OCD Clinic Staff

Benjamin D. Greenberg, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Brown Medical School
Chief, Outpatient Services
Butler Hospital

Dr. Greenberg’s background includes a PhD in Neurosciences from the University of California, San Diego, an MD from the University of Miami, training in neurology at Columbia University, and a psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After residency, he worked for the Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institute of Mental Health. He subsequently became Chief of the Adult Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Research Unit where he began studies in OCD and Depression using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. In 2000, Dr. Greenberg joined the OCD Research Group at Butler Hospital and Brown Medical School. His current research focus deals with developing neurosurgical treatments for severely affected and highly treatment-resistant patients with OCD or Depression. The therapies include Gamma Knife Anterior Capsulotomy for OCD and Deep Brain Stimulation for OCD and Depression. These efforts include collaborative translational research using neuroimaging, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and cognitive neuroscience techniques to better understand the neurocircuitry of OCD and Depression that is affected by neuromodulation. Dr. Greenberg also has interests in OCD symptom sub-typing and in OCD and personality genetics.

Steven A. Rasmussen, MD
Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Brown Medical School
Medical Director
Butler Hospital
Director, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Program
Butler Hospital

Dr. Rasmussen received his MD from Brown Medical School and completed his psychiatry residency at Yale University. Since then, he has devoted his efforts to the research and treatment of OCD and is acclaimed internationally for his work in the field. Dr. Rasmussen has been consistently recognized by The Best Doctors in America and is on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. He has authored and co-authored over 80 publications and has lectured at conferences and symposiums across the world regarding this illness. His research focuses on medication therapies, epidemiology studies, and neurosurgical treatments. Along with Dr. Greenberg, he is pioneering the use of Gamma Knife Capsulotomy and Deep Brain Stimulation to treat OCD sufferers who fail to respond to conventional medication and psychotherapy.

Agustin Yip, MD, PhD

Dr Yip received his medical degree from the University of the Philippines, completed a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge, and trained in Psychiatry at Brown University. He joined Butler Hospital/Brown University 2008, where he is a research psychiatrist on clinical trials of neuromodulation (deep brain stimulation, repetitive transcranial stimulation) for refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

Nicole C. McLaughlin, PhD
Assistant Professor (Research)
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
OCD Genetics Study Project Director
Neuropsychologist

Dr. McLaughlin received her PhD in 2006 from Suffolk University, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in 2008 at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a neuropsychologist at Butler Hospital and an assistant professor at Brown. She is currently the project director and co-investigator of a collaborative study investigating the genetics of OCD. Dr. McLaughlin is also the neuropsychology coordinator and co-investigator of the deep brain stimulation trial for OCD. Primary research interests are in investigating outcomes of neurosurgical interventions in OCD using cognitive and neuroimaging tools.

Richard Marsland, RN
Research Clinician

Cynthia Read, MA
DBS For OCD Project Director

Cynthia Read has a Bachelor's degree (honors) in psychology and philosophy and a Master's degree in philosophy. She has been working with the DBS for OCD study for over two years. Her role in the study includes coordinating the study sites and overseeing aspects of the study relevant to the FDA and NIMH.

Christopher Spofford, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Christopher M. Spofford, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.  Dr. Spofford received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and completed his clinical internship at Tewksbury State Hospital in 2009.  Dr. Spofford’s clinical and research background is in anxiety disorders, with a focus on cognitive behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. He began his involvement in the treatment of OCD and related disorders in 1998 while working for two years as a residence counselor at McLean Hospital’s OCD Institute, where he continues to collaborate on research projects.  Dr. Spofford’s primary research interests reside in treatment development and identifying neurocognitive predictors of OCD treatment response.

Jennifer Bernier, BA
Research Assistant

Jennifer Bernier is a research assistant working on both the DBS for OCD study and the OCD Genetics study at Butler Hospital. Jenn graduated from Bryant University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. Jenn is currently in the Master's degree program in Mental Health Counseling at Boston College. Jenn's future plans include pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

Alissa Cerny, ScB
Research Assistant

Alissa Cerny is a research assistant working on both the DBS for OCD study and the OCD Genetics Study at Butler Hospital. Alissa graduated from Brown University in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in human biology with a focus in brain and behavior. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, she was actively involved in research in the cognitive and linguistic sciences department. In the future, Alissa plans to attend medical school.

Back to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic