Current Environment:

Voluntary Gabapentin recall

There is a voluntary recall of Gabapentin 600mg tablets (ScieGen Pharmaceuticals). Bottles may also contain 800mg tablets. Call your pharmacy for questions.

Meet the PI

Headshot of a brunette woman, Sarah Nelson. Sarah Nelson, PhD - Principal Investigator

Sarah Nelson, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Psychologist in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. Her research focuses on the incidence rate and correlates of adverse childhood experiences in pediatric chronic pain populations and on the neurobiological mechanisms of psychological stress, including allostatic load, in pediatric chronic pain. She is the past recipient of a Boston Children's Hospital Office of Faculty Development Career Development Award and a current recipient of a five-year K23 award from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), which is the first clinical trial to examine the neurobiological mechanisms of stress and mind-body interventions in youth with chronic widespread pain.

Lab Members

Samantha headshot, a woman with dark hair has a closed mouth smile as she stares at the camera. Samantha Bento, PhD
Co-Investigator and Collaborator

Samantha P. Bento, Ph.D. is an attending psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Sam earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, specializing in behavioral medicine and pediatric psychology, from UMBC. She completed her psychology residency at Duke University Medical Center and her post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric pain at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Her research interests include pediatric pain management (with a specific interest in cancer pain), psychoneuroimmunology, and the psychosocial functioning and coping mechanisms of children diagnosed with a chronic illness.
 
A woman with brown hair, Bridget Nestor, poses outside for her pain and stress studies team headshot. Bridget Nestor, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Bridget Nestor, PhD is a post-doctoral research fellow at Boston’s Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University in 2022 and completed her clinical internship at Franciscan Children’s. As a post-doc, her research interests include studying the effects of stress on physical and mental health in adolescents. She is also interested in using digital assessments to better understand adolescents’ social and behavioral patterns. Clinically, she is interested in taking a biopsychosocial approach to provide evidence-based intervention to youth and families.
 
A man, Joaquin Moreno, with dark hair and glasses wears a blue suit for his headshot for the pain and studies lab team page. Joaquin Moreno, BSA, BA
Research Assistant

Joaquin graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 with a BSA in Biology, BA in Sociology, and Business of Healthcare Certificate from the McComb’s School of Business. He is currently pursuing an MS/MPH dual degree in Medical Sciences and Healthcare Management from Boston University’s School of Medicine (GMS) and Boston University’s School of Public Health. Joaquin is interested in studying how pediatric health disparities influence youth with chronic pain.
 
Srinath-Aarabhi, BS Aarabhi (Nammu) Srinath
Research Intern

Aarabhi (Nammu) Srinath graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She is currently completing a Master’s in Medical Sciences at Boston University. She is currently helping research the interaction between pain and stress in adolescent populations with chronic pain at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also acting as a medical scribe in the adult pulmonary department at Tufts Medical Center. She has a passion for healthcare and wants to help serve underrepresented populations in the future.
 

Alumni

Jen.

 

 Jenny Kim
Clinical Research Coordinator