Meet the Team - STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation

Administration

Andrew Eyre, MD, MS-HPED

Medical Director

Dr. Andrew Eyre serves as the Medical Director for the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts where he is also a practicing emergency medicine physician. He attended medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Societies. After completing residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) based out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and The Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Eyre completed a fellowship in medical simulation at STRATUS/Brigham and Women’s Hospital and earned a master’s degree in Health Professions Education from the MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Throughout his career, Dr. Eyre has held a variety of leadership roles in medical education at both Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including serving as the Assistant Program Director for HAEMR. Dr. Eyre has received numerous awards for teaching and education, including the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Bernard Lown Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition to medical simulation, Dr. Eyre’s academic interests include international medical education, curriculum design, and procedure education.

Judy Phalen, MPH

Administrative Director

Judy has comprehensive experience in executive-level administration, fiscal governance, and research oversight in healthcare, non-profit, and higher education settings. Prior roles include serving as the Director of Administration at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry and the Bulfinch Program. Judy was the Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson’s Health e-Technologies Initiative national program office, led college health and wellness efforts, and managed a collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA.

Judy has previously participated in research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the US Department of Education, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education.

Dustin Kenyon, BA

Program Coordinator

Dustin Kenyon is currently serving as the Program Coordinator at STRATUS. His duties include managing user data and course metrics and in helping coordinate the International Fellowship in Clinical Simulation Program. Prior to joining the team in 2022, he worked in the front end of patient care in the Orthopedics department and in Multiple Practices in at the Foxboro Mass General/Brigham Healthcare Center. He is a graduate of Saint Michael’s College.

Education

Mary “Maggie” Ryan, RN, MS, CHSE

Director of Education

Maggie earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from Boston College. She worked as a bedside nurse in neuro critical care and outpatient surgery, while attending the University of Maryland for a Masters in Education. Maggie worked as a simulation educator at the University of Maryland MASTRI Center, where she fell in love with all aspects of simulation, from the operational side to the development of curriculum and educational programs, and experienced firsthand, the value of simulation education for healthcare professionals. At The MASTRI Center, she supported the development of simulation programs for hospital-wide emergency readiness for nursing and other members of the interprofessional team.

Maggie is dedicated to working with course directors throughout the system to transform an idea or educational need into high quality, effective simulation education programs in line with educational best practices.

Mary Anne M. Kenyon, DNP, MPH, MS, ONC, RN

Director of Nursing Education

Mary Anne Murphy Kenyon, DNP, MPH, MS, ONC, RN, is a professional development manager in the Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE) and Director of Nursing Education at STRATUS. She has a BSN in Nursing, MPH in Epidemiology, MS in Nursing Administration and Gerontology, and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. She is a certified in Orthopedic Nursing and has spent 35 years at BWH in Orthopedics and Ortho Trauma as a staff nurse, clinical educator and nurse director.

In 2018, Mary Anne made a practice change to her current role, supporting nursing orientation and competency. She thoroughly enjoys working with new staff to ensure that they are warmly welcomed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital and are set up with the best practices experiences to ensure their satisfaction, while delivering the safest care to our patients and families. At STRATUS, she is interested in exploring the interconnections of current nursing projects including the nursing residency program, regulatory readiness, orientation, annual competency, and geriatric leadership program.

Kathleen Wittels, MD

Director of the International Program in Clinical Simulation |
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kathleen Wittels received her medical degree from Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School and completed residency in the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH)/Mass General Hospital (MGH). She is a practicing emergency medicine physician at BWH and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In addition to her leadership role in STRATUS, Dr. Wittels is the Director of Student Programs for the Department of Emergency Medicine at BWH. Dr. Wittels is recognized as a leading educator through her work developing new curricula for Harvard medical students and innovative emergency medicine simulation curriculum for Harvard learners. She has received multiple teaching and education awards and lectures nationally and internationally on topics including medical simulation and assessment of learners.

Elmira Andreeva, MD

Emergency Medicine Simulation Fellow

Dr. Elmira Andreeva is the current Emergency Medicine Simulation Fellow and an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She attended medical school at Emory University School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Boston Medical Center.

During residency, Dr. Andreeva was involved in the development and implementation of multiple curricula and educational simulation projects. During her time at STRATUS, she is looking forward to exploring the numerous facets of medical simulation, including quality and process improvement, human factors research, and the use of technology to advance medical education.

Operations

Persephone Giannarikas, CHSOS, BA, NREMT

Operations Manager

Persephone was promoted to oversee the Operations Team at the STRATUS Center after starting her simulation career here more than four years ago as a Simulation Specialist. Previously, she has worked in various healthcare roles at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including as a patient care associate. Persephone is a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) through the Boston Emergency Medical Services program. She aspires to become an emergency department nurse. She continues to builds positive relationships with key institutional team members while ensuring policies and workflows are documented and meet institutional standards. Persephone’s dynamic and creative leadership style is dedicated to keeping STRATUS a pioneer in high-quality simulation programs.

Eric Nohelty, BS, NREMT

Simulation Specialist

Eric joined STRATUS from his previous role in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Emergency Department as an ESA. He graduated Brandeis University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience and Biology. He has explored different fields of research including Sports Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Infectious Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital. Outside of work he likes to be active, rock climb, and nerd out on all things outer space.

Brian Quach, BS, NREMT

Simulation Specialist

Brian joined STRATUS as a simulation specialist after working as an emergency medical technician for more than three years, in addition to serving one year as an emergency department technician at Faulkner Hospital. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and aspires to become a physician. Currently, Brian is working on getting his personal training license. Outside of work Brian enjoys weightlifting, boxing, and taking long walks on the beach.

Yash Verma, BS, NREMT

Simulation Specialist

Yash transitioned to STRATUS after serving as an Anesthesia Technician in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Perioperative Services Department. In addition to his clinical experience, he brings with him a background in conducting research in pediatric neuroblastoma, where he applied his skills in Bioinformatics to analyze complex datasets. Yash’s aspirations extend beyond research, as he harbors a deep desire to pursue a career as a physician.

Research

Roger D. Dias, MD, MBA, PhD

Director of Research & Innovation |
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Roger Dias is a physician-scientist. His research focuses on the application of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, wearable sensors, digital biomarkers, and extended reality (XR), to assess and enhance clinicians’ performance and improve patient safety in a variety of fields, including emergency medicine, critical care, surgery and space medicine. Dr. Dias’s research is funded by the NIH, AHRQ, NASA, and DoD.

Dr. Dias was trained in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil and earned a PhD in Medical Sciences and an MBA in Hospital and Health System Administration. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School, developing research in simulation, human factors, non-technical skills, wearable sensors, and machine learning. Dr. Dias leads the Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering Lab at STRATUS.

Ryan Harari, PhD

Research Scientist |
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Ryan Harari is a Research Scientist and faculty member at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Mass General Brigham, and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. With a background in Systems Engineering, Computer Sciences, and Human Factors, Dr. Harari has developed extensive and multidisciplinary skillsets in tackling scientific problems within a variety of large-scale and federally funded research projects funded by the NSF, NASA, DoT, DoD, and NIH. Dr. Harari leverages his expertise in cognitive engineering, augmented and virtual reality development, machine learning, and sensing technologies to augment clinical capabilities and care quality in complex individual and team-based activities.

Paulo Borges MD, MSc, PhD

Research Fellow

Dr. Paulo Borges attended medical school at Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE) in Brazil. After completing a general surgery residency and a pediatric surgery clinical fellowship, he earned a master’s degree in Children’s Health from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) and was trained in abdominal solid organs transplant. He earned a PhD in Medical Sciences at Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP) where he was a practicing emergency surgeon and head of the Pediatric Surgery Department. Dr. Borges has explored different fields of research including pediatric solid organ transplant at Boston Children’s Hospital and Neurosurgery Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as a postdoctoral fellow.

Robson Jaques Verly, PhD

Research Fellow

Dr. Robson Jaques Verly received a PhD in Space Geophysics from the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil. His previous research experience includes remote sensing, virtual/immersive reality applications, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. As a software developer, Dr. Verly has created several applications to solve problems in the fields of automation, sensor integration, data analysis, solution optimization, cloud computing, web applications, cross-platform applications, and learning systems. During the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School postdoc fellowship, he aims to further develop his research and leadership skills and use his technical knowledge to solve complex problems in healthcare and medical education.

Assistant Directors

Matthew DiFrancesco, MD
Assistant Director for Medicine

Tanzeema Hossain, MD
Assistant Director for Newborn Medicine

Pardon Kenney, MD
Assistant Director for Surgery

Suzanne Klainer, MD
Assistant Director for Anesthesia

David Meguerdichian, MD
Assistant Director for Emergency Medicine – Residency

Michael Muto, MD
Assistant Director for OB/GYN

Helen Shields, MD
Assistant Director for Medicine

Douglas Smink, MD, MPH
Assistant Director for Surgery

Stacy Smith, MD
Assistant Director for Radiology

Michael Weaver, MD
Assistant Director for Orthopaedics

Kathleen Wittels, MD
Assistant Director for Emergency Medicine – Students

Advisory Council

Erik Alexander, MD, FACP
Vice President of Education, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Executive Director, Brigham Education Institute
Associate Dean, BWH Undergraduate Medical Education & Harvard Medical School

Helen Christou, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Sonali Desai, MD, MBA
Director of Quality, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Director of Ambulatory Patient Safety, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Matthew DiFrancesco, MD
Internal Medicine Hospitalist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

George Dyer, MD
Attending Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Christopher Gilligan, MD, MBA
Associate Chief Medical Officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Chief, Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Director, Brigham and Women’s Spine Center

Caroline Houde, PhD
Executive Director, Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Stephanie Kayden, MD, MPH
Deputy Chair of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Pardon R. Kenney MD, MMsc, FACS
Staff Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital

Pamela Linzer, PhD, RN, MSN
Executive Director, Center for Nursing Excellence and Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Mallika Mendu, MD, MBA
Associate Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Madelyn Pearson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, MA, MS
Chief Nursing Officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Brendan Russell, MBA
Enterprise Vice President of Emergency Medicine, Mass General Brigham

Douglas Smink, MD
Chief of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
Vice Chair of Education, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, FACEP
Chair of Emergency Medicine, Mass General Brigham