Robert B. Saper, MD MPH

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Saper is the Director of Integrative Medicine for the Boston Medical Center Department of Family Medicine and Professor in the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Saper attended Brandeis University for his undergraduate education. After graduating Harvard Medical School in 1988, he completed a family medicine residency and chief residency at UCSF from 1988-92 and was in private practice for 8 years in the San Francisco Bay area. While in California he worked closely with Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversal of Heart Disease. In 2000 he moved back to the Boston area and retooled professionally by entering the three year NIH-funded Integrative Medicine Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School which included an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. As a fellow, he published the first nationally representative survey of yoga use in the United States.

In 2004 he joined the Boston University faculty and medical staff of Boston Medical Center where he directs the Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities. The mission of the Program is to bring evidence-based integrative medicine approaches to all, regardless of ability to pay. Soon after arriving at Boston Medical Center, he received a five year Academic Career Development Grant from the NIH National Center for Complementary Alternative Medicine. With this support, he published a pilot study of yoga for chronic low back pain in predominantly low income minorities recruited from federally qualified community health centers. In 2010 Dr. Saper was funded by the NIH to conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and cost of yoga, physical therapy, and education for back pain in 320 adults. He is also funded by NIH to study yoga for back pain in veterans. Other major areas of research include the safety and efficacy of traditional Indian herbal medicines. Dr. Saper is the Past Chair of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.

Publications

  • Published 10/23/2026

    Wang C, Saper RB, Roseen E, Lavretsky H, McAlindon T, Harvey W, Zhang W, Laird L, Mittman B, Yu Q, Hurstak E, Alexis S, Rones R, Sanjuan PM, Sussman AL, Trinquart L. TAICHIKNEE trial: protocol for an embedded pragmatic, individually randomised group-treatment trial of remotely delivered Tai Chi for knee osteoarthritis across US healthcare systems. BMJ Open. 2026 Oct 23; 16(10):e127972. PMID: 42919577.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/23/2026

    Uebelacker L, Saper RB, Roseen EJ, Taylor LE, Abrantes AM, Anderson B, Sprecht-Walsch S, Lorin L, Ikai D, Desaulniers J, Braun TD, Baldwin M, D'Afflitti J, Hurstak E, Bales R, Min J, O'Keeffe B, Guastaferro K, Strayhorn J, Stein MD. Yoga MAT: A factorial randomized study using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy to develop a multicomponent yoga intervention for people with chronic pain taking medications for opioid use disorder. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2026 Oct 01; 287:113320. PMID: 42685386.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/5/2026

    Muñoz-Vergara D, Saper RB, Khalsa SBS, Rist PM, Yeh GY, Irwin MR, Kilgore KL, Schreiber KL, Wayne PM. Persistent Relief: Protocol for a Feasibility Randomized Trial Comparing Yoga to Pain Education for Patients With Persistent Post-Surgical Pain. Glob Adv Integr Med Health. 2026; 15:27536130261477068. PMID: 42564333.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/2/2026

    Spurgeon E, Ivanuik A, Sodani S, Butler E, Martinez D, Schleicher M, Sylvester S, Saper R, Najm I, Lal D. Systematic review and meta-analysis of lifestyle modification interventions and their impact on seizure reduction and quality of life. Epilepsia. 2026 Sep; 67(9):4572-4589. PMID: 42390279.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/20/2026

    Fischer RA, Shrestha S, Trager RJ, Saper RB, Roseen EJ. The Association of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status with Access to Chiropractic Providers: A Geospatial Analysis of Two U.S. Geographic Regions. J Integr Complement Med. 2026 May 20; 27683605261448757. PMID: 42159149.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Harvard University, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MPH
  • Brandeis University, BA

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