Kathryn T. Hall, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Part Time, Harvard Medical School
Associate Molecular Biologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
khall0@bwh.harvard.edu
Dr. Hall received her PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University before spending 10 years in the biotech industry tackling problems in drug development, first at Wyeth and then at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where she became an Associate Director of Drug Development. Dr. Hall returned to HMS in 2010, joining the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in 2012, and receiving a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health in 2014.
In collaboration with Professor Ted Kaptchuk and other members of the Program in Placebo Studies at HMS, Dr. Hall’s recent research has focused on catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme that metabolizes catecholamines such as dopamine and epinephrine and that has pleiotropic effects in a broad set of diseases and treatments. Among her recent accomplishments is a landmark paper published in PLOS ONE identifying COMT as one of the first genetic markers of placebo response, and a broader review in Trends in Molecular Medicine on the impact of genetics on the placebo response. Her work has led to the coining of the term “placebome”, which was added to Jargonwatch by WIRED magazine in 2015. Her research has been the focus of numerous articles including features in Science, The Atlantic, The Economist and Discover magazines.
PhD: Harvard University
MA: Emerson College
MPH: Harvard School of Public Health
Full Listing of Publications
- Visualizing Neighborhood COVID-19 Levels, Trends, and Inequities in Wastewater: An Equity-Centered Approach and Comparison to CDC Methods September 10, 2024CONTEXT: Monitoring neighborhood-level SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations can help guide public health interventions and provide early warning ahead of lagging COVID-19 clinical indicators. To date, however, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) has provided methodology solely for communicating national and state-level "wastewater viral activity levels."Tori L Cowger
- A conserved C-terminal domain of TamB interacts with multiple BamA POTRA domains in Borreliella burgdorferi August 29, 2024Lyme disease is the leading tick-borne infection in the United States, caused by the pathogenic spirochete Borreliella burgdorferi, formerly known as Borrelia burgdorferi. Diderms, or bacteria with dual-membrane ultrastructure, such as B. burgdorferi, have multiple methods of transporting and integrating outer membrane proteins (OMPs). Most integral OMPs are transported through the β-barrel assembly machine (BAM) […]Kari T Hall
- Implementation of Neighborhood-Level Wastewater-Based Epidemiology to Measure and Mitigate Inequities in SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Boston, Massachusetts August 8, 2024Starting October 2022, the Boston Public Health Commission implemented a neighborhood-level wastewater-based epidemiology program to inform strategies to reduce COVID-19 inequities. We collected samples twice weekly at 11 neighborhood sites, covering approximately 18% of Boston, Massachusetts's population. Results from the program's first year revealed inequities unobservable in regional wastewater data both between the City of […]Tori L Cowger
- Lifting Universal School Masking - Covid-19 Incidence among Students and Staff. Reply August 17, 2023No abstractEleanor J Murray
- Do Polymorphisms Predict Hypnotherapy Response in Children With Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders: An Explorative Study July 25, 2023Genetic variations, in specific COMT , OPRM1 , and MAO-A polymorphisms, have been associated with hypnotizability in adults. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate whether these polymorphisms are also associated with response to hypnotherapy (HT) in children. Patients (8-18 years, n = 260) diagnosed with a functional abdominal pain disorder (FAPD) from […]Clara M A de Bruijn