Massachusetts General Hospital

We're still celebrating being ranked #1 in Psychiatry in the nation! We asked staff members in the department to share their reactions to the news.

This Spring, in recognition of Recovery Week, Tom Gunning, executive director of the Building Trades Employers’ Association (BTEA) Northeast, spoke with the teams working on the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building construction site about his own battle with addiction. More than 700 union construction workers and building trades employers paused work on the construction of the Ragon Building—currently the largest job site in Boston—gathered for a meal and heard from leaders, like Tom, who are working to address the mental health and substance use crisis gripping the construction industry. “Coming forward is the hardest part, but doing it lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders,” Tom said in his remarks at the Ragon Building stand-down. “I’m so grateful today that I did the things I didn’t want to do in order to overcome this disease. If I can help just one person here today start taking the steps to get sober, I’ll have done my job.” http://spklr.io/6040B1sag

Pat was born with smaller-than-normal kidneys, and by age 6, he was showing signs of chronic kidney disease. He is also nonverbal, on the autism spectrum and lives with a mitochondrial disorder. After receiving a kidney transplant out of state at age 15, Pat and his family moved back to New England in search of expert care closer to home. Thanks to Mass General Brigham for Children at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, they found just that. Pat now gets most of his post-transplant care just a short drive away while still benefiting from annual, multidisciplinary visits in Boston. For his mom, Margarita, the convenience and continuity of care mean everything. “He’s made me see what’s really important—slowing down and enjoying life,” said his mom, Margarita. Read Pat’s full story and how his care team is helping him thrive: http://spklr.io/6043B1sLJ

A heroic day at Mass General Brigham for Children! Yesterday, patients and staff got a special visit from FAN EXPO HQ cosplayers, including Spider-Man, Batman, Thor and Captain Marvel. They posed for photos and showed off their best superhero moves.

We recently hosted community leaders from around Eastern Massachusetts to mark the launch of two important efforts: The Kraft Center for Community Health Champions Award and the Community Health Corps. The Kraft Center Community Health Champions Awards inaugural recipients were four Mass General Brigham employees and two local organizations doing extraordinary work in supporting community health outcomes through social risk mitigation in one of the Kraft Center’s priority areas: cancer, heart disease and diabetes, maternal health, and substance use disorder. Congratulations: Claudine Bruff-Lopes, RN, BSN, MHA; Joyce P. Clark, MHM; Joshua Abrams, JD; Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, MD; Women Encouraging Empowerment Inc. and Healthy Streets Outreach Program! These awards were made possible thanks to the generosity of M&T Bank. The event also marked the launch of the Community Health Corps, an initiative co-funded by the Biogen Foundation. The program will train and support individuals to become ambassadors of health improvement in their local communities. As paid employees of Mass General Brigham, Corps members will receive comprehensive training equipping them with the skills needed to prevent and manage the chronic diseases that lead to premature mortality. Photos by Gretchen Ertl

"Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined, so we’re trying to help people understand that this is not a man’s disease,” Whitney Coppolino, MD, cardiologist at Mass General Brigham. Dr. Coppolino is working to highlight the heart risks women face, from pregnancy-related conditions to stress and spontaneous artery dissection (SCAD). Recognizing these lesser-known risks can be life-saving. Learn more: http://spklr.io/6047B1isb

Are you attending #AANA2025, August 10–12? Stop by booths #1143 and #1224 to connect with leaders in anesthesia from across our world-renowned healthcare system. With over 200 years of history and innovation, we’re shaping the future of anesthesia and patient care.

Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in U.S. women, claiming nearly 500,000 lives each year. The free virtual ADVANCE Grand Rounds series, which formally launches in September 2025, aims to educate healthcare professionals about women's cardiovascular health with the goal of improving cardiovascular outcomes for all women. Read more from Program Director Colleen Harrington, MD. http://spklr.io/6048B1dew

This week U.S. News & World Report announced that Mass General is #1 in the nation for Psychiatry. In the historic ether dome, staff from across the department came together to celebrate this incredible achievement.

Why do people develop antibodies to food? While clinicians have long observed that healthy humans develop a particular type of antibody, called IgG, to the foods they eat, the reasons for this phenomenon have remained unknown. Researchers, led by investigators from Allergy and Immunology at Mass General Brigham, have identified the mechanism underlying IgG antibody development to food proteins. They discovered that humans are intrinsically predisposed to develop a particular type of IgG antibody to peanut by human antibody genes. “Our research not only explains why we have always found these antibodies against peanuts, but why so many people, including young children, have such similar antibodies to a food so common in the world,” says senior author Sarita Patil, MD, co-director of the Food Allergy Center at Mass General. While this work begins to explain why nonallergic individuals develop antibodies to food proteins, it also has important implications to the field of allergy. The fact that individuals develop highly similar antibodies suggests that it is also possible to therapeutically target food allergy across patients. “As we know, antibodies can be protective, but they can also cause disease in the context of allergy,” says Dr. Patil. “If on a larger level, we can dissect how humans develop antibodies, and why some go on to become allergic, we may be able to intervene with targeted therapies to treat and prevent food allergies on a population level.”