Principal Investigators
Erik K. Alexander, MD
Dr. Alexander is the Executive Director of Education and Chief of the Thyroid Section at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He is a professor at Harvard Medical School where he also serves on the board of admissions. In addition to treating patients with thyroid disorders, Dr. Alexander researches advancements in thyroid nodule care and thyroid hormone demands during pregnancy. As the Executive Director of Education, Dr. Alexander chairs the BWH Education Committee and directs the BWH Principal Clinical Experience program.
Dr. Alexander is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medical School and completed his residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has co-chaired several national guidelines on the care of patients with thyroid disorders and served on the Board of Directors of the American Thyroid Association. Dr. Alexander is a Boston Magazine Top Doctor, and Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctor awardee.
Christopher Baugh, MD, MBA
Dr. Baugh is the Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs of the Emergency Department at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baugh’s research focuses on Observation Medicine and accelerated diagnostic pathways. He recently served as Chair of the Observation Medicine Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Baugh served as the director of ED at the Brigham from 2015 to 2018.
Dr. Baugh completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s & Massachusetts General Hospitals’ combined residency program. Dr Baugh has received numerous awards including the Alpha Omega Alpha and the Shore Award.
Alexandra Golby, MD
Dr. Golby is a Neurosurgeon, Director of Image-guided Neurosurgery, and Co-director of AMIGO (Advanced Multi-Modality Image Guided OR) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her clinical practice is focused on treating patients with brain tumors and epilepsy, particularly those whose pathology is intimately involved with critical brain regions. Her research involves the development and application of preoperative and intraoperative imaging techniques to improve surgical care for patients with brain tumors.
Dr. Golby is a graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has received both Boston Magazine’s Top Doctor award and Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctor award 9 times since 2011, and was awarded Top Doctor from the US News and World Report in 2011.
Marie McDonnell, MD
Dr. McDonnell is Chief of the Diabetes Section at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. McDonnell’s research focuses on the health outcomes of diabetes care in the acute and ambulatory settings. In her role as Director of the Diabetes Program at Brigham Health, Dr. McDonnell provides clinical, academic, and administrative leadership of the hospital-wide diabetes program. Dr. McDonnell is a key faculty member for both the Medicine and Endocrinology training programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. McDonnell is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Medicine, the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia residency program, and the Endocrinology fellowship at Boston Medical Center. She has received recognition for her mentorship of junior faculty and is a Boston Magazine Top Doctor, and Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctor awardee.
Kei Ouchi, MD, MPH
Dr. Ouchi is a physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and the Head of ACEP Palliative Care Section Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as an instructor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As a clinician, Dr. Ouchi treats Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine patients. Dr. Ouchi’s research focuses on palliative care, or improving the quality of care for terminally ill patients.
Dr. Ouchi attended Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Ouchi is one of few doctors passionate about both palliative care and emergency medicine. He currently has two scholarships for his work: The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award and Sojourns Scholar Leadership Award.
Emily S. Ruiz, MD, MPH
Dr. Ruiz is the Academic Director at Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery Center, the Director of High-Risk Skin Cancer Clinic at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, and an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. Clinically, Dr. Ruiz is implementing new methods for evaluating squamous cell carcinomas during Mohs surgery. Her research focuses on a cost analysis of skin cancer, and the treatment outcomes of non-melanoma skin cancer.
alexander turchin, MD, Ms
Dr. Turchin is Director of Informatics Research at the Division of Endocrinology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Turchin is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Medical Informatics). His research focus is on studying quality and outcomes of care of patients with chronic cardiometabolic conditions, including diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypertension using advanced electronic medical record data analytics including artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Dr. Turchin’s research group makes open-source natural language processing platform Canary (http://canary.bwh.harvard.edu/). Dr. Turchin is a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and has published over 130 papers and book chapters; his research has been funded by AHRQ, NIH, PCORI and private foundations. Dr. Turchin serves on the Methods and Data Council of AcademyHealth and has served as the Medical Lead of Know Diabetes by Heart and Overcoming Therapeutic Inertia initiatives at the American Diabetes Association.
gregory piazza, MD, Ms
Dr. Gregory Piazza is a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He is also an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS).
Dr. Piazza received his medical degree from University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed a residency in internal medicine and fellowships in cardiology and advanced cardiovascular imaging at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He also served as chief medical resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship in vascular medicine at BWH. Dr. Piazza is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, vascular medicine and echocardiography.
Dr. Piazza’s practice focuses on the evaluation, management and prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE), thrombosis-related infertility, and stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. The author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications, his research investigates innovative treatment of VTE, thrombosis-related infertility, and prevention of stroke. Dr. Piazza has received research support from the National Institutes of Health.
yohannes tesfaigzi, phd
Dr. Tesfaigzi is a Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tesfaigzi graduated in Molecular Biology from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, in Germany and completed his fellowship in cell and molecular biology at University of California, Davis. Over the past two decades, the Tesfaigzi laboratory has contributed to the identification of genes and biochemical interactions of proteins that are responsible for maintaining a constant number of cells in airway epithelia. Based on mechanistic studies, peptides and small molecules have been discovered that are highly effective in reducing mucus-producing cells in animal models of chronic bronchitis and asthmatic bronchitis. Current efforts are to test these drugs in patients with these debilitating diseases. Dr. Tesfaigzi is author of over 180 original research publications; has served on grant review panels for more than 10 different organizations, including several branches of the NIH.
theodora pappa, md, phd
Dr. Theodora Pappa, PhD is an onco-endocrinologist in Boston, MA. She is the associate director of translational research in the Dana-Farber Brigham Thyroid Cancer Center. Her clinical niche is in precision medicine in thyroid cancer. Her research goal is to dissect the clinicogenomic associations in thyroid cancer and to identify the interaction of immune and metabolic programs with the genomic landscape of thyroid cancer and its impact to response to various therapies. Dr Pappa is a BIRCWH scholar in the Division of Women’s Health, BWH. Her research is supported by the American Thyroid Association research grant, the Broad Sperling Family Fellowship and the Goldberg Family award.
ko un park, md
Dr. Park received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame and her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. She completed general surgery residency training at the Henry Ford Health System and a breast surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is certified by the American Board of Surgery. Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Park was an assistant professor of surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center James Comprehensive Cancer Center. She developed the robotic breast surgery program and initiated the FDA approved clinical trial evaluating the role of robot-assisted nipple sparing mastectomy. She is an implementation science researcher and is funded by the NCI and the Alliance foundation. She will continue her NCI K08 research titled “Implementation of Operative Standards in Cancer Surgery to Improve Patient Outcomes”.
chanu rhee, md, mph
Chanu Rhee, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Population Medicine at HMS and Director of the Center for Sepsis Epidemiology and Prevention Studies (SEPSIS) at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. He is also a dual-boarded infectious disease and critical care physician and Medical Director of Infection Control at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Rhee is internationally recognized for his expertise and contributions to the epidemiology, surveillance, diagnosis, and management of sepsis. His broader interests encompass infection prevention and control, antibiotic resistance and stewardship, and infections in critically ill and immunocompromised patients. He conducts clinical and epidemiologic research with a particular focus on harnessing electronic health record data to generate insights that advance clinical practice, public health strategy, and healthcare policy. His work produced the most comprehensive estimates of the national burden of sepsis and led to the development of CDC’s Adult Sepsis Event surveillance strategy that is now widely used to track sepsis incidence and outcomes and drive improvements in care. He has been a leader in sepsis quality improvement efforts within the MGB healthcare system and has served on several national committees focused on enhancing sepsis care and outcomes, including in his current role as Chair of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Sepsis Advisory Panel.