Fellows (Post-Docs and Interns)

Dr. Dumichel Harley is a 2024 MASS-Envision RCMAR scholar at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University and his pre-doctoral internship in Neuropsychology as a part of the Psychology Assessment Center at HMS/MGH. His work within CHOIR is focused on developing a cognitive rehabilitation protocol for underserved populations. At CHOIR, Dumichel serves as a clinician for the My Healthy Brain, Active Brains, and HABIT (Healthy Aging as Black Adults: In It Together) studies. Outside of his work, Dumichel enjoys traveling, videography, and baking everything from pies to cakes

Dr. Julia Hooker is a Bridge-the-Gap T32 postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Syracuse University, and her pre-doctoral internship in the Lifespan Health track within CHOIR at HMS/MGH. Julia's work within CHOIR is focused on developing and testing mind-body interventions for chronic musculoskeletal pain. Additionally, Julia’s research centers on addressing chronic pain care in the Emergency Department. At CHOIR, Julia serves as a clinician for Dr. Vranceanu's Recovering Together (RT) study in the NeuroICU, as well as the THRIVE study promoting activity and mind-body skills use among sedentary individuals with chronic pain. She is also a co-facilitator of the CHOIR Research Seminar. In addition to her research and clinical interests, Julia enjoys walking ridiculously long distances, playing mandolin (badly), and hunting down the perfect bowl of ramen.

Dr. Brenda C. Lovette is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within CHOIR at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She earned her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute of Health Professions in Charlestown, MA. Her doctoral research focused on the development and early testing of a mindfulness-based rehabilitation intervention for persistent symptoms after concussion. She is also trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction through the University of California San Diego Center for Integrative Health. At CHOIR, she works with Dr. Jonathan Greenberg, contributing to the development and testing of mind-body interventions for chronic orofacial pain and symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury. Prior to her doctoral work, she earned her clinical degree in speech-language pathology at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Brenda has worked as a clinical speech-language pathologist in a variety of health care settings, treating individuals with cognitive-communication, language, motor speech, voice, airway, and swallowing challenges. She maintains a clinical role at a community hospital in the Boston area. Outside of her scholarly and clinical work, Brenda enjoys swimming, reading, hiking in the White Mountains, teaching yoga, playing the ukulele and guitar, and ballroom dancing with her spouse.

Dr. Dominique Popescu is a Research Fellow at CHOIR and Harvard Medical School. She earned her doctorate in Integrative Neuroscience from Stony Book University and completed the post-doctoral Research Fellowship Program at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is the recipient of the Clinical Training Scholarship in Neurodisparities funded by the American Brain Foundation and the American Academy of Neurology. She is a Scholar in the 2023 R25 Dementia-Palliative Care Clinical Trials Training Program. Her research is dedicated to reducing disparities in brain health outcomes to increase the likelihood of enjoying healthy aging among all. Specifically, her research is centered around three main goals: 1) promoting brain health via investigating the impact of early life experiences on health outcomes later in life, 2) prevention of adverse brain health outcomes through innovative interventions informed by the social determinants of health contributing to disparities in risk factor prevalence, and 3) protecting cognitive abilities through the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases by advancing promising retinal imaging-based disease biomarkers. Outside of the office, Dominique is a sneaker-head who travels the world, runs, speaks French, rides a motorcycle, and adores her two Australian Shepherds (Vie and Arlo).

Michael is a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/CHOIR and a T32 research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD in Population Health at Northeastern University. Broadly, his research unpacks how the intersection of neighborhood, social, and digital spaces affect mental, behavioral, and sexual health, digital health intervention efficacy, and access to health services. Funded by an F31 training fellowship through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, his dissertation work examined how neighborhood, social, and digital spaces influence HIV vulnerability and the efficacy of a digital pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence intervention among sexual and gender minority adolescents. At CHOIR, Michael works on the STRIDE study, which uses a digital mindfulness intervention to reduce caregiver stress for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Utilizing his multidisciplinary background in epidemiology, biostatistics, game design, human-computer interaction, and philosophy of science, he aims to design and robustly evaluate digital health interventions to improve mental, behavioral, and sexual health. In his free time, Michael enjoys cooking, video games, playing his guitar, snowboarding, going to the gym, and spending lots of quality time with his family, friends, and dog.

Kirsten is a predoctoral intern in the Lifespan Health track within CHOIR at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a graduate student in the University of Florida's Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program. Her research interests focus on identifying the barriers to accessing and utilizing health interventions for medically underserved communities with co-occurring mental and physical health concerns.  Additionally, she is interested in the co-creation of evidence-based and culturally-tailored health interventions. She is particularly interested in health outcomes within Black communities. Within CHOIR, Kirsten is a study clinician on Active Brains and Recovering Together. Outside of work, Kirsten enjoys playing bass guitar, thrifting, and spending time with family and friends. 

Darby is a Lifespan Health track at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY. Her research focuses on improving the quality of life and care of people living with dementia and their family care partners in community settings and after admission into formal, long-term care. She also has a clinical and research interest in improving the quality of care for patients in formal, long-term care settings. At CHOIR, Darby is a study clinician on Active Brains and Recovering Together. Darby is also participating in a clinical rotation in geropsychology rehabilitation at Spaulding Nursing & Therapy Center. Outside of work, Darby loves reading, going on walks, and trying new restaurants.

Christopher Webster is a predoctoral intern in the Lifespan Health Track within CHOIR at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is a dual major doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology and Kinesiology at Michigan State University. His research interests are in the integration of exercise and physical activity into psychological interventions. He is also interested in the development of mind-body interventions to reduce chronic pain following orthopedic injuries. Chris’s clinical interests are in CBT and ACT for anxiety disorders and physical health concerns and working with athletes with performance anxiety or sports-related injuries. Within CHOIR, Chris is a study clinician for iHope and Active Brains. Outside of work, Chris enjoys exercising, sports, playing chess, cooking, and traveling.