Kelly Irwin

Director, Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program

Dr. Irwin is a health services researcher and psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center and Schizophrenia Program and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Havard Medical School. She investigates health care disparities in patients with serious mental illness and cancer. Dr. Irwin is the founding director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program at the MGH Cancer Center, a clinical and research initiative dedicated to achieving equity in cancer care for people with serious mental illness. Dr. Irwin’s clinical research program focuses on developing, rigorously testing, and scaling interventions to improve cancer outcomes for people with mental illness and their caregivers. Her research has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and multiple foundations. Her team developed and successfully piloted Bridge, a person-centered collaborative care model for patients with serious mental illness that integrates mental health care into cancer care delivery. The Bridge trial enrolled rapidly with high rates of consent and trial completion. Dr. Irwin and her team are currently conducting the first randomized trial targeting patients with serious mental illness at cancer diagnosis, which investigates the impact of the Bridge model on cancer care. With the support of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Dr. Irwin founded the Engage Initiative (the Cancer and Mental Health Collaborative), which aims to build capacity for person-centered research at the intersection of cancer and mental illness. Dr. Irwin believes healthcare is a human right, that separate is never equal, and that we can think creatively together to find solutions that advance health equity.

Amy Corveleyn

Assistant Director, Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program

Amy Corveleyn is a licensed clinical social worker. She has worked with people with cancer, mental illness, and hteir families for 14 years. Amy is the Assistant Director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program at the Mass General Cancer Center. She serves as the social work case manager for the Bridgetrial of person-centered collaborative care led by Dr. Kelly Irwin, which aims to improve cancer outcomes for patients with cancer and serious mental illness by promoting collaboration across disciplines. Amy is a member of the stakeholder board and steering committee of the Engage Initiative. She is passionate about improving outcomes for people with serious mental illness and cancer, meeting people where they are, and engaging social workers in research and advocacy. She is actively involved in the Association of Oncology Social Work and the American Psychosocial Oncology Society.

Efren J. Flores

Staff Radiologist, Mass General Hospital; Instructor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School; Director of Radiology Community Health Improvement

Efren J. Flores, MD is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico Medical School. He trained in radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, where he currently serves as board-certified staff radiologist in Thoracic and Emergency radiology since 2011. Dr. Flores interest in patient outreach and advocacy led him to focus his research on identifying social determinants of health impacting access to radiology among underrepresented minorities, and develop and implement low-cost programs to bridge he healthcare disparities gap. Dr. Flores research has led him to scientific presentations at national meetings and has also published in this subject. In recognition of Dr. Flores work in this area, he was appointed Director for Community Health Improvement in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiology in 2016. Dr. Flores also serves in the Radiology Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Ben Macri

Nurse Practitioner, North Suffolk Mental Health

Ben Macri is a graduate of Vassar College and MGH's Institute of Health Professions. Through positions with various local agencies including CASCAP and the South End Community Health Center, and as a volunteer for Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, Ben developed a passion for working with patients with serious and persistent mental illness. Since becoming a nurse practitioner Ben has continued his work with this community at the North Suffolk Mental Health as a clinician at the Freedom Trail Clinic, the East Boston Counseling Center and with North Suffolk's Medical Services Team.

Beriline Akwe

Program Director; MIMI (Mentally Ill and Medically Ill) Residential Program, North Suffolk Mental Health Association

Beriline Akwe's desire to advocate for the disadvantaged in society spurred her to pursue a career in healthcare. Upon graduating from nursing school in 2004, Beriline was frustrated by bedside nursing because there was great need that could not be satisfied through curative medical approaches. Beriline began to wonder how she could be instrumental in influencing positive change in health policy and extant practices such that ALL people are equitably accorded the opportunity to enjoy a high quality of life. This led Beriline to pursue further studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. While receiving a BA in Community Health and Sustainability, she secured a grant in 2013 from the Commonwealth Honors Program to conduct independent research in social determinants of health in Cameroon, Africa. In 2016, through the Masters in Public Health program, Beriline continued her research to study integrative care between psychiatric and medical services at the North Suffolk Mental Health Association. The past eight years Beriline has worked with adults with co-occurring mental and medical disorders, mostly as a liaison between patients and their providers. During this time, it became clear to her that there is a dire need for care providers to reframe healthcare service delivery as a collaborative approach in which the patient's care demands do not supersede their capacities. In effect, Beriline decided to expand her career by continuing her education to become a Doctor of Nursing Practice (Family Practice, still in training).

Shukriyah Brown

Senior Program Coordinator; Residential Services Coordinator

Shukriyah Brown is the community health navigator for the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. She is a member of the stakeholder board for the Engage Initiative. She was a caregiver representative in the Patient-Centered Research Collaborative  for Psychosocial Oncology (PCRC) supported by PCORI and AOSW. She is currently a part time student at the University of Massachusetts Boston finishing her bachelor’s degree in human services. Ms. Brown will then pursue a Masters in Social Work. For the last four and a half years, Ms. Brown has worked for a non-profit organization, overseeing residential services in group homes for individuals with various clinical diagnoses. A key part of her role is advocating for these individuals to ensure they have the best quality of life possible, while maintaining a person-centered approach to care.

Alexis Smith

Alexis is currently a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School who graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2019 with a B.A. in Neuroscience. She is currently a graduate research assistant with the Engage team, working on primary outcome data from the BRIDGE Trial. She joined the Engage Initiative because she wholeheartedly believes in the mission to ensure mental illness is never a barrier to cancer care. She states, “we can have all the best resources and the brightest minds in medicine, yet if we do not make this accessible to everyone, then we are doing harm.” Mental health matters to her because she has seen firsthand how the stigmatization and misunderstanding of mental illness leads to precious lives lost way too soon. She is excited to dedicate her career as a future psychiatrist to ensuring mental illness is never a barrier to an individual's ability to access timely, equitable healthcare. 

Ausubel Pichardo

MBA

Ausubel Pichardo graduated from Harvard Medical School with a master's degree in Bioethics, specializing in financial toxicity. His current position focuses on building technology platforms for U.S. hospitals to improve healthcare delivery, communication, and patient engagement. He joined the Engage Initiative during his days as an oncology patient navigator at MGH. The mission of creating opportunities for quality mental health services has become both a professional and personal mission of his to pursue. 

Emily Gorton

Program Manager, Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program

Emily is the Program Manager for the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She received Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology and Applied Mathematical Economics from the University of Dayton and her Master’s degree in Public Health at Boston University with a concentration in Epidemiology. She has lived and worked with underserved populations in Thailand, Ghana, Swaziland, and Zambia, focusing on community development, health education, and outreach – including two years as a United States Peace Corps volunteer. She began managing clinical research projects with Dr. Nadine Tung at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, focusing on breast cancer genetics and banking protocols.Since then, she has served as the Program Manager for the Lazarex-MGH Cancer Care Equity Program and the MGH-Merck Alliance for Patient-Centered Cancer Care Patient Navigation Program, which both focus on increasing access and equity, improving health outcomes, and reducing financial burden for underserved cancer patients in the Boston area. Emily joined the Cancer and Mental Health Collaborative in February 2019 and is excited to be working with such a dedicated coalition of clinicians, caregivers, advocates, and people with lived experience.

Celeste Peay

MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Resident, PGY4

Dr. Celeste Peay graduated from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Law with a combined M.D. and J.D.. She is currently completing her psychiatry training at MGH/McLean with plans to pursue fellowship training in consult liaison psychiatry or palliative care. She is focused on working at the interface of Psychiatry and Palliative Care, and is piloting a KidneyPall Care Psych Clinic to provide psychotherapy within the department. As a member of the Engage Initiative stakeholder board, she partners with diverse collaborators in many fields in the shared goal of promoting equitable medical care for those living with psychiatric conditions.  

Chien-Chi Huang

Founder and Executive Director, Asian Women for Health

Chien-Chi Huang is the founder and Director of Asian Women for Health, a peer-led, community-based network dedicated to advancing Asian women’s health and well-being through education, advocacy and support. She is a breast cancer survivor who turned into a patient advocate, and has professional and personal experience working with people in recovery. She is particularly interested in advancing health equity for all through research and outreach education. Ms. Huang joined the Engage Initiative to share insights from the patient’s perspective along with how to provide culturally responsive and gender-specific care and support for Asian women and girls. 

Dana Haggett

Oncology Nurse Practitioner

Dana Haggett is an oncology nurse practitioner taking care of patients undergoing breast cancer treatment at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Her work with this patient population started in 2007 when she worked as a clinical research coordinator (CRC) on breast cancer clinical trials at MGH. In her two years as a CRC, she was inspired by the nurses and NPs with whom she worked to return to school to get a second bachelors and master’s degree in nursing. She returned to MGH in 2016 and began working with breast cancer patients undergoing radiation before switching to the breast medical oncology team in late 2019. From her experience working in radiation and medical oncology, Dana has developed a special interest in caring for patients with serious mental illness going through cancer treatment with the goal of breaking down barriers for this population to access quality cancer care.

Diana Hanan

PhD, RN, FNP-BC
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Simmons University

Dr. Diana Hanan is a family nurse practitioner and assistant professor in the School of Nursing at Simmons University. Her clinical interests include care for older adults living with serious mental illness, cancer care for individuals with serious mental illness, and palliative care. She joined the Engage Initiative in 2020 and is currently part of the clinical and recovery focus group, where she collaborates with other Engage Initiative members to develop strategies for bringing together clinicians from different specialties so that patients with serious mental illness can get the services they need. She joined the Engage Initiative as she has had family and friends affected by mental illness and has witnessed the pain and misunderstanding experienced by those who are struggling. When she began practicing as a nurse practitioner in long-term care, she saw that there was a big gap in services for older adults living with mental illness. She believes that the Engage Initiative is leading the way in helping to ensure that individuals living with mental illness receive the care that they so need and deserve. 

Gary X. Wang, MD, PhD

Instructor, Division of Breast Imaging
Officer for Community Health and Equity
MGH Department of Radiology

Dr. Gary Wang is an attending physician in the Breast Imaging Division of the MGH Department of Radiology, the Officer for Community Health and Equity for MGH Radiology, and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wang’s research work and other non-clinical commitments are centered around developing interventions to improve access to breast cancer screening and diagnosis for vulnerable communities and patient populations. As co-chair of the Engage Initiative research working group, he aspires to support other stakeholders in advancing research goals through creating opportunities for collaboration. He joined the Engage Initiative because he deeply supports its mission as it serves a crucial need to address gaps in cancer-related care that he has witnessed firsthand among his own patients, and because he draws inspiration and support through hearing about the work and experiences of its stakeholders. 

Giselle Perez-Lougee

Associate Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program
Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Research and the Mind Body Program for Cancer Survivors
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Giselle Perez-Lougee is a clinical health psychologist and a behavioral health scientist who is dedicated to improving the quality of life and outcomes of young adults and their families who are impacted by cancer. As a Latina cancer survivor, she is particularly invested in supporting Hispanic populations as they endeavor to navigate their oncology care and ensure access to equitable cancer treatment.  She has partnered with the Engage Initiative as she shares their mission of improving the care of patients who may be otherwise missed or overseen by our health care system. To these means, she endeavors to support their mission through a variety of clinical, advocacy and research initiatives.   

Lauren Thomas

Clinical Research Coordinator

Lauren Thomas graduated from University of Miami with a B.A. in Psychology. She joined the Engage Initiative because she believes every person has the right to healthcare, regardless of their physical or mental status. Especially when it comes to cancer care, every person should be treated with the same amount of unique attention, striving to make the road to being cancer-free attainable for all. This matters to her because she believes it is important that those with cancer and a serious mental illness know they are not alone in their cancer care journey. 

Lorraine Drapek

DNP FNP-BC AOCNP
Nurse practitioner – Radiation Oncology and MGH Cancer Center Sexual Health Clinic

Lorraine Drapek is an Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner in Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital who earned her doctorate degree in nursing practice from the University of Massachusetts in 2017. As a nurse practitioner, she focuses on curative and palliative care, symptom management, patients receiving care on clinical trials, and survivorship. Of particular relevance to the proposed work, her doctoral work focused on establishing a sexual health clinic in radiation oncology, which she now leads at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. She joined the Engage Initiative because patients with mental illness are at  greater than 25% more risk of dying from their cancer. This is often because mental illness interferes with the ability to complete treatment. Her goal and passion are to always provide the best care and opportunities for patients with mental illness to complete cancer treatment and maintain quality of life.

Rob Walker

Consumer Engagement Liaison, MA Department of Mental Health

Mr. Rob Walker works for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) Office of Recovery and Empowerment. He has led the efforts to develop peer enhanced emergency services and integrate peers in the inpatient acute care psychiatric system. Rob joined the Engage Initiative because he believes early detection and treatment is crucial. He has witnessed his brothers and sisters with serious mental illness not partake in these activities and believes many medical professionals are not as comfortable with those who have behavioral health conditions. Mental health matters to him because he has lost friends and family with behavioral health issues to cancer, and does not want anyone to have to go through that. 

Samar Shaquor

Clinical Research Coordinator

Samar graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in Biopsychology. Her current work is focused on data cleaning and analysis for our recently completed randomized trial, working with registry data for those with cancer and serious mental illness, and administrative research tasks. As part of the Engage Initiative, she supports the stakeholders in carrying out their goals for the year, collaborates with partnering organizations to improve our reach, and plans/facilitates events. She joined the Engage Initiative because she appreciated its mission of prioritizing those underserved in cancer care and elevating the voices of those often unheard in the healthcare system. 

Veronica Decker

Assistant Professor
Director, Executive DNP Program
Academic Health Sciences Center
University of Central Florida College of Nursing

Veronica Decker is an advanced practice nurse in psychiatric mental health nursing. Her primary career focus has been to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life, and to reduce the debilitating impact of depression that typically accompanies cancer survivorship. She founded Cancer Counseling, a company devoted to providing therapy for patients with cancer. Her program of research has been focused on mental health symptom management for cancer patients, and over time, it has been honed to helping patients with cancer cope with the primary mental illness of depression because it is so prevalent and debilitating for this group. She joined the Engage Initiative to learn how to provide better care for people with affected by both cancer and mental illness. 

Vicki Fung

Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr. Vicki Fung is a health services researcher whose research focuses on health care financing and policy, with a focus on insurance coverage and access to care for vulnerable populations. This research aims to identify approaches that can improve patient outcomes, while also lowering costs, by addressing the complex needs of patients who are at greater risk of facing financial and non-financial barriers to necessary medical care. Dr. Fung leads multiple federally funded studies that examine the effects of changes in health care financing, and for federally qualified health centers, on medical care use, outcomes, spending, and disparities in care. She also collaborates on studies that examine the post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance market, the effects of value-based insurance policies, and interventions to improve care delivery and outcomes for patients with serious mental illness. 

Kerri Murphy

Licensed Psychologist in private practice, educator, and research collaborator at MGH’s Cancer Center 

Dr. Kerri Murphy earned her MA in Mental Health Counseling and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at
Boston College. She specializes in young adult mental health, trauma, vocational and identity
development, transitions, caregiver burden, and grief/ bereavement. Dr. Murphy is interested in
caregiver resilience and well-being, mindful self-compassion, trauma and post-traumatic growth, and
career and identity development. Having been a caregiver to her father who passed away from Cancer
in 2016 and her mother who passed away from ALS in 2018, she is dedicated to trying to help patients
and their families have a dignified, meaningful and well-supported experience with illness and/or death
and dying. She is passionate about Engage as she is invested in shining a light on the intersections of
mental and physical well-being and the disparities in care for marginalized populations.