Research Faculty

Sarah Bagley, MD

Instructor in Medicine, BU School of Medicine

Staff Physician in Pediatrics and Medicine, Boston Medical Center

Contact: Sarah.Bagley@bmc.org

bagley

Dr. Bagley completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Brown University and Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine. Her research interests include the effects of substance use on the family and development of interventions that support families struggling with addiction.

 

Susan Brogly, PhD

Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, Canada

Adjunct Faculty, Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

Contact: sbrogly@bu.edu

brogly

Dr. Susan Brogly is a perinatal epidemiologist whose research is focused on the effects of medications used in pregnancy on infant and child health outcomes. She is Principal Investigator of a study of the comparative safety of buprenorphine vs. methadone in pregnancy funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human. She is also Principal Investigator of a study of neonatal abstinence syndrome in the province of Ontario funded by Queen’s University (Canada), where she is an Assistant Professor. Dr. Brogly holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University.

 

William DeBassio, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, BU School of Medicine

Attending Pediatric Neurologist, Boston Medical Center

Contact: William.DeBassio@bmc.org

DeBassio

Dr. DeBassio finished his Child Neurology training at Boston City Hospital in 1982. Over the next 28 years he devoted his primary research interest to how brain development is affected by prenatal malnutrition. His primary clinical work with children with epilepsy was the impetus to get involved in the 1990’s with the relatively new field of sleep medicine, as many children have most of their seizures during sleep. Eventually these combined interests lead to the establishment of the Pediatric Sleep Program at BMC in 2006. Combining his interest in brain development with sleep has fostered concern about how NAS may be related to neonates having difficulty consolidating sleep as part of the syndrome. He is part of a current study to determine if sleep is disturbed in NAS. If we can understand the pathophysiology of the syndrome better, more efficient and safe treatment options may be available in the future.

 

Kristen Hahn, PhD, MPH

Research Fellow, Department of Epidemiology, BU School of Public Health

Contact: kahahn@bu.edu

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Kristen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Cornell University in 2006. She then moved to Texas where she obtained an MPH from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in May 2008. While studying for her master’s degree, Kristen was Vice President of the Public Health Student Association and a fellow in the Minority K-12 Initiative for Teachers and Students program. After graduating, Kristen worked as a Research Instructor at the Primary Care Research Institute in Fort Worth for two years. She also served as a research advisor for Safe Kids of Tarrant County and the Plaza Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. In 2010, Kristen entered the Epidemiology doctoral program at Boston University School of Public Health as a BU Reproductive, Pediatric, and Perinatal Epidemiology Fellow where she completed her dissertation work on predictors of spontaneous abortion among pregnancy planners in Denmark. Dr. Hahn is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at BUSPH and has been working on a study of treatment for opioid addiction in pregnancy since 2014. She also continues her work on risk factors for reproductive outcomes among pregnancy planners.

 

Ruth Rose-Jacobs, ScD

Associate Professor and Research Scientist

Department of Pediatrics, BU School of Medicine

Contact: rrosejac@bu.edu

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Dr. Rose-Jacobs is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, Research Scientist at Boston Medical Center, Principal Investigator and Director of Evaluation of Project RESPECT-Plus (Recovery, Empowerment, Social Services, Prenatal care, Education and Community Treatment- Plus). In addition to being the principal investigator on multiple previous and current federal and foundation grants, she has extensive clinical experience with children who are at developmental risk due to biological and complex environmental factors. Dr. Rose-Jacobs has authored numerous journal articles and extensively presented at national conferences. Currently she serves on the State Mental Health Planning Council of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Among other awards she was recognized by the Casey Family Programs and Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), in Recognition of Outstanding Work with Children and Families. She received her Sc.D. from Boston University in Developmental Therapeutic Sciences and her B.S. from Washington University School of Medicine. Prior to joining Boston University, she was faculty at Northeastern University and director of a clinical training program at the Eunice Shriver Center, University Affiliated Program, Waltham, MA.

 

Vishakha Sabharwal, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, BU School of Medicine

Attending Physician Boston Medical Center

Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Contact: Vishakha.Sabharwal@bmc.org

Dr. Sabharwal has a special interest in the perinatal transmission of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and is a Co-investigator of the NICHD funded study related to HCV perinatal transmission at Boston Medical Center. She is a leader in the evaluation of all Hepatitis C exposed infants in the outpatient Pediatrics Infectious Disease clinic. As a part of the NICHD study, they identify HCV infected pregnant women in the RESPECT clinic, identify exposed newborns, and evaluate the outcome of such children with regard to HCV infection over the first 18 months of life. This observational study of HCV in Pregnancy (no intervention) includes 7 sites in the MFMU Network. BMC is currently the top enrolling US site in this study.

 

Elisha Wachman, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, BU School of Medicine

Attending Neonatologist, Boston Medical Center

Contact: Elisha.Wachman@bmc.org

wachman

Dr. Wachman received her MD from the BU School of Medicine before pursuing her pediatric residency at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Children’s Hospital Boston.  She then completed her neonatology fellowship at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center.  She is currently an attending neonatologist at BMC and a leader in neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) quality improvement and research at BMC. Her research primarily focuses on examining genetic and epigenetic predictors of NAS outcomes.  She is a site Co-Investigator of a NIDA clinical trial exploring optimal treatment options for NAS, as well as genetic variations and developmental outcomes in these high-risk infants.  Her other primary research interests include the care of premature infants with NAS, and breastfeeding in the setting of maternal substance use disorders. Dr. Wachman has presented her research and numerous local and national conferences.

 

Alice Wang, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, BU School of Medicine

Attending Neonatologist, Boston Medical Center

Contact: Alice.Wang@bmc.org

wang

Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, and an attending neonatologist at Boston Medical Center. She is interested in understanding how maternal exposures during pregnancy such as cigarette smoking, opiate dependence and hepatitis C can impact placental development and function, and subsequently contribute to adverse neonatal outcomes such as fetal growth restriction (FGR), neonatal abstinence syndrome and transmission of hepatitis C. Using cell-based assays, animal models and clinical studies of placentas collected at delivery, she is studying how exposures to opiates and cigarette smoking can alter placental protein and gene expression and can affect placental function. The major goals of her work are to identify and validate novel biomarkers of fetal growth restriction and neonatal abstinence syndrome that may also drive the disease process.