Welcome to the Newly Matched Class of 2018!

Posted: March 21st, 2014

The seventeen new residents, with one joining the Class of 2017 as a PGY2, will arrive on June 5th, representing a diverse set of backgrounds and interests.

	Gowri Aragam received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Neurobiology. She subsequently received a public service fellowship to work with children in foster care in Manhattan. Following a stint as an intern at a global health company, she matriculated at the University of Massachusetts medical school during which time she has been very active in Global Mental Health endeavors. Gowri is a violinist and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Steinway Hall.
	Nicole Benson attended Haverford College where she received a Bachelor of Science majoring in Mathematics. She has worked as a research coordinator as well as an EMT, serving on the Board of Directors for an ambulance service. During medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, she has done research on biofeedback for children with asthma as well as on the neuropsychological assessment of children in the Vermont DCF system. In her spare time, Nicole works with athletic teams tracking statistics and sports information for coaches and the press. She will be joining our Child Psychiatry track.
	Colin Burke received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy. He then served in AmeriCorps as a case manager at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless. During medical school at Brown University, he continued his dedication to the underserved by conducting research on the healthcare needs of the homeless and working as a peer-reviewer for the American Journal of Public Health and World Medical and Health Policy. He was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He remains a strong advocate for those in need.
	Christine Crawford attended Boston College and received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. She then received a Masters of Public Health at Boston University while also working as a program coordinator for the MGH Depression and Clinical Research Program. During medical school at the University of Connecticut, she acted as a community advocate to the mentally ill and disenfranchised. In recognition of her service and leadership, she was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She is committed to working in the community and providing care for young, disadvantaged women.
	Daniel Daunis majored in Microbiology at Louisiana State University during which time he worked as a nurse technician. He stayed on at Louisiana State for medical school where he is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) and decided to pursue psychiatry after seriously considering becoming a neurosurgeon. Daniel likes to play softball and flag football in addition to chess and a host of outdoor activities.
	Stephanie Davidson earned a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Neuroscience and French at Columbia University. Both in the US and while studying abroad in France, she participated in research that was instrumental in shaping her career choice. In medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, Stephanie has shown dedication to helping homeless youth and is a certified French medical interpreter. In her spare time, she continues her love of art and music and is an accomplished harpist.
	Erin Dowd did her undergraduate work at Cornell University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in biology and society and in philosophy. She then spent two years engaged in MRI research in schizophrenia before entering Washington University School of Medicine in their combined MD/PhD program. Her research using functional MRI to examine reward processing and negative symptoms in schizophrenia has resulted in numerous publications. Erin studies and performs dance in her spare time.
	Oscar Gerdner received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish at the University of Connecticut. Following graduation, he spent a year working in France while learning the language. While in medical school at the University of Connecticut, he travelled to Ecuador to conduct a psychological study of fathers who had children with AIDS. He was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in recognition of his service to the medical school and community. Oscar was born in Sweden and remains passionate about culture and languages. He also loves creative writing.
	Alok Kanojia attended the University of Texas in Austin and received a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology. Subsequently, he worked as research assistant at Harvard University studying tactile acuity in Tai Chi practitioners. He then received Masters degrees in Biology and Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University. While in the combined MD/MPH program at Tufts, he conducted policy research on PTSD for a Congressman and founded the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) student interest group. He is dedicated to a goal of infusing evidence-based CAM into clinical psychiatry.
	Katherine Koh received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Harvard University where she developed a passion for working with the homeless. She spent a year at the University of Oxford in England in the Masters Program for Science in Evidence-Based Social Intervention. While in medical school at Harvard, she worked at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless and conducted research aimed at improving nutrition in local shelters. She also worked as a White House intern on Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity. She plans to work with the homeless clinically and via public policy initiatives and research.
	Robert Mealer attended Montana State University and received a Bachelors of Science in Cell Biology and Neuroscience. As a MD/PhD student at Johns Hopkins University, he studied Neuroscience. His doctoral work focused on the cellular pathways affected by the G-protein (Rhes), which is uniquely expressed in the striatum and augments the neurotoxicity of the protein (huntingtin) that causes Huntington’s Disease. He published several research articles and presented his work at National meetings. He also taught two graduate level courses, Neuropsychopharmacology and Advanced Techniques in Molecular Neurocience. He is equally passionate about research and clinical work, and is an avid outdoorsman.
	David Mou attended Harvard College and received a Bachelors of Art in Neurobiology. Following college, he spent a year as a Neuroscience Fellow at the Pasteur Institute, and then entered Harvard’s Combined MD/MBA Program. While in medical school, he served as the Co-director of the Student Healthcare Policy Interest Group and .published a review article on health policy education for the New England Journal of Medicine. He also worked on a research project making use of advanced statistical techniques to identify risk factors for readmission in psychiatric patients. He is committed to the goal of combining research with clinical care in order to improve the quality of life for psychiatric patients.
	Maria Prom attended Carleton College in Minnesota where she graduated with distinction in Psychology. She subsequently worked as a research assistant investigating the effects of antipsychotics and hypoglycemia on cognition. While at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Maria has pursued three main areas of interest: medical care of underserved populations, research, and global health. In terms of the latter, she spent a year in Ayacucho, Peru pursuing public health research. Maria comes to us with these ongoing interests as well as a passion for dancing, cooking, and travel.
	Judith Puckett received a Bachelors of Art in Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As a medical student at the University of South Florida, she worked on several research studies including one in the area of ECT. She was the President of the Student Physicians for Social Responsibility and held other key leadership positions in the area of social advocacy. Judith is very interested in C/L Psychiatry. She also is a serious mountain climber, having successfully tackled “fourteeners” in her home state of Colorado.
	Leslie Bishop Tarver attended Harvard University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in social anthropology after a stint at Oxford University where she worked on social anthropology related to autism. Leslie then took an intensive detour into medical journalism and healthcare advocacy working at NPR and on Capitol Hill as well as at the Washington Post. During her time at George Washington School of Medicine, she took a three year leave of absence to study public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and to do health policy work with a UN affiliate organization. Leslie comes to us with ongoing interests in health policy and autism and will be joining the Child Psychiatry track.
	Kathryn Zagrabbe received a Bachelors of Art in Psychology at Princeton where she wrote a senior thesis on the development of empathy in siblings of children with autism. She then attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. As a medical student, she was awarded the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship to work at the Penn Center for Behavioral Wellness. While there she studied maternal adversity on fetal and infant neuroendocrine development. She also worked on a study evaluating the efficacy of computerized CBT for depression. She is dedicated to both clinical work and research.
	Stephen Tourjee attended Washington University in St. Louis from which he earned a degree in Biology and also studied abroad in France. While at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine he did clinical research looking at the impact of nerve blocks on opioid use and hospital length of stay in patients with traumatic lower extremity injury. Stephen then matched into orthopedic surgery at the University of Missouri where he realized during the completion of his internship that psychiatry was the field for him. He has been gaining valuable experience this past year working as a full-time physician at correctional facilities in Missouri. Stephen will bring this experience to the Class of 2017 which he will join as a PGY2 resident.