Current K12 Scholars
Meghan Costello, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow at the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine and the West End Clinic
Mentors: Randi Schuster PhD & Eden Evins MD, MPH
Dr. Costello aims to study social mechanisms of progression to SUD in adolescents and her K12 project will investigate how participation in behavioral and pharmacotherapy treatment for nicotine vaping cessation impacts changes in peer network structure and the density of vape use among participants’ peers, focusing on relationships between vaping reduction intervention efforts and adolescents’ social context. She will continue to serve as a clinician in the West End Clinic. See Dr. Costello’s recent publications here.
Nubia Angelina Mayorga, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Department of Psychiatry
Mentors: Margarita Alegria, PhD & Jenny Zhen-Duan, PhD
Dr. Mayorga aims to adapt and develop an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) manual for a Latinx dual-diagnosis population that includes a nuanced and culturally tailored approach to decreasing experiential avoidance (EA). She then aims to pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of the culturally adapted ACT and EA content and evaluate if this intervention reduces EA, SUD symptoms (consumption, craving, coping) and psychiatric symptoms. See Dr. Mayorga’s recent publications here.
John J. Chiosi, MD, MPH
Post-Doctoral Fellow in the MGH Division of General Internal Medicine
Mentors: Kenneth Freedberg, MD, MSc & Andrea L. Ciaranello, MD, MPH
Dr. Chiosi aims to use a multi-morbidity model of multiple drug- and infection-related complications to estimate the clinical and economic impact of the stimulant use disorder syndemic, identify the benefits and costs of interventions impacting multiple complications simultaneously, and determine how these interventions could be most effectively and efficiently deployed. See Dr.Chiosi’s recent publications here.
Previous K12 Scholars
Geneva Jonathan, PhD
Cohort: 2023 – 2025
Current Role: Post-Doctoral Fellow at the MGH Center for Digital Mental Health & Center for OCD and Related Disorders
Project: Career Development Program in Substance Use and Addiction Medicine
Dr. Jonathan completed her psychology internship at MGH in July, is working with Sabine Wilhelm in the MGH Center for Digital Mental Health to learn eHealth intervention development and has a longstanding interest to improve the health of people with serious mental illness. Her K12 project aims to develop and integrate substance use modules for an existing depression-focused smartphone application, Mindset by Koa Health, to support individuals with co-occurring MDD and SUD. See Dr. Jonathan’s recent publications here.
Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, PhD
Cohort: 2021 – 2023
Project: State- and trait-level relationships between impulsivity and adolescent cannabis use progression
Current Role: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division, and Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota; Institute for Translational Neuroscience Scholar
Dr. Tervo-Clemmens is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division, and Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain at the University of Minnesota, as well as an Institute for Translational Neuroscience Scholar. He is also an affiliate faculty member in the Institute of Child Development and Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Dr. Tervo-Clemmens’ research aims to understand normative brain development and the emergence of mental health and substance use disorders during adolescence. See Dr. Tervo-Clemmens recent publications here.
Danielle Fine, MD, MPH
Cohort: 2021 – 2023
Project: Factors associated with one-month retention in outpatient-based addiction treatment of homeless-experienced individuals with OUD
Current Role: Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Instructor Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Fine is currently an Assistant Professor and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School as well as a staff member within the MGH Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Fine’s research focuses on improving access to and outcomes of substance use disorder treatment, particularly among marginalized populations. She used preliminary data from her K12 project to design and test an intervention aimed at improving opioid use disorder treatment retention in this population. See Dr. Fine’s recent publications here.
Joanna Streck, PhD
Cohort: 2020 – 2023
Project:Prevalence and patterns of vaping nicotine and cannabis by patients with opioid use disorder
Current Role: Assistant Professor of Psychology MGH Department of Psychiatry; Assistant Professor of Medicine MGH Division of General Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Streck is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the MGH Department of Psychiatry and an Assistant Professor of Medicine within the Division of General Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Streck’s research seeks to identify effective tobacco cessation and harm reduction interventions for vulnerable populations who smoke with a focus on those with co-morbid SUD. See Dr. Streck’s recent publications here.
Kristina Schnitzer, MD, MPH
Cohort: 2020 – 2022
Project:Integrated Smoking Cessation Treatment for Smokers with Serious Mental Illness
Current Role: Staff Psychiatrist at Talkiatry, Jacksonville, Florida
Dr. Schnitzer is currently a staff psychiatrist at Talkiatry, a national mental health practice that provides in-network psychiatry and therapy. Dr. Schnitzer’s practice focuses on medication management with a specialization in ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression. Typically, she offers medication management in conjunction with supportive or emotionally focused therapy. See Dr. Schnitzer’s recent publications here.
Benjamin Bearnot, PhD
Cohort: 2019 – 2022
Project: Feasibility of enrolling and following a population of individuals with opioid use disorder and serious bacterial infections
Current Role: Staff Internal Medicine at Middlebury Family Health, Vermont
Dr. Bearnots research emphasizes implementation science to addressing the devastating addiction and drug overdose epidemics facing the United States. Dr. Bearnot is currently a partner at Middlebury Family Health in Middlebury Vermont. He currently mentors’ physicians and health professionals in training, as well as providing advisory services for addiction-related startups and non-profit organizations. See Dr. Bearnot’s recent publications here.
Sara Bates, MD, MPH
Cohort: 2018 – 2021
Project:Potential value of early neuroimaging biomarkers for improving treatment and outcome in opioid-exposed neonates
Current Role: Director, MGH Infant Brain Center; Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Bates is currently the Director of the Infant Brain Center at MGH as well as an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Her current work is focused on detecting brain insults resulting from Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy as well as exploring brain development in infants with in-utero drug exposures.Dr. Bates has lectured both locally and regionally on the topics of neuroimaging, fetal drug exposures, management of perinatal brain insults, and emerging cell-based therapies. See Dr. Bates recent publications here.
Davida M. Schiff, MD, MSc
Cohort: 2018 – 2019
Project:Improving pharmacotherapy engagement and retention among pregnant and parenting women with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)
Current Role: Director of Perinatal and Family-based SUDs Care at Massachusetts General Hospital; HOPE Clinic Founder; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Schiff is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Perinatal and Family-Based Substance Use Disorders Care at MGH, where she founded the HOPE Clinic, a multidisciplinary program caring for pregnant and parent people with substance use disorder and their families from time of conception through the first two years post-partum. Dr. Schiff’s research is focused on improving care for families affected by substance use. See Dr. Schiff’s recent publications here.
Kathryn Bentley, PhD
Cohort: 2018 – 2019
Project: Pilot study of a transdiagnostic, emotion-focused group intervention for young adults with substance use disorders and emotional distress
Current Role: Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Program in the Center for Precision Psychiatry; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Kate Bentley is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Program in the Center for Precision Psychiatry at MGH, and a licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH. She is also a Research Associate at Harvard University who frequently collaborates with investigators at the Center for Addiction Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University in 2017 and completed her pre-doctoral internship at MGH. Her research is focused on the development, evaluation, and implementation of scalable transdiagnostic interventions for suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and frequently co-occurring disorders. She is also particularly interested in the application of mobile devices to better understand these phenomena and provide support to high-risk individuals in real-time. Dr. Bentley’s work is currently supported by multiple grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. See Dr. Bentleys recent publications here.