“K Club”
CHOIR hosts a “K club” supported by K24AT011760 (PI: Vranceanu) funded by the NIH/NCCIH. Currently, the “K club” includes 16 junior investigator mentees from various disciplines from MGH and nationally, who are either K awardees or in the process of preparing or submitting K awards. The group meets weekly Fridays between 12-1pm via zoom. The group is co-led by Drs. Ana-Maria Vranceanu and Jonathan Greenberg.
The mission of the K club is to provide junior investigator mentees the resources needed to develop and execute successful NIH K awards and transition to R level grants. Participants have the opportunity to give and receive feedback on K specific materials (e.g., aims, budget), and engage in conversations around navigating conversations with Program Officers, developing and working with a mentoring team, developing research questions grounded in theoretical models, navigating research challenges such as recruitment and retention, and expending one’s research portfolio to build a successful career in a soft money environment. Mentees also provide and receive invaluable peer support and “lessons learned” as they transition from applying to executing a K award.
DR. JAFAR BAKHSHAIE, MD, PHD
Position: Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Health disparities in medical illness, pain, and comorbid substance use
K Title: Web-based mind-body treatment to enhance resilience among patients with painful nontraumatic upper extremity conditions and comorbid risky substance use
K Status: Active, Year 2
DR. SARAH BANNON, PHD
Position: Assistant Professor; Staff Psychologist; Departments of Rehabilitation (primary), Neurology (secondary), and Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine (secondary); Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Area of Research: Dyadic interventions for neurological conditions (TBI, stroke, dementia); Qualitative research methods
K Title: Resilient Together for Dementia: Developing a live video resiliency intervention for persons with dementia and their care-partners early after diagnosis
K Status: Awarded July 2022
DR. KATIA CANENGUEZ, PHD, ED.M.
Position: Associate Director, Hispanic Psychiatry Clinic, Pediatric Behavioral Health Psychologist at MGH Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Service and MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Clinical Researcher, Harvard / MGH Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations, and Health Disparities, Mongan Institute Health Policy Center
Area of Research: disparities and equity, Hispanic/Latino family mental health and wellbeing
K Status: Collecting pilot data
Other Grants: Clinician Teacher Development Award (CTDA), Inaugural Henry Health Equity Scholar Fellow
DR. JENI GREEN, PHD
Position: Assistant Professor, School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University
Area of Research: mind-body interventions, digital health, health disparities, women’s health
K Title: Culturally tailoring a mindfulness meditation mobile app to reduce psychological distress in African American adults
K Status: Score 26
DR. VICTORIA GRUNBERG, PHD
Position: Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School; Staff Psychologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Area of Research: Family adjustment to stressful reproductive life events, psychosocial interventions for critical care settings
K Title: Resilient Families (R-FAM): A dyadic resiliency intervention for parents with babies in neonatal intensive care
K Status: Active, Year 2
DR. JONATHAN GREENBERG, PHD, “K CLUB” COLEADER
Position: Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School; Research Staff Psychologist, MGH
Area of Research: Developing mind-body interventions for various clinical populations, with an emphasis on chronic pain and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
K Title: Live video mind-body treatment to prevent chronic mTBI
K Status: Active, year 4
Other Grants: R01AT012069 (NCCIH; Multiple Principal Investigator); 1R61NS129048-01 (NIA; Co-Investigator); Cystic Fibrosis Foundation grant (Co-Investigator)
DR. CHRISTY CAULEY, MD MPH
Position: Assistant Professor Harvard Medical School and MGH Colorectal Surgeon
Area of Research: Improving quality of life outcomes after surgical care for aging and seriously ill adults and their care partners through interventions that support high quality communication and psychosocial well-being.
K Title: Improving Biopsychosocial Outcomes of Older Adults Facing Fecal Ostomy Surgery
K Status: first submission October 2021 (scored, not funded), submitted Feb 2023. K76 submitted October 2023 (scored, awaiting response)
Other Grants: Kornfeld Scholars Award recipient 2022 from the National Palliative Care Research Collaborative, KL2/CMERIT Award recipient 2022
DR. TAMRA KEENEY, DPT, PHD
Position: Research Scientist, Division of Palliative Care & Geriatric Medicine and Mongan Institute Center for Aging and Serious Illness | Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Health Services Research, Palliative Rehabilitation Intervention Development
K Title: "Enabling Older Adults to 'LiveWell' with Advanced Heart Failure: Development of a Palliative Rehabilitation Model
K Status: Active, Year 1
Other Grants: National Palliative Care Research Center Kornfeld Scholar 2022-2024; Co-Investigator on 5U01AG076478, 5R01AG077706, and 1RFAG083033.
DR. RYAN MACE, PHD
Position: Staff Psychologist, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Healthy aging, dementia prevention, behavior change, digital health, mind-body and lifestyle intervention development, statistics
K Title: My Healthy Brain: a mindfulness-based lifestyle intervention to modify early risk of dementia in older adults
K Status: Active, Year 2
Other Grants: David Borsook Pilot Grant (2022-2023), Osher Research Pilot Grant (2020-2021)
DR. KATE JOCHIMSEN, PHD, ATC
Position: Researcher, Member of the Faculty, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Psychologically informed rehabilitation, human movement analysis and movement re-training, chronic hip pain
K Title: Development and feasibility of a mind-body intervention to improve physical activity for patients with chronic hip pain
K Status: Funded (active) 02/15/23 to 01/31/28 (award K23AT011922)
DR. KATHERINE KOH, MD MSC
Position: Staff Psychiatrist, Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program; Instructor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Homelessness, trauma, and mental illness
K Title: Preventing Homelessness in Transitioning Service Members with Mental Illness
K Status: In preparation
DR. EVAN PLYS, PHD
Position: Psychologist, Member of the Faculty, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Dyadic psychological intervention with socioeconomically disadvantaged older adult patients and their care partners in skilled nursing facilities
K Title: Building Resilience In SKilled nursing facilities (BRISK): Development and Pilot Testing of a Dyadic Intervention for Psychological Distress in Post-Acute Skilled Nursing Care
K Status: Active, Year 1
DR. CHRISTINA RUSH, PHD
Position: Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Staff Psychologist; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Area of Research: interventions to support resiliency and quality of life, the intersection of mind-body medicine, religion and spirituality, and health and well-being
K Title: Resilient Together-ALS (RT-ALS)
K Status: Under Review
Other Grants: National Palliative Care Research Center Kornfeld Scholar 2023-2025, The ALS Association Research Seed Grant
DR. TONY PHAM, MD, MScGH
Position: Instructor, MGH, HMS
Area of Research: mind-body interventions, chronic pain, underserved populations
K Title: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for the chronic pain-depression co-morbidity among older Blacks in the community; The Quiet Focus study
K Status: Active, Year 1
Other Grants: The Ki Sub Joung Innovative Junior Faculty Pilot Award in Aging and Palliative Care, Resource Center for Minority Aging Research Scholar (P30AG083196)
DR. KATE MCDERMOTT, PHD
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Mind-body and digital health interventions for chronic pain with a focus on exposure-based techniques
K Title: Development of a self-directed writing intervention for chronic pain and anxiety
K Status: Active, Year 1
DR. ALEXANDER MATTIA PRESCIUTTI, PHD, MSCS
Position: Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School; Staff Psychologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Area of Research: Building resilience in critically ill patients and their families
K Title: Recovering Together after Cardiac Arrest: A dyadic mind-body intervention for cardiac arrest survivors and their informal caregivers
K Status: Active, Year 1
Other Grants: Other Grants: RCMAR Scholar (2024-2025), Neurocritical Care Society INCLINE Grant (2024), NIH Loan Repayment Grant (2023-2025), NIA T32 Fellow (2023), NCATS TL1 Fellow (2019-2020)
DR. LISA LAROWE, PHD
Position: Instructor in Investigation, Division of Palliative Care & Geriatric Medicine and Mongan Institute Center for Aging and Serious Illness, Massachusetts General Hospital; Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Chronic pain, health behavior change, and healthy aging
K Title: Development of a Tailored Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment Protocol for Older Adults with Chronic Pain
K Status: Scored 25 at first submission; resubmitting in July 2024
Other grants: US Deprescribing Network (NIA R24AG064025) Pilot Grant
DR. ALTAF SAADI, MD, MSC
Position: Assistant Professor of Neurology
Area of Research: Immigrant health, forcibly displaced populations, neurology, cognitive impairment
K Title: A Culturally-Adapted, Trauma-Informed Cognitive Rehabilitation Intervention for Asylum-Seekers and Refugees with Traumatic Brain Injury (NINDS)
K Status: Ongoing
Other Grants: R21 (NIMHD), American Academy of Neurology, National Science Foundation, Russel Sage Foundation, MGH institutional grants
DR. BRANDON YATES, PHD., CSCS
Position: Researcher at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hosptial, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Exercise physiology, gut-muscle-brain crosstalk, critical care survivorship, and aging
K Title: Neurovascular contributions to post-ICU cognitive and mental health in Older adults
K Status: Funded
DR. JOANNA PALADINO, MD
Position: Assistant Professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Patient-clinician communication; serious illness, aging, and dementia research; implementation science
K Title: Designing, Refining, and Testing a Diagnostic Disclosure Communication Intervention in Dementia Care
K Status: In preparation
DR. NATALIA GIRALDO-SANTIAGO, PHD, LCSW
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: cultural and linguistic tailoring of mind-body interventions for Hispanic and Latinos
K Title: Developing a caregiver-assisted mind-body intervention for Spanish-speaking adults with mild cognitive impairment and early dementia: The GetActive-Together study
K Status: In preparation
Other Grants: RCMAR 2024-25 fellowship, NIH Loan Repayment Grant (2024-2026) under review
DR. ROSE OLSON, MD
Position: Associate Physician in the Division of Global Health Equity, Associate Scientist in the Division of Women's Health, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Gender and racial health equity; Improving the health-system response to gender-based violence; Developing trauma-informed interventions for women with chronic pain
K Title: Developing a Trauma-Informed Mind-Body Intervention for Women with Chronic Pain Conditions
K Status: In preparation
DR. JULIA HOOKER, PHD
Position: T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Area of Research: Mind-body interventions for chronic pain with a focus on chronic pain care in the Emergency Department
K Title: Toolkit for Optimal Pain Management in the Emergency Department: A mind-body intervention for pain catastrophizing and pain anxiety among individuals with chronic pain in the Emergency Department.
K Status: Under Review
Other Grants: NIA T32 Fellow (2023-Present)