We have a team that includes students, trainees, research assistants, clinical research coordinators, a program manager, master’s level data analysts, a PhD-level epidemiologist and biostatistician. Our team has multi-disciplinary and far-reaching collaborations that have led to scientific advancements, as well as high impact, highly cited publications in JAMA, BMJ and others.
Meet Our Director
April Jorge, MD, Rheumatology
April Jorge, MD is a Rheumatologist and clinical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of the Lupus Program in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, & Immunology at MGH. Her research interest is improving outcomes for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Her research focuses on identifying personalized approaches to SLE treatment and optimizing lupus care through comparative effectiveness research, clinical epidemiology, patient preferences elicitation, and clinical trials. Her work is funded by the NIH and the Rheumatology Research Foundation and has led to high-impact publications in journals including JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Arthritis & Rheumatology, and Lancet Rheumatology.
Dr. Jorge’s publications can be found here.
Email: ajorge@mgh.harvard.edu
Our Rheumatology Researchers
Hyon Choi, MD, DrPH
Director, Clinical Epidemiology and Health Outcomes
Research focus: Gout
Dr. Choi publications can be found here.
Email: hchoi@mgh.harvard.edu
Chio Yokose, MD, MSc
Research focus: Gout
Dr. Yokose publications can be found here.
Email: cyokose@mgh.harvard.edu
Sharan Rai, PhD
Research focus: Gout
Rheumatology Research Fellow
Email: rai1@mgh.harvard.edu
Natalie McCormick, PhD
Research focus: Gout
Dr. McCormick publications can be found here.
Email: nmccormick@mgh.harvard.edu
Naomi Patel, MD, MPH
Research focus: Vasculitis, Steroid Toxicity
Dr. Patel publications can be found here.
Email: njpatel@mgh.harvard.edu
Guy Katz, MD
Research focus: IgG4-realted disease, Vasculitis
Dr. Katz publications can be found here.
Email: gkatz@mgh.harvard.edu
Greg Challener, MD
Research focus: Arthritis and Immune-Related AEs
Dr. Challener publications can be found here.
Email: GCHALLENER@mgh.harvard.edu
Aakash Patel, MD
Rheumatology Research Fellow Research focus: SLE and Lupus Nephritis
Email: apatel112@mgh.harvard.edu
Sebastian Unizony, MD
Research focus: Vasculitis
Dr. Unizony publications can be found here.
Email: SUNIZONY@mgh.harvard.edu
Our Allergy Researchers
Sara Barmettler, MD
Research focus: Immunodeficiency
Dr. Barmettler publications can be found here.
Email: sbarmettler@mgh.harvard.edu
John Accarino, MD
Research focus: Drug allergy
Dr. Accarino publications can be found here.
Email: jaccarino@mgh.harvard.edu
Ingrid Salciccioli, MBBS, MPH
Research focus: Allergy
Allergy/Immunology Research Fellow
Email: isalciccioli@mgh.harvard.edu
Michelle Conroy, MD
Research focus: Allergy
Dr. Conroy publications can be found here.
Email: meconroy@mgh.harvard.edu
Aleena Banerji, MD
Research focus: Drug Allergy
Dr. Banerji publications can be found here.
Email: abanerji@mgh.harvard.edu
Jamie Waldron, MD
Research focus: Drug allergy
Dr. Waldron publications can be found here.
Email: jwaldron@mgh.harvard.edu
Our Administrative Research Staff
Ana Depina Fernandes, MA
Senior Research Program Manager
Our Adjunct Faculty
Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc
Research Focus: Drug Allergy
Yuqing Zhang, DSC
Research Focus: Epidemiology and Biostatistical Methods
Our Data Analysts
Our data analysts receive, manage, and analyze large amounts of observational and experimental study data for dissemination.
Andrew King, MS
Senior Data Analyst
Bohang Jiang, MBBS, MPH
Data Analyst
Lingxiao Zhang, MPH
Data Analyst
Jiaqi Wang, MS
Data Analyst
Our Clinical Research Coordinators
Our CRCs help manage and conduct activities including study recruitment, enrollment, data collection, literature review, and data reporting.
Zach Williams, Senior CRC
B.A. in Politics & Public Health from Brandeis University
Madi Negron, Senior CRC
B.A. in Psychology from University of Cincinnati
David O’Dea, CRC II
B.S. in Biology from Carleton College
Cole Johnson, CRC II
B.A. in Biochemistry from Hamilton College
Liam Smith, CRC II
B.S. in Psychology & Biology from UMass Amherst
Kiara Tan, CRC II
B.A. in Biology from Williams College
Saiajay Chigurupati, CRC II
B.A. in Molecular & Cellular Biology from Harvard University
Andrew Pak, CRC II
B.S. in Biology from Emory University
Maddy Eippert, CRC I
B.A. in Biology & Environmental Science from Colby College
Dylan Norton, CRC II
B.A. in Health & Societies from University of Pennsylvania
Grace Haeun Lee, CRC II B.A. in Biology from Williams College
Nora Shepherd, CRC I
B.S. in Public Health from George Washington University
Ethan Carey, CRC I
B.S. in Biopsychology from Tufts University
Jennifer Scroggs, CRC I
B.S. in Public Health from University of Washington
Winnie Li, CRC I
B.
X, CRC I
B.
X, CRC I
B.
RACER Alumni
Past Members of Our Research Team
Zach Williams, BA
Senior CRC
Cole Johnson, BA
CRC II
Madelyn Eippert, BA
CRC II
Saiajay Chigurupati, BA
CRC II
Andrew Pak, BA
CRC II
Liam Smith, BS
CRC II
Kiara Tan, BA
CRC II
Ruchi Shah, MD
Allergy Researcher
Ashley Wu, MD, MS
Allergy Researcher
Zachary Wallace, MD
Co-Director