Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

Haider Warraich, MD

Contributor

Dr. Haider Warraich is a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, associate director of the heart failure program at VA Boston Healthcare System, and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of the just published The Song of Our Scars: The Untold Story of Pain.

Stephanie Watson

Former Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch

Stephanie Watson was the Executive Editor of the Harvard Women’s Health Watch from June 2012 to August 2014. Prior to that, she worked as a writer and editor for several leading consumer health publications, including WebMD, A.D.A.M. (MedlinePlus), BabyCenter, Momentum magazine, and Lupus Now magazine. She also served as executive editor for Focus on Healthy Aging, a publication of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Stephanie has written and edited more than two dozen books, including Understanding Obesity: The Genetics of Obesity and Scientific American Critical Perspectives on Pollution. She is a graduate of Boston University, with a degree in mass communications and English. Before embarking on her medical writing career, she was a writer/producer for The Travel Channel and Weather.com.

Peter Wayne

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Peter Wayne, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Research for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi.

Cecil R. Webster, Jr., MD

Contributor

Dr. Cecil R. Webster, Jr. is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist in Boston. He is a lecturer in psychiatry at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and consultant for diversity health outreach programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, Dr. Webster is a candidate in child and adult psychoanalysis at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. His areas of expertise include identity formation and related influences such as sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and intercultural experiences in psychotherapy. He enjoys the intersection of film and psychiatry, applying psychoanalytic techniques in understanding portrayals of mental illness in film.

Bobbi Wegner, PsyD

Contributor

Dr. Bobbi Wegner is a supervising clinical psychologist at Boston Behavioral Medicine and an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Wegner writes and speaks nationally on modern families, stress, and coping. She writes the Perfectly Imperfect Parenting column for Psychology Today, is a parenting expert on NBC News Learn, and is on the Today Show Parenting Team. She also writes and reviews medical content for Buoy Health, an AI-powered healthcare navigation program.

Peter Wehrwein

Contributor, Harvard Health

Peter Wehrwein was the editor of the Harvard Health Letter from 1999 to May 2012. He is currently a freelance writer and editor, and contributes to the Harvard Health blog and HarvardProstateKnowledge.org. Before editing the Health Letter, he was editor of the Harvard Public Health Review and director of development communications at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to working at Harvard, Wehrwein was a reporter for newspapers in Albany, N.Y., Union City, N.J., Brooklyn, N.Y., and Big Lake, Minn. He has written for Newsweek, The Lancet, Managed Care, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Wehrwein was a journalism fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1993-94. He earned a B.A. in history from Yale University in 1980.

Edward N. Wei, MD

Contributor

Dr. Wei is a member of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, where he specializes in the treatment of spine disorders and musculoskeletal medicine. He is board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. After graduating from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, he completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tufts Medical Center and a fellowship at the Penn Spine Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wei specializes in the nonoperative treatment of spine disorders and works with a team of physicians and therapists to help each patient regain the ability to function to the fullest extent possible. Dr. Wei focuses on patient education, exercise therapy, medications, and minimally invasive spine and musculoskeletal injections for the restoration of function.

Scott Weiner, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAAEM

Contributor

Scott G. Weiner, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAAEM, an attending emergency physician and assistant clinical director in the department of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is the director of B-CORE: The Brigham Comprehensive Opioid Approach and Education Program. Dr. Weiner completed his residency training at the Harvard-Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and master of public health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is on the executive board of the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians. His research focuses on technological innovations that improve the care of ED patients presenting with pain, including usage and optimization of online prescription drug monitoring programs and tablet-based screening tools.

Carol Weitzman, MD

Contributor

Dr. Carol Weitzman is a developmental behavioral pediatrician and the co-director of the Autism Spectrum Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, and director of the CT Center for Developmental Pediatrics. She is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. Nationally, she is a past president of the Society for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP), and a past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics. She is a member of the American Board of Pediatrics Sub-Board.

Jeremy Whyman, MD

Contributor

Jeremy Whyman, MD, is a geriatrician, palliative medicine physician and general internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is currently board certified in Geriatrics and Internal Medicine with completion of his third board certification in Palliative Medicine, anticipated in early January 2019. Dr. Whyman completed Internal Medicine residency training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. During dual fellowship training in both Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, he focused on preserving and improving quality of life for those with serious illness. As an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Whyman is a preceptor in the Practice of Medicine course, and is dedicated to teaching medical students. He is the director of outpatient education in the Division of Geriatrics at BIDMC. Dr. Whyman is actively involved in the recruitment, interview and selection process, as well as the training and mentoring of both Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine fellows and Internal Medicine residents at BIDMC. He received specialized training in medical education through the Harvard Macy Institute and Stanford Clinical Teaching Program. He now serves as a faculty member annually at the Harvard Macy Future Academic Clinician Educators Course.

Sarah Wilkie, MS

Contributor

Sarah Wilkie, MS, is a project manager in quality and patient experience at Mass General Brigham Integrated Health Care System. In this role, Sarah leads a team responsible for implementation of systemwide efforts in clinical and community-based health equity. Sarah received a master of science in health policy and administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Bill Williams

Guest Contributor

Bill Williams is a theater teacher, director, acting coach, and writer. He leads theater and improv workshops for teens and young adults in recovery from substance use disorder. Bill also works with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, Friends of Recovery- New York , and the Addiction Policy Forum. He was awarded Advocate of the Year 2017 by the Addiction Policy Forum. You can read more of Bill Williams’ writing at: http://billwilliamsblog.blogspot.com/

Kim Willment, PhD

Contributor

Kim Willment, PhD, is a board-certified neuropsychologist in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital department of neurology. She founded and is now the director of the RENEW (REsilience through Neurological and Emotional Wellness) program. RENEW offers a range of neuropsychological rehabilitation groups to promote recovery and adjustment to neurologic illness/injury, and to support brain and emotional wellness for people with neurologic disorders. These group-based services provide education, cognitive skills training, therapeutic support, and enrichment services. RENEW also supports families and caregivers by offering dementia caregiving skills and wellness programs.

Molly Wolf, MD

Contributor

Dr. Wolf is a second-year fellow in the Harvard combined pulmonary and critical care fellowship. She graduated from the University of Michigan in molecular biology, and then went to medical school at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester. She completed a combined residency in pediatrics and internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before starting her fellowship. She has an academic interest in e-cigarette health effects, and has completed pulmonary grand rounds on this topic. She is planning to focus her research time on training in clinical trials.

Anna R. Wolfson, MD

Contributor

Dr. Anna Wolfson is an allergist/immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is the quality director for the MGH allergy department, and her research is focused on quality improvement and drug allergy.

Stephen P. Wood, MS, ACNP-BC

Contributor

Stephen P. Wood is a nurse practitioner for Lahey Health and works in the emergency department at Winchester Hospital and Lahey Medical Center. He is a fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics and a contributor for the Petrie-Flom Center blog Bill of Health. He is the chair of the Winchester Hospital Substance Use Task Force and a member of the ED Mental Health Working Group. He is co-chair of the Southern Middlesex County Mental Health Working Group. His focus is on harm reduction and access to care in the setting of substance use disorder and human trafficking. In his spare time, he is an amateur lobsterman.

Dominic Wu, MD

Contributing Editor

Dominic Wu, MD, completed his undergraduate studies and medical school at Brown University and was elected to the AOA honor medical society. At Brown, he focused his studies on human biology, public health, and comparative anatomy/paleontology. During his medical training, he was ultimately drawn to the broad spectrum, holistic field of Family Medicine with special interests in Dermatology. He is currently a resident physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Tufts and Harvard Medical School. He has many medical interests, including dermatology, psychocutaneous disorders, telemedicine, and medical education.

Charlotte S. Yeh, MD

Chief Medical Officer, AARP Services, Inc., Guest Contributor

Dr. Charlotte Yeh is the Chief Medical Officer for AARP Services, Inc. In her role, Dr. Yeh works with the independent carriers that make health-related products and services available to AARP members, to identify programs and initiatives that will lead to enhanced care for older adults Dr. Yeh has more than 30 years of healthcare experience – as a practitioner and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Tufts Medical Center, as the Medical Director for the National Heritage Insurance Company, a Medicare Part B claims contractor, and as the Regional Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Boston. Dr. Yeh is widely recognized for her commitment to and passion for the healthcare consumer and has received numerous honors for her efforts on behalf of patients. As a health care leader, she has served on numerous boards and committees throughout her career, and currently sits on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation Board, the Optum Labs Scientific Advisory Board, and the HX360 Advisory Board. Dr. Yeh received a BA from Northwestern University and her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School. She completed her internship in General Surgery at the University of Washington and her residency in Emergency Medicine at UCLA.

James Yeh, MD, MPH

Contributor

James Song-Jeng Yeh, MD, MPH, practices internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he actively teaches medical students and residents. His clinical interests and expertise are evidence-based medicine, cardiopulmonary diseases, cardiovascular risk reduction, critical illness, care transition, medication adherence, polypharmacy, health communication, and medical education. Dr. Yeh completed his medical training at Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals with internal medicine residency and fellowship at Cambridge Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. During fellowship, he conducted research in the field of pharmacoepidemiology with focus on evidence-based medicine, conflict of interest, academic detailing/educational outreach, and medication safety/boxed warning. Dr. Yeh also completed an editorial fellowship at the New England Journal of Medicine. He has published in various academic journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Yeh’s clinical work involves both ambulatory and in-patient medicine with focuses on providing care to patients with general primary care issues to those with complex medical illness including chronic critically ill patients on chronic ventilation, ventricular assist devices, recent lung, liver, and heart transplant patients, oncology and bone marrow transplant patients, and patients with disorder of consciousness/stroke patients. He is also a team physician for the New England Revolution.

Soo Youn, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Soo Jeong Youn is the Director of Evaluation at Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments (PRIDE) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Assistant Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University, and her clinical internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Soo Jeong Youn, PhD

Contributor

Dr. Soo Jeong Youn is the Director of Evaluation at Community Psychiatry Program for Research in Implementation and Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments (PRIDE) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Assistant Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University, and her clinical internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Elaine W. Yu, MD, MMSc

Contributor

Elaine W. Yu, MD, MMSc, is associate professor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, a board-certified endocrinologist in the endocrine unit of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and director of the MGH bone density center. She is an NIH-funded academic clinical investigator with research focusing on osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease, and she has been named as Chen Institute MGH Research Scholar 2023–2028. Dr. Yu has been honored as a Fellow of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), serves as chair of the ASBMR professional practice committee, and has held multiple roles within the Endocrine Society. Dr. Yu’s passion is to advance a bone and metabolism research program focused on rigorous scientific principles and team science, and to promote clinical excellence in osteoporosis care.

Marc Gregory Yu, MD

Contributor

Marc Gregory Y. Yu, MD is an American Diabetes Association (ADA) research fellow in the Section of Vascular Cell Biology at Joslin Diabetes Center. He finished medical school at the top of his class at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, and completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in endocrinology at the same institution thereafter. He is the first Filipino endocrinologist to receive the Endocrine Society Early Investigator Award in 2017. His main research interests include studying risk and protective factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with long-standing Type 1 diabetes, as well as looking at the interplay of autoimmunity, rare diabetes genes, and pancreatic beta-cell function. He is also co-author of I.M. Platinum, a bestselling Philippine handbook on Internal Medicine.

Lisa Zakhary, MD, PhD

Contributor

Lisa Zakhary, MD, PhD, serves as Co-Director of Psychopharmacology in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) OCD and Related Disorders Program and Director of Psychopharmacology in the MGH Excoriation Clinic and Research Unit. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Additionally, she earned a PhD in molecular neurobiology during her medical training. Following medical school, she completed the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency and the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Fellowship before going on to join the MGH faculty. As Assistant in Psychiatry at MGH, she splits her time between MGH Primary Care Psychiatry and the MGH OCD and Related Disorders Program. Additionally, she is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and is part of a group private practice in Arlington, Massachusetts. Dr. Zakhary has a special interest in psychodermatology and as a resident, she co-founded the MGH Comprehensive Skin Management Clinic, a psychiatry/dermatology clinic providing collaborative treatment for patients with compulsive skin picking, trichotillomania, body dysmorphic disorder, and delusions of parasitosis. As staff, she continues to explore ways to optimize psychodermatologic treatment through collaboration, education, and research.

Yasaman Zarbafian, PT, DPT

Contributor

Yasaman (Yassi) Zarbafian, PT, DPT, is an American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) Orthopaedic Certified Specialist (OCS) at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she provides advanced orthopedic and pelvic health physical therapy. She also serves as an instructor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, teaching and mentoring doctoral students in evidence-based musculoskeletal care. Zarbafian is dedicated to improving access to health education and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance patient outcomes across orthopedic and specialty care settings.

Harvard Health Experts and Contributors

List of Experts

Haider Warraich, MD

Stephanie Watson

Peter Wayne

Cecil R. Webster, Jr., MD

Bobbi Wegner, PsyD

Peter Wehrwein

Edward N. Wei, MD

Scott Weiner, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAAEM

Carol Weitzman, MD

Jeremy Whyman, MD

Sarah Wilkie, MS

Bill Williams

Kim Willment, PhD

Molly Wolf, MD

Anna R. Wolfson, MD

Stephen P. Wood, MS, ACNP-BC

Dominic Wu, MD

Charlotte S. Yeh, MD

James Yeh, MD, MPH

Soo Youn, PhD

Soo Jeong Youn, PhD

Elaine W. Yu, MD, MMSc

Marc Gregory Yu, MD

Lisa Zakhary, MD, PhD

Yasaman Zarbafian, PT, DPT