Our Staff

James P. Rathmell, MD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Chief, Division of Pain Medicine
Professor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Rathmell serves as Director of the Center for Pain Medicine and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. His area of clinical expertise is in the treatment of pain of spinal origin, where he conducts ongoing clinical trials investigating new treatments. Dr. Rathmell accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine as well as the Mass General Orthopedic Spine Center.

Shihab Ahmed, MB, BS (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Language Spoken: Bengali

Dr. Ahmed’s area of clinical focus is cancer-related pain, where he has special expertise in intrathecal drug delivery. Dr. Ahmed also works in collaboration with the Mass General Palliative Care Service in the Yawkey Cancer Center.  He also coordinates all medical student rotations through the Center. Dr. Ahmed accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Gary Brenner, MD, PhD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Director, Fellowship in Pain Medicine
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Brenner is a clinician-investigator, dividing his time between clinical work in the Center of Pain Medicine and laboratory investigation.  Dr. Brenner’s laboratory is focused on CNS mechanisms of pain sensitization, and his scientific studies focus on mechanisms of pain hypersensitivity and on peripheral nerve regeneration.  He serves as Program Director for the Mass General Pain Medicine Fellowship and has held this position since 2002.  Dr. Brenner accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Adam Carinci, MD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Attending Anesthesiologist
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Carinci's clinical expertise focuses on comprehensive pain management for acute (postoperative) and chronic pain patients and the administration of anesthesia for a wide variety of surgical cases. As a physician for the inpatient Acute Pain Service, he attends to the needs of postoperative pain patients, including those with epidural and peripheral nerve catheters. In his role in the multi-disciplinary outpatient Chronic Pain Clinic, he evaluates and treats patients with a variety of chronic and cancer-related pain. His research interests focus on furthering strategies and treatment methods that can be employed to inhibit the progression of acute to chronic pain. He is also involved in clinical trials involving novel analgesics and interventions for pain management. He teaches fellows, residents and medical students in all areas where he attends clinically.

Lucy Chen, MD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Language Spoken: Cantonese

Dr. Chen coordinates all resident training conducted on the inpatient and outpatient services conducted by the Center for Pain Medicine.  She has special expertise in the clinical application of acupuncture for chronic pain.  Dr. Chen is also doing clinical research in the Mass General Center for Translational Pain Research.  Dr. Chen accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Christopher Gilligan, MD, MBA (Emergency Medicine/Pain Medicine)
Director, Center for Pain Medicine
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Languages Spoken: Spanish, French and Hebrew

Dr. Gilligan serves as the Director in the Center for Pain Medicine. His original training is in Emergency Medicine and he has subspecialty training in Pain Medicine, where he has focused on pain of spinal origin. Dr. Gilligan accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine as well as the Mass General Orthopedic Spine Center.

Padma Gulur, MD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Director, Inpatient Pain Service
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Gulur serves as the Director of the Inpatient Pain Service For the Center for Pain Medicine and as Team Leader for Pediatric Pain Services within the MassGeneral Hospital for Children, serving both ambulatory and hospitalized adults and children with painful disorders. Her speciality is in treating spine-related pain disorders, CRPS and discogenic pain as well as chronic pain. Dr. Gulur accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine for adult patients as well as pediatric patients for the MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

Mihir M. Kamdar, MD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Co-Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Pain Clinic
Staff Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Pain Medicine
Staff Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital Palliative Care Service
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kamdar's area of clinical focus is cancer pain, although he cares for patients with all pain disorders. His clinical appointment is a collaboration between the Center for Pain Medicine and the Division of Palliative Care to serve patients with refractory pain and symptom management issues. This allows for a unique synergy between the fields of interventional pain and palliative care. Dr. Kamdar accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Karsten Kueppenbender, MD, CGP (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Staff Psychiatrist
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Language Spoken: German

Dr. Kueppenbender is a psychiatrist with expertise in the integration of psychopharmacology with individual and group psychotherapy. He serves as a clinical liaison between the division of pain medicine and the department of psychiatry. He teaches medical students, residents and fellows in the departments of anesthesia and psychiatry. Dr. Kueppenbender collaborates with the MGH Depression Research Group in a pilot study of a group intervention that uses mindfulness meditation to enhance the treatment of patients with chronic pain and depression. Dr. Kueppenbender accepts patients by referral from the Center for Pain Medicine.

Ronald Kulich, PhD (Clinical Psychology)
Lecturer, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kulich directs the behavioral medicine services within the Mass General Center for Pain Medicine. His clinical specialties include chronic pain assessment, screening for chronic opioid therapy, and the cognitive behavioral group program. His academic interests include medico-legal issues in pain, and he coordinates the Chronic Pain Teaching Rounds. Dr. Kulich accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Jianren Mao, MD, PhD (Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine)
Director, Mass General Center for Translational Pain Research
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Language Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Mao is Director of the Mass General Center for Translational Pain Research, a research endeavor aimed at bringing recent discoveries regarding pain mechanisms in to the clinical realm.  He is a clinician-investigator who divides his time between direct clinical care, and basic/translational research. Dr. Mao accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Gary Polykoff, MD (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation/Pain Medicine)
Languages Spoken: Russian, Yiddish

Dr. Polykoff leads our training efforts in musculoskeletal medicine within the Center.  His original training is in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and he has subspecialty training in Pain Medicine.  Dr. Polykoff accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Brian Wainger, MD, PhD (Neurology/Pain Medicine)
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Wainger is a clinician-scientist. His clinical work focuses on the interface between neurology and pain medicine. He is a member of Clifford Woolf's Neural Plasticity Research Group. He investigates basic mechanisms of pain signal transduction in order to develop novel analgesic treatments. Dr. Wainger accepts patients by referral in the Center for Pain Medicine.

Cynthia A. Boivin, RN

Ms. Boivin is a veteran of the nursing service at Mass General and provides direct nursing care to patients of the Center for Pain Medicine.  She serves as coordinator for our implantable devices program (spinal cord stimulation and intrathecal drug delivery).

Jeanne Kearney-Murray, RN

Ms. Kearney-Murray is a senior nurse professional at Massachusetts General Hospital and provides direct nursing care to patients of the Center for Pain Medicine. She serves as our center coordinator regarding Joint Commission regulation enforcement, staff education and new policy implementation.

Kathleen Mortimer, RN

Ms. Mortimer is a veteran of the nursing service here at Mass General and provides direct nursing care to patients of the Center for Pain Medicine.