adrienne hopes to pursue joint studies in psychiatry and philosophy.
Maribeth Pender, Ph.D.
Maribeth Pender is a Clinical and Research Fellow at MGH and Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at Loyola University Chicago and earned a B.A. in psychology at Tufts University and an M.S. in counseling at Fordham University. In 2001, she was named an Albert Schweitzer Fellow, providing mental health outreach in the Chicago Public Schools. She received clinical training at DePaul University Counseling Services and University of Chicago Hospital Department of Psychiatry, both in Chicago, IL, and completed her internship at South Shore Mental Health in Quincy, MA. Her primary research at the Depression Clinical and Research Program is a study of suicide prevention and treatment of depression in college students. She also provides cognitive behavior therapy with individuals and groups. Her interests include treatment of depression, depression prevention strategies, college student mental health, and research in positive psychology and general well-being.
Tim Petersen, Ph.D.
Dr. Petersen is a staff psychologist at the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and serves as Clinical Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida in1998. Dr. Petersen serves as clinical research coordinator and cognitive therapist for the NIMH-funded STARD project. Dr. Petersen specializes in psychotherapeutic approaches to treatment resistant depression (TRD) and has published several articles pertaining to various aspects of TRD, including comorbidity, psychological predictors of treatment outcome, prescribing trends, and assessment of resistance. Dr. Petersen has also been particularly interested in the use of modified forms of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to prevent relapse and recurrence. He recently developed a treatment manual for the modified form of CBT called Well Being Therapy (WBT).
Michael Posternak, M.D.
Michael Posternak, M.D. is a staff psychiatrist in the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his B.A. in philosophy from Trinity College in Hartford, CT and his medical degree from Boston University. After a 1 year internship at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in internal medicine, Dr. Posternak completed his residency in adult psychiatry at Brown University. He subsequently completed a 3 year fellowship in mood disorders research at Rhode Island Hospital. His research interests include the naturalistic course of depression, understanding the dynamics of the placebo response, learning more about how well psychotropic medications work in clinical practice, and treatment-resistant depression. Dr. Posternak has authored or co-authored over 50 publications and serves as a frequent reviewer for numerous psychiatric journals as well as serving on the editorial board of The Carlat Report. In addition to his research interests, Dr. Posternak carries a large clinical practice, and attempts to utilize a broad psychosocial approach in treating his patients.
Julie L. Ryan, B.A.
Julie Ryan graduated Boston University in May 2002 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and English. While at Boston University, Julie worked on a study of sexual abuse survivors with the Boston University Resiliency Project-2 during her sophomore and junior years. During that time she also worked as a literacy tutor for special needs students in a Kindergarten classroom as a part of the B.U.I.L.D. program. During a semester abroad, Julie worked at the London Institute of Psychiatry, conducting ADHD research with children. For a summer Julie worked in a third grade classroom at the Baker Victory School for children with behavioral and emotional problems. Her senior year she worked at the BU Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and completed an independent project in the BU Infant lab studying infant cognition using gaze paradigms. After a year as a Research Coordinator at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, she then became the DCRP's Program Coordinator. Julie will pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at SUNY-Albany beginning in the fall of 2004.
Lara Sinicropi-Yao B.A.
Lara graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in June of 2007 with a BA in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, Lara worked in the Institute of Personality and Social Research as a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Dacher Keltner and Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas. Her research focused on identifying the fMRI neural correlates of pro-social emotions using visual and auditory tasks in human subjects. In addition, Lara spent the summer after her freshman year working as a research assistant at Vertex Pharmaceuticals working on numerous in-vivo efficacy studies in the areas of oncology and inflammation. The following summer Lara worked as a research assistant at Novartis Pharmaceuticals evaluating the NOEL and toxicological profile of an AKT inhibitor. After her time at the DCRP, she hopes to pursue her interests in psychiatry and neuroscience in medical school or clinical psychology graduate school.
Cheryl Seifert, B.A.
Cheryl graduated from Colgate University in May of 2005 with a BA in behavioral neuroscience. Her undergraduate thesis with Dr. Scott Kraly investigated the ability of Cholecystokinin (CCK), a neurochemical involved in satiety signaling, to modify ethanol intake in ethanol experienced rats. She also participated in other research as an undergraduate that studied the ability of EEG recordings to identify implicit stereotypes within brainwaves. Cheryl is interested in finding a field that allows her to integrate her desire to work with people in a clinical setting and her interest in furthering our understanding of brain function. After her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program at MGH, Cheryl plans to continue her education in the field of neuroscience.
Deborah Shear, B.S.
Deborah graduated from Mary Washington College with a B.S. in Psychology in May 2003. During her senior year, she completed two research projects looking at the cognitive processes behind face perception and classification. One of the papers was presented at the annual conference of the Virginia Psychological Association. After graduation, Deborah spent a year working for the Justice Resource Institute doing non-profit research for the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. After her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Deborah would like to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Katherine Sklarsky, B.A.
Katherine graduated from Connecticut College in May of 2003. There she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology Based Human Relations; a major that is primarily Psychology based, but also includes Sociology and Human Development courses. While in college Katherine was involved in various research projects including an independent study in cultural psychology that examined cultural beliefs surrounding HIV/AIDS and depression and a senior thesis that explored that use of message framing as a means of promotion of breast self-examination amongst college age women. Katherine was also involved in research at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and The University Of Chicago Hospital in Chicago throughout her summers as an undergraduate. At Mount Sinai Katherine worked with women who were receiving breast cancer surgery, while at the University of Chicago she worked in a psychopharmacology psychomotor research lab in the anesthesiology department. During Katherine's first year at the DCRP she worked primarily on outpatient research studies and then shifted her focus to the inpatient psychiatric unit for the remainder of her time at MGH. After completing her time here, Katherine will be going on to receive a Masters of Science at Columbia University. Her long-term goal is to attend medical school.
Sienna C. Vorono, B.A.
Sienna Vorono graduated from Bates College with a B.A. in psychology in May 2005. As an undergraduate she completed an honors thesis titled "The Effects of Stimulants Prescribed for the Treatment of ADHD on Fatigue During Exercise." At Bates, Sienna worked as a research assistant and presented a poster of her work, titled "Psychosocial Factors and Mortality in a Sample of Post-Angiographic Women at Twelve Year Follow Up," at the Society of Behavioral Medicine's Annual Meeting in April 2005. She also completed an independent study course exploring health issues in the Latino community, for which she created informational pamphlets in Spanish and English on health conditions and medical services. Out side of her research, Sienna has worked as an 8th grade teaching assistant, mentored elementary school students, and lead community service trips for high school students. After completing her two years at the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Sienna hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
John J. Worthington, M.D.
Dr. Worthington is a Staff Psychiatrist in the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit 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. 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. 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.
Shirley L. Wu, B.S.
Shirley Wu graduated from Bates College with a Bachelor's in Biology in May 2003. Shirley joined the program in December 2003. As an undergraduate Shirley was interested in molecular biology and pharmacology. After completing her time at the Depression Clinical and Research Program she will be starting medical school at Saint George's in Grenada.
Huaiyu Yang, M.D.
Huaiyu Yang, MD, is a research fellow in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her MD from West China University of Medical Sciences, and a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dr. Yang has been a Freeman Fellow at Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine, and an assistant professor at First Teaching Hospital, Institute of Mental health West China University of Medical Sciences (WCUMS) where she participated as an investigator in clinical trials related to depression, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Dr. Yang joined the Depression Clinical and Research Program in the Spring of 2003 and is primarily involved in the STAR*D study and its ancillary Child STAR*D project. Her main interests are pharmacotherapy for major depression, cross-cultural psychiatry and health policy.