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MEDICAL LEADERS
Mitchel B. Harris, MD
Mitchel B. Harris, MD
Co-Medical Director

Harris’ overarching goal for the center is to bring together individual scientists and clinicians with a common interest in trauma to help streamline research and encourage multi-institutional collaborations. Until the fall of 2016, Harris served as the chief of Orthopaedic Trauma Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was awarded the Stepping Strong Distinguished Chair of Orthopedic Surgery. Currently, he is a professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the administrative chief of Orthopedic Trauma for Partners HealthCare System. He was a recipient of the International Volvo Award for Low Back Pain Research, has received three Teacher of the Year awards, and received the Hippocrates Society’s Humanitarian Award (2015) from the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization.

Ali Salim
Co-Medical Director

Ali Salim, MD, FACS, is a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the Division of Trauma, Burns, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency General Surgery at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital. He leads a team of trauma specialists in providing expert, multidisciplinary care for thousands of trauma and burn patients each year. Additionally, he is the BWH Distinguished Chair in Surgery. Salim is both a traumatologist and a surgical intensivist. He devotes his time with equal intensity to research, surgical education, and clinical service. His clinical interests focus on the care of acutely ill trauma, emergency surgery, and intensive care unit patients. Salim’s clinical research is focused on the care and outcomes of trauma patients, traumatic brain injury, improving the physiology of organ donors, and improving the rate of organ donation. He has authored or co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications.

Matthew J. Carty, MD
Director of Strategy and Innovation

In addition to his role as director of strategy and innovation at the Stepping Strong Center, Carty also serves as director of the Lower Limb Extremity Transplant Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Carty is focused on reinventing how lower extremity amputations are performed to provide amputees with greater control of prosthetics and restore their limb responsiveness. In collaboration with Hugh Herr, PhD, from the Center for Extreme Bionics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carty and his team invented the agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) procedure—a surgical method that preserves the normal signaling between a patient’s ankle-foot muscles and his or her brain. The pioneering surgery makes it possible for an amputee to use a bionic prosthetic that acts like a natural limb.

CORE FACULTY
Natalie Artzi, PhD
Scientific Advisor

Natalie Artzi, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Department of Medicine, Division of Engineering in Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is also a principal research scientist at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at Massachusetts Institute for Technology, and is an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Leveraging material science, chemistry, imaging and biology, Artzi’s lab is dedicated to designing smart material platforms and medical devices to improve human health. Artzi pioneered basic understanding of how tissue-responsive materials are now being personalized by considering specific tissue microenvironments that are altered in the face of disease. She has received multiple awards including the Controlled Release Society Young Innovator Award, the Bright Futures Prize from Brigham health, the Society for Biomaterials mid-career award, and Stepping Strong Center’s Innovator and Breakthrough awards. For more information about Artzi’s lab, please visit: www.natalieartzi.com.

Eric Goralnick, MD, MS
Eric Goralnick, MD, MS
Civilian-Military Advisor

Eric Goralnick, MD, MS serves as the Medical Director, Emergency Preparedness and Access Center, Brigham Health. In these two roles, he is responsible for both systemwide efforts to prepare, mitigate, respond, and recover from disasters and coordination of all outside hospital transfers. He is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing emergency medicine physician. Goralnick is the faculty lead for the Harvard Medical School Civilian Military Collaborative and the Brigham’s Center for Surgery and Public Health emergency medicine initiatives. A U.S.Navy veteran, his research focuses on trauma care, emergency preparedness, leadership development, and operations management. Goralnick is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Medicine residency, and holds a Master of Science in Health Care Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School Of Public Health.

Injury Prevention Program Director

Molly Jarman, PhD, MPH is an investigator at the Center for Surgery and Public Health and an instructor in surgery at Harvard Medical School. Her research addresses trauma surgery and emergency medical services, with primary interest in trauma system organization, access to care for underserved populations, and development of methodologies in health services research. With training in both health behavior (MPH, University of North Carolina) and health policy (PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Jarman believes multifaceted, interdisciplinary efforts are essential for preventing injuries.

FOUNDER and ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR
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Audrey Epstein Reny

Audrey Epstein Reny serves as managing partner at The Abbey Group. With more than 25 years of experience, she is involved in overall strategic planning for new development projects, management of the firm’s existing property portfolio, retail and commercial leasing, public and community relations, and marketing strategy development and implementation. Prior to working at The Abbey Group, Audrey taught at Northeastern University and worked for Bain & Company, American Express, and Johnson & Johnson. Audrey has served on the Boards of Horizons for Homeless Children, the Boston Ballet, and Mass General Hospital for Children. She has led fundraising efforts and run the Boston Marathon to support many local charities, and founded the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she also serves on The President’s Advisory Council. Audrey earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Stepping Strong Center Program Leaders
Cheryl Lang, MPH
Senior Program Manager

After joining the Stepping Strong Center in 2019 as Injury Prevention Project Manager, Lang is now serving as the Senior Program Manager. In her new role, she will focus on the strategic oversight of the center while continuing her injury prevention program work. Lang is skilled at executing program strategies and cultivating multidisciplinary collaborations. A passionate advocate for advancing public health, Lang believes all injuries can be prevented. Previously, Lang worked at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Department of Public Health, where she focused on integrating poison prevention strategies into community public health initiatives. She received her Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Public Health degrees at Boston University.

Veronica Topp, MPH
Injury Prevention Project Manager

Topp joined the Stepping Strong Center in the summer of 2022 after completing her Master of Public Health degree in community health at Boston University. In her new role, she will provide day-to-day management of the injury prevention program including conducting community outreach, coordinating Lunch & Learn events, implementing new initiatives, and assisting with injury prevention research. Prior to joining Stepping Strong, she worked in various fields including education, biomedical research, and the non-profit sector. Topp is passionate about creating a more patient-centered and trauma-informed healthcare system and addressing the neglect of trauma as a global epidemic.

Giana Cofman, MBA
Communications Specialist

Cofman joined the Stepping Strong Center in 2023 after completing her Master of Business Administration degree from Emmanuel College. In her role, she will execute the overall marketing and communications for the center including writing all internal and external communications, developing social media strategies and content, translating health information for a wider audience, marketing the center’s events and initiatives, and creating marketing materials for public use. Previously, she completed an internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she focused on injury prevention education. Cofman is passionate about visualizing marketing and communications through a public health lens to help others prevent and address traumatic injuries.

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Stepping Strong Medical Executive Committee consists of leading physicians and researchers from 11 academic institutions with expertise in plastic and orthopaedic surgery, bioengineering, and basic science. The committee advises the center on scientific and medical direction, utility of current initiatives, prioritization of future grant making areas, and selection of Stepping Strong Innovator Award recipients. In addition, committee members provide strategic advice to the Stepping Strong Advisory Board members and Stepping Strong-affiliated faculty.

Medical Executive Committee Members

Shailesh Agarwal, MD

Shailesh Agarwal, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

o	Geoffrey Anderson, MD, MPH

Geoffrey Anderson, MD, MPH
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

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Natalie Artzi, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

DaMarcus Baymon, MD

DaMarcus Baymon, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Matthew J. Carty

Matthew J. Carty, MD
Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Zara Cooper

Zara Cooper, MD, MSc
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

David Crandell

David Crandell, MD
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital 
Massachusetts General Hospital

George Dyer

George Dyer, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Omid Farokhzad

Omid Farokhzad, MD, MBA
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Jonathan Gates, MD, MBA

Jonathan Gates, MD, MBA
Hartford Hospital
Hartford Healthcare Medical Group

Eric Goralnick

Eric Goralnick, MD, MS
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Mitchel B. Harris

Mitchel Harris, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Juan Herrara-Escobar, MD, MPH

Juan Herrera-Escobar, MD, MPH
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

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Molly Jarman, PhD, MPH
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Jeff Karp

Jeff Karp, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Broad Institute

James Lederer

James Lederer, PhD 
Brigham and Women’s Hospital 
Harvard Medical School

Yi Lu

Yi Lu, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

David Mooney

David Mooney, MD, MPH
Children’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Bohdan Pomahac

Bohdan Pomahac, MD
Yale University
Yale School of Medicine

Olivier Pourquie

Olivier Pourquie, PhD 
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Nakul Raykar, MD, MPH

Nakul Raykar, MD, MPH
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Ali Salim

Ali Salim, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Christian Sampson

Christian Sampson, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Indranil Sinha

Indranil Sinha, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Nishant Suneja, MD

Nishant Suneja, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Michael J. Weaver

Mike Weaver, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital 
Harvard Medical School

Scott Weiner, MD, MPH

Scott Weiner, MD, MPH
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

John Wixted

Jack Wixted, MD
Beth Israel Deaconess
Harvard Medical School

Mark Zhang, DO, MMSc

Mark Zhang, DO, MMSc
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School

ADVISORY BOARD

The Stepping Strong Advisory Board consists of distinguished business leaders and philanthropists nationwide. The board provides strategic guidance on Stepping Strong programming, fundraising strategies, and collaboration with the medical community at the Brigham and beyond. Advisory members seek to connect Stepping Strong to leading corporations, philanthropies, and academic centers to which they are affiliated.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Audrey Epstein Reny, Chair
Dave Averett
Jeffrey Beir
Sarah Beir
Paul Bleicher
Tara Ciongoli
Francis Claro
Timothy Diggins
Sandra Edgerley
Barbara Eisenson
Michael Eisenson
Betsy Banks Epstein
David Epstein

Esta Gordon Epstein
Jennifer Epstein
Robert Epstein
Nina Fialkow
Margaret Flanagan
Jane Reny Frank
Michael Greeley
Winston Henderson
William Keravuori
Elizabeth Loughlin
Erin McDonough
Terry McGowan

Jeryl Oristaglio
Ted Pappendick 
Carroll Pierce
Robert Pierce
Danielle Reny
Gillian Reny
Steven Reny
Carmichael Roberts
Elinor Svenson
Hamid Tabatabaie
Ronit Velde

Patricia Winton

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