Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience;the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientific knowledge,and it has been characterized as quackery. There is a range of acupuncture variants which originated in different philosophies,and techniques vary depending on the country in which it is performed,but can be divided into two main foundational philosophical applications and approaches,the first being the modern standardized form called eight principles TCM and the second an older system that is based on the ancient Daoist wuxing,better known as the five elements or phases in the West. Acupuncture is most often used to attempt pain relief,though acupuncturists say that it can also be used for a wide range of other conditions. Acupuncture is generally used only in combination with other forms of treatment.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created in 1991 as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM),and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name in 2014. NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston,Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital,it is one of the two founding members of Mass General Brigham,the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts. Sunil Eappen serves as the hospital's current president.
Dry needling,also known as trigger point dry needling and intramuscular stimulation,is a treatment technique used by various healthcare practitioners,including physical therapists,physicians,and chiropractors,among others. Acupuncturists usually maintain that dry needling is adapted from acupuncture,but others consider dry needling as a variation of trigger point injections. It involves the use of either solid filiform needles or hollow-core hypodermic needles for therapy of muscle pain,including pain related to myofascial pain syndrome. Dry needling is mainly used to treat myofascial trigger points,but it is also used to target connective tissue,neural ailments,and muscular ailments. The American Physical Therapy Association defines dry needling as a technique used to treat dysfunction of skeletal muscle and connective tissue,minimize pain,and improve or regulate structural or functional damage.
Elizabeth Nabel is an American cardiologist and Executive Vice President of Strategy at ModeX Therapeutics and OPKO Health. Prior to this role,she served as President of Brigham Health and its Brigham and Women's Hospital,Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,and Director of the NIH's National Heart,Lung,and Blood Institute.
Carola Blitzman Eisenberg was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of Dean of Students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990,she was the Dean of Student Affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She has for a long time been Lecturer in the newly renamed Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She was also both a Founding Member of Physicians for Human Rights and an Honorary Psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,a longstanding position there.
Myotherapy is a form of muscle therapy which focuses on the assessment,treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal pain and associated pathologies. The term myotherapy was originally coined by Bonnie Prudden to describe a specific type of trigger point therapy which she developed in the 1970s based on the earlier work of Travell and Simons who researched the cause and treatment of pain arising from myofascial trigger points. While based on rational principles,there is little scientific research regarding the efficacy of this therapy,so it remains controversial within the medical and academic disciplines.
JoAnn Elisabeth Manson is an American physician and professor known for her pioneering research,public leadership,and advocacy in the fields of epidemiology and women's health.
Matthew H. Liang is a physician specializing in social rheumatology,Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard School of Public Health,and the Director of Special Projects of the Robert B. Brigham Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Clinical Research Center which he founded. At the Brigham and Women's Hospital he is Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services. He is a founding faculty of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and a founding faculty of the Clinical Effectiveness Program at the Harvard School of Public Health and is a Study Director in the Veterans Administration Cooperative Studies Program.
Bruce Rosen is an American physicist and radiologist and a leading expert in the area of functional neuroimaging. His research for the past 30 years has focused on the development and application of physiological and functional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques,as well as new approaches to combine functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data with information from other modalities such as positron emission tomography (PET),magnetoencephalography (MEG) and noninvasive optical imaging. The techniques his group has developed to measure physiological and metabolic changes associated with brain activation and cerebrovascular insult are used by research centers and hospitals throughout the world.
Brian M. Berman is a tenured professor of family medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Ferenc Andras Jolesz was a Hungarian-American physician and scientist best known for his research on image guided therapy,the process by which information derived from diagnostic imaging is used to improve the localization and targeting of diseased tissue to monitor and control treatment during surgical and interventional procedures. He pioneered the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided interventions and introduced of a variety of new medical procedures based on novel combinations of imaging and therapy delivery.
Nina Starr Braunwald (1928–1992) was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher who was among the first women to perform open-heart surgery. She was also the first woman to be certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery,and the first to be elected to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. In 1960,at the age of 32,she led the operative team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that implanted the first successful artificial mitral human heart valve replacement,which she had designed and fabricated. She died in August 1992 in Weston,Massachusetts,after a career that included prominent appointments at the NIH,University of California,San Diego,Harvard Medical School,and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Howard L. Weiner is an American neurologist,neuroscientist and immunologist who is also a writer and filmmaker. He performs clinical and basic research focused on multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurologic diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). His work also focuses on autoimmune diseases such as diabetes. Weiner is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School,director of the Brigham MS Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases established in 2014,at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston,Massachusetts.
Paula Adina Johnson is a cardiologist and the current president of Wellesley College. She is the first Black woman to serve in this role. The first Black graduate of Wellesley College came in the year 1887,and 129 years later President Johnson became the first Black leader. Prior to her role as president of Wellesley,Johnson founded and served as the inaugural executive director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health &Gender Biology,as well as Chief of the Division of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Johnson's background in working for the betterment of women in the field of health led her on a notable path to Wellesley College,a women's college right outside of Boston,where there is an emphasis on the role of women in STEM.
David M. Eisenberg is an American physician,alternative medicine researcher,and the Bernard Osher Distinguished Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also the founder of the Osher Center for Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies,a healthcare clinic associated with Brigham and Women's Hospital,and served as its director from 2000 to 2010. He is also the founder of the "Healthy Kitchens/Healthy Lives" initiative,which,according to the New York Times,aims "to tear down the firewall between “healthy”and “crave-able”cuisine."
Jeffrey D. Macklis is an American neuroscientist. He is the Max and Anne Wien Professor of Life Sciences in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Center for Brain Science at Harvard University,Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School,and Principal Faculty of the Neuroscience / Nervous System Diseases Program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Christine Edry Seidman is the Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She operates a joint lab with her husband,Jonathan Seidman,where they study genetic mechanisms of heart disease. In recognition of her scientific contributions,she was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences,American Academy of Arts and Sciences,and National Academy of Medicine.
Vijay K. Kuchroo is an Indian-American immunologist and serial entrepreneur. He is the Samuel L. Wasserstrom chair of Neurology at Harvard Medical School,and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is also the director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston,Massachusetts.
Nina Felice Schor is an American physician-scientist and pediatric neurologist. She has served as director of the NIH Intramural Research Program since the Fall of 2022. Schor was the deputy director of National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke from 2018 to 2022. She was the William H. Eilinger Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at University of Rochester and Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Golisano Children’s Hospital from 2006 to January 2018.
