Biography
Dr. Paula Gardiner is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Her passion is studying and teaching clinicians how to facilitate and implement medical group visits or shared medical appointments She completed a three year Clinical Research Fellowship in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research and Faculty Development at Harvard Medical School. She received her MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Additionally, she has been awarded a five year NIH K award grant focusing on CAM use, stress, and dietary supplement in the inner city under served medical patients. Her research concentration is patient-oriented research regarding chronic pain and evidenced based integrative medicine access in low income patients. Current research is focused on the adaptive role of an Integrative Medicine Group Visit (IMGV) which combines Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and a Medical Group Visit to support health behavior change and reducing pain and stress. With funding by Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI), she is the primary investigator on a comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial of IMGV compared to a primary care visit in Boston for participants with chronic pain (N=124). Her research focuses on innovative technologies such as Embodied Conversational Agents and Our Whole Lives; a Holistic online toolkit that teaches mind body techniques. Dr. Gardiner lectures nationally and internationally. She has published over 90 review and original papers on technology (embodied conversational agents, virtual worlds, apps), chronic pain, technology, dietary supplements, stress, and integrative medicine in under served patients. She is a certified meditation and mindful self compassion teacher.