• Paula Gardiner, MD, MPH                                                                                     

Paula Gardiner, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts School. She directs the group medical visit program at the Center for Integrated Primary Care.

• Sarah Pearson, PsyD                                                                                 

Dr. Pearson is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School. She is a behavioral health faculty member within the Worcester Family Medicine Residency. In this role she provides teaching around behavioral science competencies for family medicine residents through both didactic and experiential approaches in the primary care environment. She also provides behavioral health consultation and clinical services for patients across the lifespan at the Barre Family Health Center. Her clinical interests include providing brief, evidence-based interventions in integrated primary care, delivering patient-centered, trauma-informed care, chronic pain management, behavioral sleep medicine, health behavior change, and chronic disease management.   

Dr. Pearson earned her B.A. in Psychology from Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts and completed her Psy.D. in clinical psychology at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. She completed her predoctoral internship within the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine with a major rotation in Integrated Primary Care, and minor rotations in Bone Marrow Transplant & Oncology and Adult Sleep Medicine. She then completed a two-year postdoctoral Fellowship in Primary Care Psychology and Medical Education at UMass Chan Medical School in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health. 

• Namra Arif, PsyD, second-year fellow 

  Namra is a first-year fellow based at Fitchburg Family Practice. She earned her BA in psychology from UMass Amherst with a minor in art history. Namra completed her MA in clinical psychology from American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts and her PsyD from the University of Hartford in West Hartford, CT. Her pre-doctoral internship was completed at the Manchester VA Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. She has experience working with patients across the lifespan and has received specialized training in various trauma informed treatments. Namra’s clinical interests include integrative behavioral medicine, pain psychology, trauma informed practices, mindfulness-based approaches, and culturally responsive care.