Meet the Team
Our Team is made up of experienced and dedicated researchers from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds. What unites them is an undying passion for learning and discovery. Meet them below.
Michael Donnino, MD
Dr. Donnino is the Director of the Mind Body Research Group. He is the Vice Chair of Resuscitation Science for the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Emergency Department, and Director of Faculty Research Development. He is a Professor of Medicine and Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Donnino is author of over 280 manuscripts with over 60 senior author publications in high impact journals including the NEJM, JAMA, the British Medical Journal, and Circulation.
Patricia Howard, BS
Patricia left the corporate world in the mid 90s to study healing through a holistic mind-body approach, obtaining training across a number of domains including through programs at the University Of Massachusetts Medical Center. She joined the Psychophysiologic Research Group in 2018 with a wealth of experience and was the lead instructor for previous trials conducted by the team. She is currently the lead mind-body instructor on multiple trials concerning mind body interventions for pain.
Iris Stammberger, MSEE, MED,PHD
Iris is an instructor with the mind body chronic back pain study. She has extensive experience in team and organizational performance as well as a project manager. In 2007, Iris graduated from Tufts University with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. She also holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Cambridge College and a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Central de Venezuela. Outside work, Iris loves coaching and mentoring women at the Healthcare Business Women Association (HBA), the association of Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST), and other professional groups in the Boston area
Jeremy Silverman, BA
Jeremy is a clinical research assistant at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He graduated from Tufts University in May 2021 with a BA in Community Health and a minor in Chinese. At Tufts, Jeremy taught English language and health education lessons to students of diverse ages in the Boston area and worked on Emergency Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery clinical research teams at NYU Langone Health. Intrigued by the intersection of public health and clinical medicine, he hopes to become an empathetic and informed emergency medicine/critical care physician working alongside medically underserved communities.​
Jeannine Schroder, BS
Jeannine joins the team as a Mind Body Instructor. In addition to her work with the research team, she teaches mindfulness-based and mind-body programs serving corporate, academic, and healthcare communities. Jeannine customizes programs to meet the communities’ unique needs to promote positive impact on the health and wellbeing of its participants. She is a graduate of The Mindfulness Center at Brown University, and certified through UMASS Medical Center and Mindful Schools.
Julianne Januzzi, BS
Julianne is a Marketing Specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She graduated from Emerson College in 2023 with a BS in Communication Studies and a focus on marketing. She aims to foster professional connections and drive team success through medicinal advertising and media branding and management. Passionate about the betterment of others and public health, Julianne’s long-term goal is to continue in healthcare marketing and research.
Helena Capristo Romanoski, MS, BS
Helena is the Program Manager for the Mind Body Research Group at BIDMC. She has obtained an MS in Management and BS in Health Science from Boston University, then went on to begin her career in program management. She is passionate about improving the health of the people and environment around her.
Masumi Prasad, MA, BS
Masumi is a clinical research coordinator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She received her BS in 2020 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. She then received her MA in Psychology from Boston University. Prior to and during her masters, Masumi worked on various research projects in the field of psychology along with a graduate teaching fellowship in neuroscience. She plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and aims to study the biopsychosocial effects of mental health disorders and investigate accessible interventions for various psychopathologies.
Sam Kukler, BS
Sam is a clinical research coordinator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He graduated from Northeastern University in 2023 with a BS in Biology and a minor in Psychology. During his time at Northeastern, Sam worked as an EMT in the Greater Boston Area, and as a PCT at Beth Israel. He currently works as a home hospice volunteer, and hopes to one day become a family medicine physician, with a focus on compassionate end of life care.