Jennifer R. Gatchel
Jennifer R. Gatchel is an Assistant Psychiatrist in the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS).
She studied at The University of Texas-Austin, where she obtained a B.S. in Molecular Biology and a B.A. in honor liberal arts in 1999, and went on to earn a M.D. and Ph.D in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.
She completed her residency in adult psychiatry in the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital residency program, followed by the Partners Healthcare Geriatric Psychiatry Clinical Fellowship Program. She is a board certified psychiatrist.
Dr. Gatchel served as a chief resident and received the Thomas P. Hackett Award during her final year of residency. Stemming from her doctoral work on neurodegeneration, her clinical and research interests lie at the interface of mood and cognitive decline in aging.
She has over eight years experience investigating mechanisms of brain-behavior relationships, which has led to publications, presentations, and Travel Fellowships (Society for Biological Psychiatry, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry).
Dr. Gatchel is a former P.R.I.T.E. Fellow and was recognized as an Honors Scholar (American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry) and Webb Fellow (Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine), and is the recipient of the 2016 American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry Member in Training Research Award.
She is the recipient of the HMS Psychiatry Dupont Warren Fellowship and Livingston Award to carry out research investigating the neurobiology of depression in late life and early Alzheimer’s disease. She serves in leadership roles in resident geriatric psychiatry education.
She also assists with the research of Nancy J. Donovan, M.D., a geriatric psychiatrist whose work focuses on the detection of neuropsychiatric symptoms and social behavioral changes in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Kelsey’s research with Dr. Donovan has investigated the relationship of social activities with cognitive outcomes in cognitively normal older adults. Kelsey plans to pursue a career in medicine and specialty training in neuropsychiatry.
