Mass-ENVISION RCMAR Scientists and Projects
2024 Cohort
Simmie Foster, MD, PhD
Project: Feasibility of a whole-body hyperthermia intervention for older Black adults with mild cognitive impairment.
Simmie is a psychiatrist in the MGH Depression Clinical and Research Program and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests include the role of heat-based therapies and their biological mechanisms of action in the treatment of depression. Her research is currently funded by a K23 grant from NIH-NIGHMS, examining peripheral neuroimmune mechanisms of hyperthermia.
Natalia Giraldo-Santiago, PhD
Project: A Qualitative Study to Develop a Caregiver-Assisted Mind-Body Pain Management Intervention for Older, Spanish Speaking Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Dementia: The GetActive-Together study
Natalia is a bi-lingual (Spanish and English) and bi-cultural (Puerto Rican and Colombian) early career social work investigator at the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR) and the Center for Aging and Serious Illnesses (CASI) at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Building upon her post-doctoral fellowship training, Natalia’s RCMAR project seeks to conduct qualitative interviews with Spanish-speaking caregivers and older Latino patients with comorbid Chronic Pain (CP), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), or Early Dementia (ED). Natalia’s RCMAR project aims to explore family, socio-cultural and linguistic needs to inform the development of a caregiver-assisted mind-body pain management intervention.
Dumichel Harley, MS, Ph.D
Project: Tailoring Cognitive Rehabilitation Programs for Black Americans with Mild to Moderate Dementia
Dr. Harley is an African American/Filipino neuropsychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, who specializes in the care of older adult patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Harley aims to utilize his neuropsychological knowledge to address the needs of African American older adults affected by dementia and their caregivers. With his RCMAR, he looks to advance various cognitive rehabilitation techniques and culturally tailor them for the African American older adult population affects by mild to moderate dementia.
Alexander Mattia Presciutti, PhD, MSCS
Project: Development of a group lifestyle intervention for cardiac arrest survivors with subjective cognitive decline and their caregivers - Healthy Brains after Cardiac Arrest (HB-CA)
Dr. Presciutti is a psychologist in the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR) at MGH and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He is dedicated to building resilience in critically ill patients their family members, and, through his pilot project, he will develop a group lifestyle intervention for underserved cardiac arrest survivors with resulting subjective cognitive decline and their caregivers.
2023 Cohort
Liliana Ramirez Gomez, MD
Project: Smartphone-based facilitated peer chat groups for Spanish language family dementia caregivers.
Dr. Gomez is a Latina neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) who specializes in the care of patients with AD/ADRD. Dr. Ramirez Gomez leverages her deep knowledge of Latino populations to research the needs of Spanish language family dementia caregivers, with whom she often interacts with in the clinic. Her pilot project builds on her qualitative work on the unique needs of Spanish-speaking ADRD caregivers. She iteratively develops an app-based intervention for Spanish-speaking ADRD caregivers to facilitate peer chat, reduce stress, and other critical caregiver skills.
Tony Pham, MD
Project: Culturally Adapting Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Black Older Adults with Comorbid Early Cognitive Decline and Chronic Pain
Dr. Pham is Instructor in Psychiatry in the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) and affiliated scientist in the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR) at MGH. He has training in community engaged research and mind-body medicine, qualitative methods and emerging expertise in behavioral health. His pilot project takes advantage of his prior work in the Boston Black community and adapts Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to be delivered in the community by peer coaches, in a group format, to dyads of persons with dementia and their caregivers.
