Scientific Director
Linda G. Griffith, PhD
MIT School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering
MIT MacVicar Fellow
Scientific Director
Linda G. Griffith, PhD
MIT School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering
MIT MacVicar Fellow
Clinical Director
Keith B. Isaacson, MD
Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Newton-Wellesley Hospital Medical Director for Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Associate Clinical Director
Megan I. Loring, MD
Associate Director of the Endometriosis & Adenomyosis Care Collaborative at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Gynecologic Surgeon at Newton-Wellesley Hospital Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Linda G. Griffith, PhD
Linda G. Griffith, (BS Georgia Tech, PhD UC Berkeley, Chemical Engineering) is the School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering and MacVicar Fellow at MIT, where she directs the Center for Gynepathology Research. She led development of the Biological Engineering SB degree program, which was approved in 2005 as MIT’s first new undergraduate major in 39 years.
Griffith has pioneered approaches in tissue engineering, including the first tissue-engineered cartilage in the shape of a human ear; commercialization of the 3DP™ Printing Process for manufacture of FDA-approved scaffolds; commercialization of the 3D perfused “LiverChip” for drug development; and synthetic matrices for tissue morphogenesis. She recently led one of two major DARPA-supported “body-on-a-chip” programs, resulting in the first platform to culture 10 different human mini-organ systems interacting continuously for a month.
Griffith leads the field of “Physiomimetics,” integrating these platform technologies with systems biology and systems immunology to humanize drug development for the most challenging chronic inflammatory diseases, including endometriosis and adenomyosis, through collaboration with industry partners in Pharma and Biotech around the world. She has over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds over a dozen patents. She has chaired numerous scientific meetings, including the Keystone Tissue Organoids Conference (2020), the Signal Transduction by Engineering Extracellular Matrix Gordon Research Conference (2016), and the annual Open Endoscopy Forum (2015-continuing), which brings together gynecology surgeons, scientists, engineers and liberal arts practitioners at MIT for a TED-like weekend. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Radcliffe Fellowship, and several awards from professional societies. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Society for Women’s Health Research and has served on several NIH Advisory Councils including the Advisory Committee to the Director.
Research Publications
The majority of my publications, excepting those in the microfabrication and manufacturing literature not indexed by Pubmed and those published under alternate surnames (Cima and Griffith-Cima) can be found here.
For citations that do not appear on PubMed
(Polymer science, Micropumps, Microdevices, Education, etc..):
click here.
Griffith Lab Website
http://lgglab.mit.edu/
Keith B. Isaacson, MD
Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Newton-Wellesley Hospital Medical Director for Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery and the Endometriosis and Adenomyosis Care Collaborative
Keith Isaacson is currently director of the residency and fellowship for minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and infertility at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and clinical director for MIT’s Center for Gynepathology Research.
Isaacson is a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist with over 37 years of experience in the medical field. Originally from Atlanta, he graduated cum laude from Tulane University with honors in biology in 1979 and attended medical school at the Medical College of Georgia. He finished his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana and completed a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently board certified in Reproductive Endocrinology and General Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Isaacson was the Division Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1991 until 2001. In the fall of 2001, he moved to open the Center for Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery and Infertility at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
Dr. Isaacson is the past president of the Society of Reproductive Surgeons (SRS) and the past president (2012) of the American Association of Gynecologic Surgeons (AAGL). He served as the President of the AAGL/SRS Fellowship Board of Directors and on the Board of Directors of the Society of Laparoscopic Surgeons. His recent awards include the Distinguished Surgeon Award from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in 2013 and the John F. Steege Mentorship Award from AAGL (2020). Dr. Isaacson has focused his clinical career in advance hysteroscopic and laparoscopic procedures in women wishing to maintain their reproductive potential. He has over 100 peer reviewed publications, numerous textbook chapters, and has edited two textbooks on laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery.
Megan I. Loring, MD
Associate Director, Endometriosis & Adenomyosis Care Collaborative at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Assistant Professor, Tufts Medical School Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Research Affiliate, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Megan Loring is a minimally-invasive gynecologic surgeon at Newton-Wellesley Hospital & Massachusetts General Hospital where she also is the associate director of the Endometriosis & Adenomyosis Care Collaborative. In the Collaborative, she actively participates in clinical and basic science research with the Center for Gynepathology Research as well as provides multidisciplinary care to complex patients with endometriosis, adenomyosis and chronic pelvic pain.
Dr. Loring is originally from the west coast where she graduated magna cum laude from the University of California – Los Angeles. She then attended medical school and achieved Alpha Omega Alpha at University of California- San Francisco. Dr. Loring completed her Obstetrics & Gynecology Residency at Stanford University Hospital before moving to the Boston-area for fellowship in Minimally-Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She is currently board certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Dr. Loring is active in professional organizations such as the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). She has published several peer-reviewed manuscripts as well as review articles on endometriosis and adenomyosis. In addition to her research, she enjoys teaching medical students, residents and especially her AAGL fellows in laparoscopic, robotic and hysteroscopic surgery.
Michal C. Tal, PhD
Visiting Scientist (MIT) / Instructor (Stanford)
Paige Hansen
Technical Associate / Lab Manager
Brandon Lee
Technical Associate I
Learn more at https://covid19salivastudy.sites.stanford.edu
Clara Ives
Technical Associate
Ives, with a background in microphysiological modeling, works as technical support in the development of an in vitro model of vascularized endometriotic lesions. She assists post-docs and graduate students in designing hydrogel systems to support the key cell types of the endometrium and incorporating the cocultures into microfluidic device platforms.
Lauren Baugh, PhD
Postdoc, Systems Biology
Baugh, who earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts University, works with a team of people in the Lauffenburger and Griffith labs at MIT to use ‘omics’ data sets to study endometriosis using computational biology techniques. The team uses of a mixture of wet lab in vitro and ex vivo methods combined with systems biology approaches to see how single cell RNA sequencing and proteomics analysis of patient-matched samples can be used to develop diagnostic and pharmaceutical treatment options for patients.
Alex Brown, PhD
Postdoc, Tissue Engineering
Dr. Brown joined the group after receiving a BS in Bioengineering from Lehigh University. During his PhD, Alex designed engineerable biomaterial microenvironments to support vascularized in vitro tissue models. He is now a research scientist in the group continuing the application of these technologies towards engineering complex multicellular in vitro models of the endometrium and endometriosis lesions.
Juan Gnecco, PhD
Postdoc, Tissue Engineering
Dr. Gnecco is a postdoctoral fellow who aspires to an academic career in gynecological research and now leads the 3D endometrium team. He received his PhD in Molecular Pathology and Immunology at Vanderbilt in 2018, working with renowned endometriosis investigator Dr. Kevin Osteen. At MIT, Gnecco has pushed frontiers in two areas – 3D imaging of lesion structure using tissue clearing and light-sheet imaging, and development of 3D co-culture models of patient-derived endometrial organoids with stromal and endothelial cells, to capture the physiology of both the eutopic endometrium as well as ectopic lesions, the former in health and disease.
Allison Lenhard
MS student, Mechanical Engineering
Lenhard, who earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in May 2020, joined the endometriosis device team in September 2020. She is primarily interested in developing control algorithms and hardware for mechatronic devices. Her area of research is in control systems and mechatronics, and her current research is focused on control applications to regulate fluid flow rates for tissue culture platforms.
Duncan O’Boyle
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering
O’Boyle earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State and got a jump start on his MIT academic career, joining the endometriosis device team in May, 2019. He brings a strong background in component design, heat transfer, and electromechanical systems from his prior industry experience at ThermoFisher. His goal is to apply expertise in mechatronics and heat transfer to provide solutions for biomedical devices and analytical instruments.
O’Boyle’s current research involves the development of micro-physiological systems which leverage mechanical automation and microfluidics to culture live human tissue, with a focus on modeling human endometriosis lesions. These systems serve as a platform for studying metabolic processes and cellular responses in a controlled setting and closely simulate an in vivo environment. Special features of these devices include compatibility with lipophilic compounds (e.g. sex steroids) and circulating immune cells.
Elise Gubbins
PhD Student, Biological Engineering
Gubbins earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2018 and is now excited to have the opportunity to be at MIT and work on women’s health – a particularly important and understudied area. Her work is focused on generating functional tissue engineered models of mucosal barrier tissues. Her primary interest is in the interplay of cell-generated mechanical forces with differentiation, regeneration, and morphogenic pattern development.
Ellen Kan
PhD Student, Biological Engineering, NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Kan, who earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2019, is excited to be part of a multidisciplinary team that is working on novel approaches to improving women’s reproductive health. Her current research is focused on building a vascularized model of the endometriotic lesion microenvironment. By using this model to study the interplay of hormones and the immune system in endometriosis, we hope to better elucidate disease progression and identify relevant targets for drug development. Kan is also motivated by her past studies of the social and historical aspects of reproductive health, which further inform and ground her scientific research in real-world applications.
Peter R. Movilla
University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Fellowship: Newton Wellesley Hospital (Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery)
Biomedical Engineering degree: Stevens Institute of Technology
Medical degree: Weill Cornell Medical College (Medical Degree)
Residency: University of California San Francisco (Obstetrics & Gynecology)
CGR Experience Statement: “The Center for Gynepathology Research inspired me to look deeper into the etiology of the all too common and devastating gynecologic diseases that my patients suffer from. CGR is dedicated to learning more about the pathophysiology of disease entities that affect up to 10% of the population, including endometriosis and adenomyosis.
CGR opened my eyes into realizing that my field is in its infancy in terms of learning how to treat these diseases, and [The Center] provided me with so much optimism about future care given the dedication of the scientist and doctors running the group! Due to CGR, I will always look for more thorough explanations for my patient’s symptoms and seek to aim my scientist colleagues in learning more on how to treat these gynecologic diseases.
Dr. Keith Isaacson has been nothing less than vital to the success of my young academic career in gynecologic surgery. His mentorship has recently received its due praise with the prestigious John F. Steege Mentorship Award. Much deserved credit for his years of service to our field of gynecology and for his continued mentorship of future physicians.”
Assistant Professor of Women’s Health, University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School
Christina (“Stina”) Alicia Salazar, MD
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
OB/GYN Residency: Cleveland Clinic / Case Western Reserve MetroHealth
Fellowship: AAGL FMIGS Newton Wellesley
CGR Experience Statement: Working in collaboration with MIT researchers was one of the highlights of my fellowship training. It was fundamental in helping me understand how to construct a bridge between bench scientific investigations and clinical research.
My own experiences working with Dr. Linda Griffith and her team at MIT were pivotal in helping me develop the skills I needed to excel. In my current practice I have made it apriority to continue similar collaborative work by partnering with Dr. Livia Eberlin at UT Austin on endometriosis research.
I feel lucky to have had Dr. Isaacson as my mentor during my fellowship. It is unique to have the opportunity to learn from an innovator and researcher who is also a prolific surgeon. It has helped my own career tremendously to have attained the skill sets and be trained by a leading expert in his field, whose patients travel from all over the United States and abroad in order to consult with him and undergo surgery. I hope to carry the torch and continue providing excellent care for patients both as a clinician and a researcher.”
Jovana Tavcar, MD
Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Mass General Brigham
Medical School: University of Belgrade
OB/GYN Residency: Medstar Georgetown University Hospital/Medstar Washington Hospital Center
MIGS Fellowship: Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Mass General Brigham
CGR Experience Statement : “Being part of the CGR team was a tremendous experience for me. It is an invaluable opportunity to witness the state of the art basic science, contribute to moving the boundaries in the endometriosis spectrum diseases, but also to witness the challenges of scientific work in this area of women’s health and how long is the way ahead of us.
[As a mentor,] Dr. Isaacson is an amazing advocate for women’s health, particularly area of endometriosis and reproductive health. His tremendous enthusiasm in this field is the moving force for decades. He holds his standards remarkably high, as they should be, which motivates fellows to achieve greatness.
My goal is to continue contributing to the basic science research in gynecologic pathology, specifically endometriosis, adenomyosis, and reproductive health…There are so many unanswered questions, that will help so many women suffering, usually in silence. It takes a village, but CGR has enough human enthusiasm and brain power to move the mountain.”
Marron Wong, MD
Gynecologist, Kaiser Permanente
Assistant Professor, Drexel University College of Medicine
Volunteer Faculty, UCSF
Medical School: UCSF 2008 – 2012
OB/GYN Internship and Residency UCSF 2012 – 2016
MIGS Fellowship: Newton-Wellesley
CGR Experience Statement : “As a fellow, we cared for patient after patient with severe endometriosis. It was fantastic to be able to contribute in a small way to this brilliant team of people who are working to understand endometriosis and find a cure.
Besides his contributions to research through CGR and the excellent clinical care Keith Isaacson provides to his patients, Keith’s other legacy is his ever-growing cadre of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery fellows. We are all so lucky to have been able to learn from his mentorship.
[Currently] I care for many patients with endometriosis since we are an endometriosis referral center, and I have a pelvic pain clinic. These patients have often suffered for years without a diagnosis. It can be really helpful to talk about the basic science behind endometriosis to help explain the cause of the pain and other symptoms these patients have endured for so long.”
Kelly Wright, MD
Director, Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 2003
M.D., Texas A&M University College of Medicine, College Station, TX, 2007
Intern/Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital Combined Residency Program, June 2007 – June 2011
Fellow in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (FMIGS), Newton-Wellesley Hospital
CGR Experience Statement: “Seeing CGR was the first time I had seen any lab dedicated to the study of endometriosis and adenomyosis, which was quite exciting, as most labs I had seen were dedicated to cancer and other ‘fatal’ diseases.
Keith [Isaacson] was a mentor to me all the way from residency through attending hood, and he was president of AAGL when I was a fellow. His leadership always inspired me to try and follow in his footsteps!
[At CGR,] there was a real focus on adenomyosis as a big component of the pain that women with endometriosis can experience, which had largely been ignored up until recently. Keith and CGR were the first places I saw in depth review of adenomyosis and attempts to try and study it.
Endometriosis and adenomyosis are estimated to affect 10 percent of women and account for $69 billion in health care dollars and lost wages in the United States alone. Surgeons need to collaborate with experienced investigators to study endometriosis and adenomyosis in high resource labs rather than simply on our own.”
Mauricio Abrão, MD
Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of São Paulo Medical School, Brazil; Director, Endometriosis Division, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sao Paulo University, Brazil; President, Brazilian Endometriosis and Minimally Invasive Gynaecology Society (SBE)
endometriosis surgery and diagnosis; infertility
Website: http://endometriosis.ca/about/board/mauricio-abrao/
Eric Alm, PhD
MIT Professor of Biological Engineering and Director, MIT Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics
human microbiome in health and disease
Website: http://almlab.mit.edu
Bryan Bryson, PhD
MIT Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering, Senior Investigator, Ragon Institute of MIT/Harvard
Computational Modeling, Infectious Disease, Microbial Pathogenesis, Microbial Systems, Omics, Systems Biology
Website: https://brysonlab.mit.edu/
Jerry Chan, MD, PhD
Director, KK Research Centre
Consultant, Department of Reproductive Medicine
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore
Associate Professor Duke-NUS Medical School
Cancer & Stem Cell Biology Program
Website: http://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/content/chan-jerry
Hilary Critchley, MD, PhD FRSE FRSB FMedSci FFSRH FRCOG FRANZCOG
Professor of Reproductive Medicine and an Honorary Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Edinburgh.
Website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/centre-reproductive-health/professor-hilary-od-critchley
Asgi Fazleabas, PhD
Michigan State University Professor & Associate Chair, Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Director, Women’s Health Research
Co-Director, Reproductive & Developmental Sciences Program
analysis of endometriosis disease mechanisms in baboon models
Lab website: http://expeng.anr.msu.edu/rdsp/faculty/profile/asgi_fazleabas
John Guttag, PhD
MIT Dugald C. Jackson Professor Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
data-driven medical inferences
Website: http://www.csail.mit.edu/user/798
Mark Hornstein, MD
Director, Reproductive Endocrinology D
Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology
assisted reproductive technologies/in vitro fertilization, laparoscopic surgery
Hilde Jørgensen, MD
Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Oslo
minimally invasive surgery, cytokine networks in endometriosis and infertility
Roger Kamm, PhD
MIT Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering
Director, NSF-funded Center for Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS)
Biological Machines/Microfluidics; Angiogenesis/Vasculogenesis; Neurological Disease; Cancer; Simulation and modeling
Website: https://web.mit.edu/meche/mb/
Douglas Lauffenburger, PhD
MIT Ford Professor of Biological Engineering and Biology
Head, MIT Department of Biological Engineering, 1998 – 2019
immunology & systems biology of endometriosis, infectious disease transmission, and chronic inflammation
Website: http://web.mit.edu/dallab/
Stacey Missmer, ScD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology Harvard School of Public Health
genetic and epidemiologic research in reproductive medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, reproductive biology
Website: http://endometriosisfoundation.org/board/member/stacey-missmer/
http://endometriosisfoundation.org/ephect/werf-ephect-working-group/
Stephanie Morris, MD
Associate Medical Director for Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
medical education in gynecology surgery
Kevin Osteen, PhD
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology
Pierre Soupart Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology Vanderbilt University
Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Meharry Medical College
reproductive medicine, human endometrium, endometrial dysfunction, endometriosis, progesterone action, environmental endocrine disruptors, developmental exposure
Website: https://medschool.mc.vanderbilt.edu/facultydata/php_files/show_faculty.php?id3=843
Katharina Ribbeck, PhD
MIT Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Tissue Engineering in the Department of Biological Engineering
biophysics and biology of mucosal barriers; preterm birth; infectious disease modulation by mucosal barriers
Website: http://kr-lab.mit.edu/
David Trumper, PhD
MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Design of precision mechatronic systems; Magnetic levitation for nanometer-scale motion control; Novel actuation and sensing devices
Website: http://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/trumper@mit.edu