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 3/21/2025

    Wexler RS, Joyce C, Reichman R, Pereira C, Fanuele E, Hurstak E, Laird L, Lavretsky H, Wang C, Saper R, Alcorn KS, Mittman BS, Roseen EJ. Determinants of Qigong, Tai Chi, and Yoga Use for Health Conditions: A Systematic Review Protocol. medRxiv. 2025 Mar 21. PMID: 40166550.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/11/2025

    McGuire CM, Boskovic N, Fatusin BB, Ameh P, Reed T, Jethwani P, Flynn D, Cooke J, Saper R. Virtual Health Research Capacity Strengthening in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Integrative Review. Ann Glob Health. 2025; 91(1):14. PMID: 40092966.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/20/2025

    Roseen EJ, Bussières A, Reichman R, Bora C, Trieu J, Austad K, Williams C, Fischer RA, Parrilla D, Laird LD, LaValley M, Evans RL, Saper RB, Morone NE. A multi-level implementation strategy to increase adoption of chiropractic care for low back pain in primary care clinics: a randomized stepped-wedge pilot study protocol. Chiropr Man Therap. 2025 Feb 20; 33(1):9. PMID: 39979943.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 11/4/2024

    Tankha H, Gaskins D, Shallcross A, Rothberg M, Hu B, Guo N, Roseen EJ, Dombrowski S, Bar J, Warren R, Wilgus H, Tate P, Goldfarb J, Drago VG, Saper R. Effectiveness of Virtual Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Nov 04; 7(11):e2442339. PMID: 39485352.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/15/2024

    Alpert JM, Pfoh E, Criswell V, Tang MC, Stanley EE, Hong S, Saper R, Yudelevich Blumrosen E, Rothberg MB. Qualitative Analysis of Patients' and Physicians' Attitudes and Behaviors Toward Billing Patient Portal Messages. Ann Intern Med. 2024 Dec; 177(12):1734-1736. PMID: 39401435.

    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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