Archives

Sara Lazar, PhD

Associate Director of Neuroscience Research

Sara W. Lazar, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation, both in clinical settings and in healthy individuals. She has also collaborated with clinicians to study the effects on mindfulness on anxiety and depression. Her current work is focused on well-being and personality development. Dr. Lazar has been practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation since 1994 and her research has been covered by numerous news outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and WebMD.

Matthew Lee, PhD

Matthew T. Lee, Ph.D., is a Visiting Professor with BHI and Director of Empirical Research at the Human Flourishing Program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.  His books include Measuring Well-Being and The Heart of Religion (both with Oxford University Press). He is also a Distinguished Visiting Scholar of Health, Flourishing, and Positive Psychology at Stony Brook University’s Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics and he previously served as Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity. He has co-developed empirical measures of both the compassion climate in workplaces and the individual experience of inner peace. His current research explores pathways to human flourishing, benevolent service to others, and the integration of social science and the humanities. (https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/people/matthew-t-lee-0)

Kiara Robinson

Patient Services Coordinator

Kiara Robinson is the face and voice of BHI, greeting patients, scheduling appointments, and coordinating SMART groups, among other things.  Prior to joining BHI in 2021, Kiara had worked at Mass General for 12 years, beginning as a sterile technician and serving as a patient services coordinator through the Bulfinch Temp service, learning systems and protocols in more than 21 different departments including Primary Care, Nuclear Cardiology, Neurosurgery, and multiple postings in Neurology.

 

Jacob Mirsky, MD, MA

Jacob Mirsky attended medical school at the University of California San Francisco and completed residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as part of the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates primary care track. Jacob studied neuroscience during college and graduate school and researched neurologic diseases before attending medical school. He views patient education and empowerment as the cornerstone to health, and he is a strong advocate for mind-body practices for symptom management and disease prevention. He is currently a primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital Revere HealthCare Center, and he joined the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in the fall of 2018 for patient consultations.

Jeffery Dusek, PhD

Jeffery Dusek, PhD is the Chief Research Officer at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.  He has over 20 years of experience leading research at innovative research and healthcare institutions.   From 1998 to 2007, he served as the Director of Research for the Mind/Body Medical Institute at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Instructor in Medicine of the Harvard Medical School.  He was key to receipt of a multi-year grant from the CDC from which 3 seminal research studies were completed and numerous scientific articles were published.  In addition, from 2006 to 2007 he served as the Director of Behavioral Services Research at the inauguration of the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

From 2007 to 2017, Dr. Dusek was the director of research at the Penny George Institute of Allina Health based in Minneapolis MN.  Dr. Dusek was the Principal Investigator of a multi-year grant from the NIH which resulted in 13 manuscripts published in peer reviewed medical research journals.

His research has been published in eminent journals such as the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Circulation and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.  His research been covered in such venues as the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today and National Public Radio.

Katherine Rosa, PhD, CNP, FNP-BC

Staff Nurse Practitioner

Katherine Rosa is an experienced Family Nurse Practitioner who has worked in primary care with patients of all ages and taught at UMass Lowell in their graduate nursing programs. She earned her BS in nursing from Northeastern University, her MSN from University of Lowell, and her PhD in nursing from Boston College. Her research work focuses on understanding how the human connection within the nurse-patient relationship fosters healing while living with chronic illness. She received a Connell Nursing Research Scholar Award from the Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at MGH for this work. As well, she is a long time practitioner and recognized teacher of Therapeutic Touch®. She has extensive experience teaching individuals and groups on meditation, relaxation techniques, and the practice of Therapeutic Touch®.

 

Jared D. Kass, PhD

Jared D. Kass, Ph.D.
Visiting Scholar

Jared D. Kass, Ph.D. is a Visiting Scholar with the Benson-Henry Institute, and a Professor in the Division of Counseling and Psychology, Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He conducts a prevention-oriented research program that investigates the development of health-promoting, pro-social behaviors in emerging adults.  His publications include peer-reviewed research papers and book chapters related to this research program.  Recently, he completed a book which describes an engaged learning curriculum that he developed and tested for use in higher education. The Know Your Self curriculum is designed to help young adults in undergraduate and entry-level graduate programs develop psychological resilience and interpersonal skills for building culturally-inclusive community.