Huntington's Disease Team

Herminia Diana Rosas, MD, MSc, Director

Diana Rosas is Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Neuroimaging in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases within the Mass General Institute for Neurodegeneration. She earned her MD at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She completed her neurology and post-doctoral training at Mass General/Harvard Medical School. She has been a member of the Huntington Study Group (HSG) for more than 20 years. She has served as a site investigator or principal investigator on many NIH or commercially sponsored clinical and observational studies. She was the Co-PI of a series of phase II and phase III studies of creatine, of the first secondary prevention trial conducted in at-risk HD subjects, and the first multicenter trial of an epigenetic therapy for HD. Her translational clinical research translational program focuses on developing biomarkers to better understand the onset of HD as well as progression, which can be variable even in families, and to using these biomarkers to make clinical trials more efficient. She has authored more than 100 peer-review publications, has served as a reviewer for NIH and has been on several editorial boards.

Ellen Penney, MD, PhD
Ellen Penney, MD PhD, is an Instructor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Penney completed her undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Oberlin College and received her MD and PhD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her residency in neurology at the Mass General Brigham Neurology Residency at Harvard Medical School. She received fellowship training in movement disorders at Yale New Haven Hospital and Mass General. As part of the Mass General movement disorder unit, Dr. Penney sees patients in the Mass General Dystonia Clinic and the Mass General Huntington’s Disease Clinic. She is the Director of the X-linked Dystonia and Parkinsonism (XDP) Brain Bank and oversees dissection, processing and distribution of brain tissue for XDP research. She also conducts research using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells to study abnormal RNA and DNA structures that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease and XDP. The goal of this research is to identify common pathways that lead to neurodegeneration and may be targets for drug development. 

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Neuropsychiatrist

Kaloyan Tanev, MD
Dr. Tanev is the Director of Clinical Neuropsychiatry Research at MGH; he served as the Medical Director of the Huntington’s disease program at the University of Connecticut Health Center for 3 years, prior to joining MGH. He is interested in developing awareness of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as HD.

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Other Specialists

Elizabeth Christiansen, MS, CCC-SLP
Liz is a speech-language pathologist who specializes in adults with neurogenic speech, language, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Purdue University and her Master of Science from MGH Institute of Health Professions. She is licensed by the board of Massachusetts and has her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Before coming to MGH, Liz worked in a variety of settings including homecare and inpatient rehabilitation. She is passionate about helping patients improve the quality of their lives and views individuals holistically, treating both the mind and the body.

Erin Donovan, OTR/L
Erin received her Bachelor's degree in Therapeutic Studies in 2014 and then Master's degree in Occupational Therapy in 2016 from Boston University. She started her career working with patients in inpatient rehabilitation prior to coming to Massachusetts General Hospital. She worked in acute care for several years in the areas of neurology, cardiology, oncology, and mental health before transitioning to the outpatient department where she now focuses primarily on treating patients who have neurological conditions. In addition to working as an occupational therapist, she is a certified yoga instructor with training in mindfulness, trauma-informed care, and myofascial release. She collaborates with the multidisciplinary Parkinson's, ALS, FD, and Huntington's teams.

Ellen Godena, EdM, MSW, LICSW
Ms. Godena is a clinical social worker/psychotherapist who provides individual and family psychosocial assessments, psychotherapy and crisis intervention for patients using cognitive/behavioral approaches and provides referrals, as needed. She also assists counseling patients in families and providing education regarding advanced directives, palliative care, and hospice treatment options. She works closely with our patients and families to make sure that their needs are met.

Heather Salon, PT, DPT
Heather received her Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. She received her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from Simmons College in 1996, and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the MGH Institute for Health Professions in 2009. She became board certified by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties in Neurologic Physical Therapy in 2011.

Heather joined the physical therapy service at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2007. She works on the outpatient service with patients with neurological disorders. She works in both the Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinic as well as the Huntington’s Disorder Clinic and provides outpatient episodes of care for a wide variety of patients with neurological or vestibular disorders. She also serves as a mentor for the Mass General PT Neurological Residency program and is a lab instructor for the MGH Institute for Health Professions program. She is actively involved in the American Physical Therapy Association/Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy at both the state and national level.

Charlotte Sida, MSW, LICSW
Charlotte obtained her BA from Fairfield University and Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College. Charlotte has nine years experience within the non-profit sector. Her work has varied from serving the homeless, youth and adults with developmental disabilities, and vulnerable and chronically ill children and their families. She has four years experience facilitating various support groups of all ages as well as individualized therapeutic support.  Prior to joining the team at Massachusetts General Hospital, she has worked in a variety of medical settings including, Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Currently, Charlotte works full-time as an Oncology Social Worker at Boston Children’s Hospital and part-time in the MIND clinic at Mass General.

Rachel Wadkins, PT, DPT
Rachel is a physical therapist who specializes in neurological and vestibular rehabilitation. She earned both her B.S. in Exercise Science and Doctor of Physical Therapy from Simmons College. She is certified in the LSVT BIG training program for people with movement disorders. She is passionate about providing individualized care to help patients and families remain active and achieve their goals. She offers outpatient services at MGH’s main campus.

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Research Staff

Graham Kupsaw, Clinical Research Coordinator
Graham received his Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from Brown University in December 2023. As a clinical research coordinator, he enjoys working with participants involved in longitudinal studies and clinical research trials.

Ashley Loh, Clinical Research Coordinator
Ashley graduated from Amherst College in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. As a clinical research coordinator on the Huntington's Disease research team, she is involved in both observational research studies and clinical trials. Ashley is credentialed as a Huntington Study Group (HSG) Associate Coordinator.

Hannah Robins, Clinical Research Coordinator
Hannah graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 2023, where she majored in both Music and Biology. As a clinical research coordinator, she enjoys working with patients on both observational studies and clinical trials. Hannah is credentialed as a Huntington Study Group (HSG) Associate Coordinator.

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Affiliated Staff

Diane Lucente, Genetic Counselor
617-726-1561
Diane Lucente, MS, LCGC worked as a research technician investigating genetic causes of neurological diseases for several years before training to become a Genetic Counselor, a role that she has filled for the past 20+ years. For the past 15 years, she has been a Research and Clinical Genetic Counselor in the MGH Center for Genomic Medicine and Department of Neurology. She provides clinical care to patients and families with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental conditions, including diagnostic testing for patients with symptoms and presymptomatic testing for individuals with a 50% chance of inheriting a genetic condition. She is also actively involved in research, the focus of which is to try and determine the natural history and underlying causes for many neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions.