Ann Barbetti, MAOM, LicAc

Research Assistant

Ann is responsible for the recruitment of and follow-up with patients.  She answers telephone inquiries and schedules study volunteer appointments, while also assisting volunteers through the process of filling out of the measurement forms.  Anne received her MAOM from NESA.

Denise Rouleau

Proposal Development/Research Administration Specialist

Denise is responsible for the administrative oversight of grants, including the budget and compliance with regulations. Denise also serves as a key resource in identifying funding, writing grants and submitting applications for funding.

Elaine Scarmoutzos

Continuing Education Manager/Project Coordinator

Elaine coordinates the Continuing Education programs. She recommends programming and instructors, oversees registrations and payment, recruits and manages Alumni Hosts, and analyzes participant evaluations. 

Elaine also assists the Research Department.  Her research hours can vary and are also available by appointment.

Kai-Yin Hsu, MAOM, LicAc

Research Assistant

Kai-Yin is responsible for the recruitment of and follow-up with patients.  She answers telephone inquiries and schedules study volunteer appointments, while also assisting volunteers through the process of filling out of the measurement forms.  Kai-Yin received her MAOM from NESA.

Lisa Conboy, MA, MS, ScD

Director of Research and Chair of Western Biomedicine Department

Lisa Conboy is a health researcher who has been teaching research methods for fifteen years. She received her MA from UMASS Amherst, and her MS and ScD from Harvard School of Public Health. A sociologist and epidemiologist, she became interested in Chinese medicine about twenty years ago due to its positive effects on her own health. As a result, she has focused her research questions on acupuncture and Chinese medicine over the last ten years.

In her research and teaching, Lisa utilizes and teaches multiple methods and various forms of analyses to best ask and answer questions about acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She has published analyses using qualitative, survey, and biological data. Lisa is striving to produce work and train researchers that can address novel questions in scientifically sound ways. Lisa lives in Somerville, MA and is currently pursuing her certification in yoga instruction.

Matthew Hadfield

Research Assistant

Matthew is responsible for the recruitment of and follow-up with patients.  He answers telephone inquiries and schedules study volunteer appointments, while also assisting volunteers through the process of filling out of the measurement forms.

Waheed Pirzai

Research Assistant

Waheed is responsible for the recruitment of and follow-up with patients.  He answers telephone inquiries and schedules study volunteer appointments, while also assisting volunteers through the process of filling out of the measurement forms.

Ellen Highfield, MA, LicAc

Ellen Highfield has served as a NESA faculty member and Director of the Integrative Therapies Team at Children's Hospital, Boston. She a co-authored a study assessing pediatric pain experiences and CAM practitioners' common practices. Ellen served as a consultant and treating acupuncturist for the team investigating acupuncture for endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain in young women, advising them about the use of acupuncture in this adolescent population.

Meredith St. John, MAc, LicAc, DiplAC (NCCAOM)

Vice President and Academic Dean

Meredith is responsible for leadership of NESA’s academic program including: assessing, designing and delivering the classroom and clinical curriculum; program planning; academic policy; and faculty assessment and development. Meredith manages the Academic Department, including Department Chairs, the Dean of Clinical Education, and the Academic Affairs Coordinator and Registrar. She serves as an escalation point for academic issues. Meredith is a co-investigator on the NESA research study of effectiveness of acupuncture for Gulf War Syndrome, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Peter Valaskatgis, BAc, MAc, LicAc

Peter Valaskatgis has been practicing acupuncture since 1979, utilizing mainly Chinese acupuncture and herbal medicine. He graduated from NESA in 1977, from the International College of Oriental Medicine (Sussex, England) in 1979 and from the “First International Course for Further Study on Acupuncture and Moxibustion” at Nanjing College of TCM in China in 1982.

Peter has been a faculty member of the CAS Department since 1981 and holds the rank of professor. Peter’s research endeavors include consulting on the SHARP study, an acupuncture/hypertension study funded by the NIH that involved MGH and New England Research Institute. He also was a co-investigator for a multi-centered acupuncture/menopausal hot flash pilot study funded by the NIH, including MGH, Wake Forest School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and has had multiple works published.

Rosa Schnyer, DiplAc (NCCAOM), LicAc

Rosa Schnyer served as an adjunct research faculty member at NESA and at Harvard Medical School's Osher Research Center, and a clinical assistant faculty at the University of Texas, Austin.  In DCRC I, Rosa served as co-leader on a methodological study entitled "Developing a Traditional East Asian Medical Structured Instrument (TEAMSI)" and as co-investigator on a clinical trial entitled, "Japanese-Style Acupuncture for Endometriosis-Related Chronic Pelvic Pain in Young Women."  Rosa has been a leader in the field of acupuncture research, evaluating acupuncture in the treatment of depression and developing innovative research methodologies that better reflect clinical practice. She has served as co-investigator or consultant to numerous NIH and privately funded studies, including trials investigating the efficacy of acupuncture for depression in pregnant women, repetitive stress injuries, chronic stroke symptoms and cerebral palsy. Rosa leads seminars on treating mood and anxiety disorders with acupuncture and Chinese herbs in NESA's continuing education program. She is co-president of the Society of Acupuncture Research (SAR). She received her Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine training at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM) and her acupuncture training at Tri-State College of Acupuncture.

Steve Cina, MAOM, LicAc, ATC, ACSM H/FI

Orthopedic Department Chair

Stephen Cina specializes in the integration of Chinese and western medical approaches in the treatment of orthopedic disorders. Along with his NESA Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree, Stephen is certified by the National Athletic Training Association as an athletic trainer and certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a health and fitness instructor. He was the first to develop a craniosacral program at Pathways to Wellness and has provided acupuncture to the Boston Bruins and the New England Patriots players. Stephen also practiced at the Sports Club LA in Boston where he provided acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine services.

At his holistic practice in Brighton, MA, Total Wellness Clinic, Stephen organized a cooperative of various practitioners providing services including acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, bodywork, naturopathy and osteopathy. Stephen’s research experience includes his role as co-investigator on a paper titled “Electrical Properties of Acupuncture Points and Meridians: A Systematic Review” published in the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics. He also serves as an acupuncturist serving the Martino’s Center neuroimaging team investigating event-related brain response to acupuncture using fMRI technology.

Weidong Lu, MPH, LicAc, DiplAC, DiplCH (NCCAOM)

Weidong Lu is a research faculty member at NESA, and a researcher and staff acupuncturist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Zakim Center. Weidong Lu received his medical degree (MB) from Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1983 and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Weidong Lu taught and conducted research in China before coming to the United States in 1991. As part of the NESA Acupuncture Research Collaborative, he is a co-leader of the clinical trial entitled Acupuncture of Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia. He is also the co-investigator of an NIH-funded trial evaluating the effects of acupuncture on the quality of life in late-stage cancer patients, and has served as a consultant to Harvard Medical School’s Osher Institute for numerous studies. He maintains a private practice in the NESA clinic. Weidong Lu is also chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine’s Committee on Acupuncture.

Catherine Kerr, PhD

Catherine served as co-leader on DCRC I Project 2, "Acupuncture for Endometriosis-Related Chronic Pelvic Pain in Young Women." She is an instructor in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert in qualitative research associated with CAM trials.

Julie Buring, ScD

Julie served on the clinical core and as co-leader of the administrative core for DCRC I. She is professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard Medical School; deputy director of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital; and director of research at the Osher Institute.

Marc Laufer, MD

Dr. Laufer served as co-leader of DCRC I Project 2, 'Acupuncture for Endometriosis-Related Chronic Pelvic Pain in Young Women'. Dr. Laufer is an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and a leading clinician and researcher in endometriosis and pelvic pain in adolescents.

Peter Wayne, PhD

Dr. Peter Wayne is an instructor in medicine and director of Tai Chi Research Programs in the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. He is also an adjunct faculty assistant professor at the Mass General Hospital Institute of Health Professionals, a clinical instructor in family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and a research faculty member at NESA. Peter received his PhD in Biology from Harvard University, where he spent 15 years conducting research in evolutionary biology. He served as the founding director of the Oriental medicine research program at the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) from 2000 to 2006, and currently serves as the principal investigator of the NCCAM/NIH-funded Developmental Center for Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine program jointly awarded to NESA and HMS.

Peter has substantial experience and skills in the design and management of CAM trials, and is currently the principal or co-investigator of a number of NCCAM-funded trials evaluating Tai Chi and acupuncture. He regularly serves as reviewer of NCCAM grants, and is a board member of the Society for Acupuncture Research. Dr. Wayne has 30 years of training experience in the Oriental arts of Tai Chi and Qigong, is a nationally recognized teacher of these practices, and is the director of the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center in the Boston Area.

Steven Schachter, MD

Dr. Schachter served on both the administrative and clinical cores of DCRC I. He is a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and associate director of clinical research at the Osher Institute.

Ursula A. Matulonis, MD

Dr. Matulonis served as co-leader for DCRC I Project 1 "Acupuncture for Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia." Ursula is the director of medical gynecologic oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has been an attending physician at DFCI and Brigham and Women's' Hospital since 1994 and an oncologist associated with the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies at DFCI since 2000.  An active researcher in gynecologic malignancies, Ursula is involved with clinical trials for new drugs and immunotherapeutic agents, pain and symptom management, spiritual issues in cancer patients, and treatment for malignancies in the elderly. She also is an active member of the Harvard Brain and Behavior Group, a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and Harvard Divinity School. Ursula's clinical practice is devoted almost exclusively to gynecologic oncology with the majority of patients having epithelial ovarian carcinoma.