Faculty and Staff

Nate Phillips graduated from the University of Florida with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science. At CAM, he works with Dr. Gilman on the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study to assess the cognitive effects of marijuana and alcohol, along with Dr. Maravic on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) study to investigate the impact of integrated smoking cessation treatment on care provided to smokers with serious mental illness.

Dr. Kevin Potter graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in Psychology and received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the Ohio State University. He began working for the Center for Addiction Medicine in August of 2018 as a statistician. His research involves applying modern statistical and cognitive modeling approaches to diverse clinical data sets, and developing approachable statistical tools for applied practitioners.

Dr. Caroline Yeh received her Ph.D. in Medical Physics from Purdue University in 2018. She began working at the Center for Addiction Medicine in September of 2018, where she is currently researching how white matter integrity is affected by prenatal expose of tobacco and marijuana and how white matter structure changes in marijuana users with PTSD. Her research interests include diagnosis improving and early detection of health effects from the substance use by neuroimaging.

Dr. Meena M. Makary is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Cairo University. Currently, he holds a joint appointment as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a Research Fellow in the Center of Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined the neuroimaging team to study the underlying causes and risk factors of addictive behavior and to test new treatments for addictive disorders. In 2017, Dr. Makary worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the John B. Pierce Laboratory and as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He worked on investigating the interrelation between chronic pain and obesity using structural and functional brain imaging. During his time as Ph.D. student, he used real-time fMRI neurofeedback to investigate the brain plasticity after self-regulation of motor brain areas during motor imagery tasks. Dr. Makary is the Career Development and Mentoring Manager for the OHBM student and post-doctorate special interest group. Dr. Makary was honored with the 2017 Best Ph.D. Thesis Award in Engineering among Kyung Hee University graduates. He also received several merit conference paper awards including the Best Oral Presentation Award, ICCMR’15; Merit Abstract Travel Stipend Award, OHBM’17; and Geographic Finalist, IEEE EMBC’17.

Sarah Hickey received her B.S. in Neuroscience at Stonehill College and received her B.S. in Nursing from Northeastern University.  She began working at CAM in March of 2019, where she is currently a co-investigator on Dr. Gilman’s study which uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy to assess the cognitive effects of alcohol and marijuana. She also works on Dr. Gilman's other study examining the effects of medical marijuana on neurocognition and escalation of use.

Dr. Kristina Cieslak graduated from NYU School of Medicine in 2015, and is a current resident in the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program. Her research interests center on improving quality of life and health outcomes for individuals with serious mental illness in the community setting. In conjunction with the MGH Schizophrenia Program, Freedom Trail Clinic, MGH Department of Medicine and Diabetes Center, she is conducting a study of and co-leading an educational and behavioral group intervention for individuals with schizophrenia and diabetes. Other projects include providing academic detailing to primary care physicians as a part of the PCORI project “Integrated Smoking Cessation Treatment for Smokers with Serious Mental Illness” and working to improve engagement of psychiatric patients in smoking cessation treatment in the inpatient setting.

Email: kcieslak@mgh.harvard.edu

Dr. Aurora Quaye is a clinical investigator at the Center of Addiction Medicine and an Instructor in Anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Quaye received her BA in Neuroscience and Behavior from Wesleyan University and her MD from Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Quaye completed her residency in Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and her fellowship in Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She serves as a member of the Acute Pain Service and the Opioid Task Force at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Quaye is currently conducting research on identifying perioperative opioid reduction strategies for patients at risk of, or suffering from, opioid use disorders.

Email: aquaye@partners.org

Christine Ulysse received her B.S. in Biometry & Statistics at Cornell University in 2014 and completed her Master’s in Biostatistics at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in 2017. Throughout her academic career, she has worked on various projects relating to sedation management strategy in children with severe lung disease, prenatal exposure to maternal stress and childhood wheeze, associations between sexual dysfunction and inflammatory bowel disease and improving the rate of linkage and retention in HIV care in Brazil.

Email: caulysse@mgh.harvard.edu

Lauren Scott received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire where she majored in Health Management and Policy. She is the Grant Administrator for the Center for Addiction Medicine, primarily helping with grant submissions and managing post-award activities.

Email: LSCOTT6@MGH.HARVARD.EDU

Kerrin earned her BA in Anthropology from Vassar College in 2014 and is currently pursuing her MBA through Johns Hopkins University. She is the Grant Administrator for the Center for Addiction Medicine and Behavioral Medicine divisions within the Psychiatry Department at MGH.

Email: kjpoole@partners.org

Nina Levar received her B.Sc. in computer science/Bioinformatics from Heinrich-Heine University of Dusseldorf/Germany and received her M.Sc. in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from the University of Amsterdam/The Netherlands.  She pursued her Ph.D. at the Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam in the field of cognitive neuroimaging focusing on emotion regulation and fear learning. In October 2016, she joined CAM to continue her focus on neuroimaging research under Dr. Gilman. Her research focuses on understanding the neural correlates of marijuana use in young healthy adults, as well as the impact of marijuana on psychiatric disorders. She has extensive expertise in fMRI acquisition and analysis, as well as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, EEG, and psychophysiology.

Email: nina.levar@mgh.harvard.edu

Dr. Kate Bentley received her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2017 from Boston University and completed her pre-doctoral internship in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy track at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Her research is largely focused on the development, evaluation, and implementation of transdiagnostic interventions for suicidal and non-suicidal self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Her postdoctoral fellowship involves testing a transdiagnostic, emotion-focused, group-based intervention for young adults with substance use disorders and co-occurring emotional distress (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and/or non-suicidal self-injury).

Email: kbentley@mgh.harvard.edu

Eve Manghis graduated with her AB in Social Studies from Harvard College in 2016. At CAM she works on the PCORI-funded study investigating integrated smoking cessation treatment for smokers with serious mental illness. She also coordinates Dr. Jodi Gilman’s fNIRS study examining the effects of marijuana on the brain and Dr. Nina Levar’s trauma study on decision making and marijuana use. Her research interests include the neurological impacts of substance use on cognition and mental illness and the role of social and economic factors in determining mental health outcomes.

Email: emanghis@mgh.harvard.edu

Mike obtained his BS in Biology from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He is involved in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) project at the Center for Addiction Medicine aiming to integrate smoking cessation medicines to people with serious mental illness. Mike’s main interest in translational addiction research and global dissemination of new medical discoveries.  

Email: mvilme@mgh.harvard.edu

Christopher McGovern graduated from Stonehill College with a BA in Psychology. His current role at CAM involves working as a research coordinator on a study investigating integrated smoking cessation treatment for smokers with serious mental illness, which is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. He is primarily interested in the correlates between substance abuse, serious mental illness, and suicide.

Email: cmcgovern3@mgh.harvard.edu

Christie Yunyao Wu graduated from Tufts University in 2016, where she majored in clinical psychology. At CAM, she currently  coordinates an NIH-funded clinical trial that investigates Nicotine Reduction in Cigarette Smokers with Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Her research interests include substance use disorder in low- and /or middle-income countries and how cultural factors affect substance use and treatment efficacy. She is also interested in co-occurring  substance use and mood disorders in a global context

Email: ywu20@mgh.harvard.edu

Maya Hareli graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she completed her B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education. She currently coordinates a study examining the efficacy of a contingency management plan on abstinence from cannabis, as well as the effects of cannabis abstinence on cognition, in high school-aged adolescents. Her research interests include the development of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents with comorbid psychopathology as well as understanding the relation between addiction and psychopathology.

Email: mhareli@mgh.harvard.edu

Alyson Dechert graduated with her BA in Psychology from Whittier College. At CAM, she works primarily with Dr. Gilman on a study which examines the effects of medical marijuana on neurocognition and escalation of use. She also works on the fNIRS study, which uses a novel imaging device to detect acute intoxication of THC. Additionally, she works with Drs. Cather and Schnitzer on a study which uses a behavioral intervention to help people with serious mental illness manage their type 2 diabetes. Her research interests are in clinical psychology, and she is particularly interested in studying depression treatment methods which combine therapeutic and pharmacological approaches. She plans to apply for PhD programs in clinical psychology to continue studying these topics.

Email: adechert@mgh.harvard.edu

Hannah Broos graduated from Bowdoin College with a coordinate degree in Psychology and Education. At CAM she is working primarily on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funded study investigating integrated smoking cessation treatment for smokers with serious mental illness. Her research interests include the comorbidity of mental illness and substance use disorders, along with the role of emotion processing in the development and expression of psychopathology.

Email: hbroos@mgh.harvard.edu

Kelsey Lowman graduated from Princeton University in 2017 with a B.A. in Psychology. At CAM, she works on a study funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), investigating the impact of integrated smoking cessation treatment on care provided to smokers with severe mental illness. She is primarily interested in community-based research aimed to improve quality of life for individuals with mental illness, specifically those suffering from psychosis and/or trauma-related disorders.

Email: klowman@mgh.harvard.edu

Rachel Plummer graduated from William and Mary with a bachelors degree in psychology. At CAM she is primarily working with Dr. Gilman on the medical marijuana research study, which looks at the effects of medical marijuana on neurocognition and escalation of use. Her research interests include the development of substance abuse prevention programs for youth and reducing stigma surrounding mental illness. She plans to pursue a PhD in clinical health psychology in the next couple of years.

Email: rplummer1@mgh.harvard.edu