Gregory L. Fricchione, MD
- Director, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
- Director, Chester M. Pierce Division of Global Psychiatry
- Associate Chief of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Gary Gottlieb, MD Partners HealthCare Chair in Global and Community Mental Health
- Mind Body Medicine Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Gregory Fricchione has been on faculty at Harvard Medical School (HMS) since 1993 and is the Mind Body Medicine Professor of Psychiatry at HMS. He first came to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 1982 as a psychosomatic medicine fellow. Since July 2002 he has been associate chief of Psychiatry at MGH and was director of the Division of Psychiatry and Medicine until 2017. In 2000, he joined the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, while on leave of absence from Harvard Medical School (HMS). While there he worked with former President Jimmy and former First Lady Mrs. Rosalynn Carter on public and international mental health issues and policy. Dr. Fricchione serves on the Mental Health Task Force of the Carter Center and on the Board of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving. He is the founding director of the MGH Chester M. Pierce Division of Global Psychiatry with educational and research sites in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia.
Dr. Fricchione received his MD from New York University School of Medicine in 1978. He is board certified in psychiatry and has added qualifications in psychosomatic medicine. He is director of the Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship at MGH. He has taught in the medical schools at New York University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of Auckland in New Zealand and at Emory University as well as at HMS. He is the author of over 160 peer reviewed journal articles and is a co-author of the MGH Handbook on General Hospital Psychiatry (2010), Catatonia; From Psychopathology to Neurobiology (2004), The Heart-Mind Connection (2005) and The Science of Stress (2016). He is also the author of a recent book from the Johns Hopkins University Press titled Compassion and Healing in Medicine and Society: On the Nature and Uses of Attachment Solutions to Separation Challenges (2011).
In 2006 he became director of the Benson Henry Institute (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine at MGH succeeding Dr. Herbert Benson. In this role he directs a multi-disciplinary team that focuses on the clinical care of stress related non-communicable diseases and on research into ways to promote health and prevent these illnesses by lowering stress and enhancing resilience. The BHI is also heavily involved in education of the public in the benefits of whole person integrative health practices.
John W. Denninger, MD, PhD
- Director of Clinical Training, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
- Associate in Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Co-Director, MGH/McLean Psychiatry Residency Research Concentration Program
- Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Dr. John Denninger is director of clinical training at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He also serves as Psychiatrist at MGH, as Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and as Senior Advisor in the MGH/McLean Psychiatry Residency Research Concentration Program.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, Dr. Denninger completed his MD/PhD—with dissertation work on the biochemistry of the nitric oxide receptor—at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He completed his internship and residency in the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program and served as chief resident in psychopharmacology at MGH. He earned a Master of Medical Sciences from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology as part of the Clinical Investigator Training Program.
Dr. Denninger has received many awards for his teaching, including the Harvard Medical School Students Award for Teaching and the Isenberg Teaching Award. In his role at BHI, he is responsible for the Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) program certification program for licensed healthcare clinicians.
Darshan Mehta, MD, MPH
- Medical Director, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
- Director, Office for Well-Being, Center for Faculty Development, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Education Director, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Darshan Mehta is the medical director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Medical and Education director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School. He also serves as Director of the Office for Well-Being, Center for Faculty Development at MGH.
His educational and research interests include curricular development in complementary and integrative medical therapies, mind/body educational interventions in health professions training, and promotion of professionalism in medical trainees. He directs medical student and resident rotational experiences in integrative medicine for BWH and MGH.
Dr. Mehta sees patients in a consultative role for use of complementary and integrative medical therapies, as well as mind/body interventions for stress management and stress reduction. Dr. Mehta is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also active in the Massachusetts Medical Society, and is a member of the American College of Physicians.
Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH
- Director of Research, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
- Director of the Health Promotion and Resiliency Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Park has extensive experience designating and evaluating behavioral intervention trials. She founded the Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research Program (HPRIR) in the MGH Departments of Psychiatry & Medicine. Her clinical research focuses on resiliency, health promotion for cancer patients and survivors, cancer risk perceptions, and quality of life for cancer survivors, and. She directs the MGH Division of Clinical Research’s Qualitative and Mixed Methods Unit and uses qualitative research to inform intervention development, intervention adaptation, and measurement design. Her research has been supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Livestrong Foundation. She has published over 250 peer reviewed original articles
Dr. Park is Director of Research at the Benson-Henry Institute and created the manualized version of the SMART- 3RP which is currently being tested with a variety of medical populations (women undergoing breast biopsy, women with infertility, patients with Multiple Myeloma), clinicians (palliative care clinicians, cancer care interpreters, frontline clinicians), and caregivers (parents of children with special needs). She is also lead investigator and mentor for several mind-body behavioral trials, assessing the feasibility and potential efficacy of integrating the relaxation response into hospital and community-based group and individual treatments delivered in-person and via telehealth.
Katherine C. Rosa, PhD, CNP, FNP-BC
- Co-Director of the Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) Program, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
- Term Lecturer, Institute for Health Professions, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Part-time, Harvard Medical School
Katherine Rosa is an experienced Family Nurse Practitioner who has worked in primary care with patients of all ages and taught at UMass Lowell in their graduate nursing programs. She earned her BS in nursing from Northeastern University, her MSN from University of Lowell, and her PhD in nursing from Boston College.
Her research work focuses on understanding how the human connection within the nurse-patient relationship fosters healing while living with chronic illness. She received a Connell Nursing Research Scholar Award from the Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at MGH for this work. As well, she is a longtime practitioner and recognized teacher of Therapeutic Touch®. She has extensive experience teaching individuals and groups on meditation, relaxation techniques, and the practice of Therapeutic Touch®.