Faculty
Balachundhar Subramaniam, MD, MPH, FASA
Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Ellison "Jeep" Pierce Chair of Anesthesia, BIDMC
Director, Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet
Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215
Dr. Subramaniam received his medical degree from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER, Pondicherry, India) and completed his residency in anesthesiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. He received his postdoctoral training in anesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated teaching hospital in Boston. Dr. Subramaniam completed fellowships in Cardiac Anesthesia, and Transesophageal Echocardiography at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He also obtained an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Since 2014, he has served as the Director of the Center for Anesthesia Research Excellence (CARE). In 2019 he was appointed as the first incumbent of the Ellison "Jeep" Pierce Chair of Anesthesia at BIDMC. Dr. Subramaniam's research focuses on improving perioperative outcomes and, more recently on the benefits of mindfulness practices on health outcomes and general well-being. In October, 2020 he opened the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet: Enhancing Consciousness, Cognition, and Compassion and will direct the Center.
Kestas Kveraga, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia
Kestutis Kveraga, PhD joins our Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet as an Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at HMS. Dr. Kveraga was previously a faculty member at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he held an appointment of Assistant Professor of Radiology at HMS and was the Director of the Visual Neurodynamics Lab at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in the Department of Radiology. Dr. Kveraga received his undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts in Experimental Psychology and his PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. He did a fellowship in neuroimaging at HMS and MGH. Dr. Kveraga is a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in brain imaging and recording techniques (MRI, MEG, EEG), visual psychophysics, and eye- and limb-tracking. He is also skilled in brain connectivity analyses, such as dynamic causal modeling (DCM) and phase-locking analyses.
Valluvan Rangasamy, MD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesia
Valluvan Rangasamy, MD received his MBBS from Stanley Medical College in India and his Medical Degree from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where he also did his residency in Anesthesiology. He pursued higher level training in the UK and served as a senior registrar in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, where he was involved in high risk surgeries, obstetric, anesthesia, and critical care. Dr. Rangasamy completed a clinical fellowship with our department in 2019. He is active in clinical research as well in areas such as perioperative outcomes, hemodynamics, and frailty.
Shahla Siddiqui, MD
Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia
Shahla Siddiqui, MBBS, DABA, MSc, FCCM received her medical degree from Aga Khan University in Pakistan and her MSc in Medical Ethics from the University Singapore. Dr. Siddiqui did her anesthesia residency at the University of Maryland and a critical care fellowship at Columbia University. In addition to her clinical work, she has had an active research career and has many areas of interest, including inter-professional education, health-science qualitative research, ICU burnout, sepsis in the ICU, the genomics of sepsis and ICU outcomes. She is also very interested in medical ethics and related topics such as compassion in medicine, an areas where she has several active projects.
Sepideh Hariri, PhD
Instructor in Anaesthesia
Program Manager
Dr. Sepideh Hariri received her PhD in Physics with a research focus in Biophysics and Medical Imaging, from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in 2013. Since then, she has been an active educator and researcher. Sepideh also received her BSC in Physics from Amirkabir University of Technology in Iran and her MSc in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Iran University of Science and Technology. Following her lifelong passion for exploring the deeper dimensions of life and empowering others to find well-being, Sepideh joyfully serves the center as the Program Manager and is an Instructor of Anesthesia at HMS. Her current research is focused on the use of meditation-based interventions to better understand and enhance brain health, cognition, and optimal aging.
Preeti U. Reed, MBBS, MPH, DIPPM
Instructor in Anesthesia
Staff Scientist
Preeti completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Kathmandu University before shifting her focus to pursue a career in global health. Preeti has a Masters of Public Health from the University of Sydney and a Diploma in Global Project Management from Torrens University with an emphasis on leadership and management. She joined Dr. Subramaniam’s lab in July 2019 as a Clinical Research Fellow where she executed study design & implementation, data analysis, and project management for mind-body intervention (MBI) research. Her work in these trials has resulted in multiple publications in reputed peer-reviewed journals along with articles in the Harvard Health Blog. Her current research focuses on the impact of MBI on various clinical populations (e.g.: Long Covid & Parkinson's Disease). She aspires to eventually impact policy changes to address disparities in access to holistic healthcare.
Priyam Mathur, MS
Project Manager
Ms. Mathur graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Biology and a BA in Communication and Media studies. She continued to Indiana University, where she completed her Master's in Health Informatics. Priyam's interest in data management led her to an internship with Dr. Subramaniam's lab where she then worked as the project lead for the NIH-funded Dynamic Biomarkers trial. She is currently a Project Manager with Sadhguru Center. Her expertise is in data management of complex biomarker datasets and large grant-funded clinical trials.
Nashaw Jafari, MA
Project Administrator
Nashaw graduated from Emperor’s College with a Master of Acupuncture (MAc) with a Chinese Herbal Medicine specialization. She received her MA degree in Clinical Psychology from Alliant International University. She graduated from Soka University of America with a BA degree in Liberal Arts and a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences. Nashaw supports with outreach, research, and administration.
Rashmi Borah, MS
Regulatory Specialist
Rashmi Borah has an MS in Regulatory Affairs from Northeastern University, an MS in Microbial Technology from Amity University in Uttar Pradesh, India and a BS in Zoology from the University of Delhi in India. She has worked as a regulatory project manager at Aleon Pharma International, Inc in Parsippany, NY, a clinical research assistant at the Health Technology Laboratory at Northeastern University, and a clinical/regulatory intern at Nocion Therapeutics in Waltham, MA.
Morgan McCarthy
Communications Specialist
Morgan McCarthy received her BS in Sociology from Salem State University. She has previously worked as a Social Media Specialist and a Social Media and Marketing Manager. Morgan supports communication efforts at the center focusing on social media and marketing.
Hibiki Orui, MA
Biostatistician
Hibiki Orui graduated from Boston University with a Masters of Arts in Biostatistics. He is interested in analyses of clinical research and observational studies. His main focus is to ensure the research project/studies are appropriately designed, properly analyzed, and suitably interpreted for the collaborators.
Anne K.Aly
Administrative Coordinator
Anne has her BS from City University of New York in Community Health Education. She is currently studying at Liberty University online for her Master’s in Public Health, which she expects to receive next Spring 2025. Before joining our department, Anne worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a practice assistant in Urology, a data analyst at CDC Foundation and an emerging clinical operation assistant at PAREXEL International in Billerica, MA.
Akila Rayapuraju, BA
Project Administrator
Akila completed her BA with a major in Cell Biology & Neuroscience and a minor in Creative Writing at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. During her time at university, she worked on various research projects ranging from the effects of oxytocin receptors in the spinal cord and DRG on tactile sensitivity, to the impact of mindfulness-based practices on student wellbeing and perception of social groups in higher education. She also served on the executive board of Active Minds, the largest student-run mental health organization at Rutgers University. Akila is interested in studying mind-body therapies as a way to promote mental health and overall well-being.
Peri-Operative Team
Zaid Hussain, MBBS
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Zaid Hussain received his MBBS from Kasturba Medical College in Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India. During his medical education, he also worked as a Research Intern in Cleft and Craniofacial Research at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research in Chennai, India and thereafter as the research coordinator at the Cleft & Craniofacial Centre in Chennai. He has also worked as an emergency room physician at the Sundaram Medical Foundation in Chennai and hopes to train in the fields of emergency and critical care medicine.
Tahereh Shamsi, MD
Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow
Tahereh obtained her MD from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Iran. She engaged in medical practice and held the position of head of the COVID-19 task force in Iran. In the United States, she commenced her American experience as a postdoctoral clinical research fellow at TUFTS Medical Center, in the Rheumatology Division. Later, in February 2024, she became a Clinical Research Fellow at SCCP, working under the guidance of Dr. Subramaniam. Her research focuses on various areas such as perioperative outcomes, delirium, anesthesia, and pain management.
MBI Team
Braiden DeSchryver
Clinical Research Assistant
Braiden DeSchryver received his BS in Human Physiology from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. He has worked as a lead undergraduate research assistant at the Medical Research Center in Iowa City and an assistant laboratory technician at Core Laboratories in Iowa City.
Morgan Pratt
Clinical Research Assistant I
Morgan Pratt received her BS in Biology, with a Neuroscience concentration, along with minors in Italian and Business from The Pennsylvania State University at State College. As an undergraduate, she studied emotion regulation and human development in the Cole Emotion Regulation Lab at Penn State. Her current interest is in the exploration and application of mind-body interventions in autonomic nervous system disorders.
Peri-Operative and MBI Team
Riku Ihalainen, PhD, MSC
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Riku Ihalainen holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Kent and an MSc. in Cognitive Neuropsychology from the University of Sheffield, City College. His work focuses on brain connectivity and understanding the interplay between neural activity, cognition, behavior, and consciousness. His main scientific interests include altered states of consciousness, neuroimaging, statistical methods, and music cognition.
Enas Mohamed, MD, MMSc-GHD
Clinical Research Fellow
Enas Mohamed graduated from the University of Technological Science in Sudan. She practiced medicine in Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. In May 2021, Enas earned her Master's degree in Social Medicine and Global Health Delivery from Harvard Medical School. She currently works as a research assistant at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Enas is passionate about topics related to social medicine and uses her qualitative research skills to understand different communities' perspectives toward wrong cultural practices that can cause harm to their health. Currently, Enas advocates against female genital mutilation in USA.