Our Team

Project Director

Dr. Joseph T. Giacino is a Neuropsychologist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School in Boston Massachusetts. At Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, he directs the Rehabilitation Neuropsychology Service, Disorders of Consciousness Program and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory and is Co-Director of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Outcomes Center. At Harvard Medical School, he teaches Neuroethics and serves as a Capstone mentor in the Master’s degree program at the Center for Bioethics. He is also Adjunct Professor in the Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. His work centers on the development of high-precision assessment methods, practical approaches to longitudinal outcome monitoring and discovery of effective treatment interventions for individuals with severe brain injury. His research is funded by the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Department of Defense, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research and the Epstein Foundation. He has authored over 170 publications and is the recipient of the William Fields Caveness Award, Robert L. Moody Prize and ACRM Brain Injury Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award.

Program Manager

 Dr. Michael Bergin completed postdoctoral research at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard University and graduate work at the University of Queensland in Australia where his research investigated the influence of pain on human movement. At Spaulding, Dr. Bergin’s research focused on the development of an evidence-based platform to advance the identification and validation of clinical assessment tools for traumatic brain injury. As Program Manager of the SH-TBIMS, Dr. Michael Bergin is responsible for the day-to-day operations of all SH-TBIMS activities under the direction of Dr. Giacino (Project Director).

Site Specific Project Principal Investigator

 Dr. Yelena G Bodien completed her graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where her research focused on using multimodal brain imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe the underlying neurobiology of psychiatric illness. She is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Bodien’s research activities include designing and validating standardized behavioral assessments of consciousness, and investigating the utility of advanced neuroimaging paradigms for improving diagnosis and prognostic precision of disorders of consciousness.

Postdoctoral Fellow

 Dr. Christopher Malone is a Post-Doctoral Fellow with a dual research and clinical appointment at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He completed his doctoral degree, Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Neuropsychology, at William James College. He completed an APA-approved clinical psychology internship, neuropsychology track, at Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School. Past graduate research includes work related to: false memory due to Alzheimer’s disease, measurement of semantic memory, and psychological burden of chronic migraine. At Spaulding, Dr. Malone contributes to clinical activities through the Neurobehavioral Clinic and to a variety of prospective and retrospective research projects, including validation of a consciousness rating instrument for use in Intensive Care Units.

Director of Clinical Care

 Dr. Mazwi is an attending physician in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Instructor in PM&R at Harvard Medical School. She is Co-Director of the HMS Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Medicine Fellowship Program and Co-Director of the Neurorecovery Fellowship at SRH and MGH. She is a Neurotrauma Consultant for the National Football League. Dr. Mazwi has published in the fields of TBI and stroke rehabilitation and collaborates with other clinician-scientists internationally who are active in rehabilitation research.

Research Coordinator

 Rebecca graduated with a B.S. in Biopsychology from Tufts University in 2017, where she discovered her love of the brain while conducting guided research in language processing and prediction. At Spaulding, she coordinates the TRACK-TBI study, and also assists with recruitment for the TBIMS National Database. In the future, she hopes to practice as a speech-language pathologist and eventually pursue a PhD in communication sciences and disorders.

Director of Dissemination

 Dr. O’Neil-Pirozzi is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northeastern University and a Research Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She was SH-TBIMS Associate Project Director and Co-Investigator in the 2012-2017 cycle and two prior funding cycles. Dr. O’Neil-Pirozzi’s research focuses on acquired brain injury across the lifespan, with a focus on memory impairment. She has been a practicing SLP for over twenty years, evaluating and treating individuals in a variety of educational and medical settings.

Research Coordinator

 Amber Thomas coordinates recruitment and data collection for the TBI Model System National Database study for the SH-TBIMS. She earned her B.S. from Bryant University majoring in biology and psychology. Her undergraduate studies and research experience helped solidify her interest in psychology, neuroscience, and brain injury. In the future she plans on applying to clinical psychology PhD programs with a focus on neuropsychology.

Project Co-Director

Dr. Zafonte is President of Spaulding Rehabilitation, Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professor and Chairman of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (SRH), Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Vice President Medical Affairs Research and Education for Spaulding Rehabilitation. He serves as Administrative Director of the Burn Injury Model System and Spinal Cord Injury Model System at SRH. Dr. Zafonte’s work is presently funded by the NIH, DoD, and NIDILRR, and he previously directed the largest TBI clinical trial completed to date (COBRIT).