K Club — Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research

“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 1-2pm 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. JAMES (JIM) DOORLEY, PHD
**Position:** T32 Research Fellow in Integrative Medicine, Clinical Fellow in Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
**Area of Research**: chronic and acute musculoskeletal pain, mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions, the intersection of sport psychology and sports medicine
**K Title:** Implementing brief web-based acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain in an urban community health center
**K Status:** Scored 36 at first submission; resubmitting in October 2022

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:** Awarded
**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. 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. 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. 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

DR. TONY PHAM, MD, MScGH
**Position**: Instructor, MGH, HMS
**Area of Researc**h: 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:** In preparation

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**: Awarded
**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

COURTNEY LOUIS, MA

Position: Clinical Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School

Area of Research: anxiety and mood disorders; improving women's mental and physical health; equity and inclusion in research and clinical practice

K Title: A Community-Partnered Implementation of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Protocol to Improve Menopause Symptoms and Cardiovascular Risk in Black Women

K Status: in preparation

Other Grants: NIMH Diversity Supplement (2019-2021); NIMH F-31 (2021-2023)