Harvard Faculty Clinicians

Patricia Tarbox, MSW, LICSW

For thirty years Ms. Tarbox has been a member of the clinical staff of McLean Hospital. She has worked with a broad cross-section of ages from children and adolescents to adulthood and geriatrics. She spent over twenty years on the senior staff of McLean’s Cognitive Behavior Therapy Unit, an adult inpatient eating disorder program. She was part of a core group instrumental in the development of a partial hospital and residential service which was a model for the hospital in its current configuration of Behavioral Health services. Ms. Tarbox has also been on staff at the Women’s Treatment Program and the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute, one of the first residential programs for OCD treatment in the country. She has extensive clinical experience working with individuals, couples and families providing assessment and psychotherapy for individuals with eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD/trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Ms. Tarbox is the Program Director for the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Esther Dechant, M.D.

A native Canadian, Dr. Dechant received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Afterward, she completed the residency program in psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in psychiatry with subspecialty certification in child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Dechant is experienced in child, adolescent and adult psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. She is a candidate at the Boston Psychoanalytical Institute and Society. She holds an appointment as an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dechant also has a private practice where she specializes in child, adolescent and adult psychotherapy and child and adolescent psychopharmacology. Dr. Dechant serves as the Medical Director for the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Thomas Weigel, M.D.

Dr. Weigel attended the University of Wisconsin for his undergraduate and medical school training. He completed an adult psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a child psychiatry fellowship at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. Weigel serves as the Associate Medical Director at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center and is the Director of the ADHD Outpatient Clinic, both at McLean Hospital. Dr. Weigel is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he teaches medical students and residents. He has additional training through the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

James Chu, M.D.

James A. Chu, M. D. is Consultant in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA and is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chu graduated from Yale College in 1972, and received his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1976. In 1979 he joined the staff of McLean Hospital where he has established innovative clinical programs for the treatment of adults with trauma-related disorders. Dr. Chu has taught widely throughout the United States and internationally. Dr. Chu is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Fellow and past president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, and the recipient of that organization’s Cornelia B. Wilbur Award, Distinguished Achievement Award, Pierre Janet Writing Award, and President’s Award for outstanding contributions in the field of dissociative disorders. Dr. Chu has served as Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation and is Field Editor for PTSD of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. Dr. Chu is a senior medical consultant at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Philip G. Levendusky, Ph.D.

Dr. Levendusky is the Vice President of New Program Development at McLean Hospital and took the lead in McLean’s negotiations that led to the establishment of The Klarman Eating Disorders Center. He is also Director of the hospital’s Psychology Department, Director of Psychology Training Program, and he is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. He has written and lectured extensively in the areas of clinical application of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Therapeutic Contracting to the treatment of Eating Disorders. In 1976, Dr. Levendusky established and directed on the nations first Cognitive Behavior Therapy inpatient treatment programs. He oversaw the evolution of this program from a relatively small inpatient service to its ultimate configuration as a thoroughly integrated residential and partial hospital continuum of care that specialized in the treatment of complex eating disordered patients. He was also an active contributor in the founding of the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia. He provides senior clinical and administrative oversight to The Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Susan P. Bradley, Ph.D.

Dr. Susan Bradley earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Harvard College, her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Boston College and her Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University. Dr. Bradley has over ten years experience working with children, adolescents and adults in outpatient, inpatient, and school-based settings. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Riverbend Community Mental Health Center in Concord, New Hampshire, where she worked with children, adolescents and their families. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Riverbend Community Mental Health Center as well as a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychology at McLean Hospital. Dr. Bradley is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School and a staff psychologist providing individual, family, and group therapy at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Robert K. Lawton, MSW, LICSW

Robert Lawton has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Harvard University and a Masters in Social Work from Smith College. He has 30 years experience working at McLean Hospital with a broad range of adolescents and adult patients in partial hospital, inpatient and outpatient programs. He has worked at the Women’s Treatment Center doing individual, family and group psychotherapy with young adult and adult women who have depression, PTSD and dissociative disorders. He has a private practice with individuals and couples specializing in the treatment of depression, trauma, personality disorders and relationship issues. In 2008, Mr. Lawton joined the staff of the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Mariola Magovcevic, Ph.D.

Dr. Magovcevic earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Clark University, a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Clark University. Dr. Magovcevic completed both her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training at McLean Hospital. In addition to treating eating disorders, Dr. Magovcevic has experience working with a variety of different diagnostic issues including mood disorders, anxiety disorders and personality disorders. Dr. Magovcevic’s primary orientation to treatment is Cognitive-Behavioral and she has been trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Dr. Magovcevic is an Instructor in Psychology in the Deptartment of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School. She currently serves as a staff psychologist providing individual, family and group therapy at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center and the Adult Borderline Center Outpatient Clinic at McLean Hospital.

Lisa M. Parker, Ph.D.

Dr. Parker earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arkansas. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Mississippi State Hospital and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychology for the treatment of Trauma and Dissociative Disorders at McLean Hospital and Clinical Fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Parker has extensive experience working with both adolescents and adults in a variety of treatment settings and she specializes in the treatment of individuals with trauma histories. Dr. Parker serves as a full-time individual, family, and group therapist at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Mary Lou Silverman, MSW, LICSW

Ms. Silverman earned a Bachelor or Science degree from Northeastern University and Masters Degree in Social Work from Simmons College. Ms. Silverman has been a member of the clinical staff of McLean Hospital since 1986 working in both Inpatient and Residential settings. Ms. Silverman has extensive clinical experience providing individual, couple and family therapy to adolescents and adults. She serves as a full time senior family therapist at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

Diedre Blake, MA

Diedre Blake earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Stanford University, specializing in painting and printmaking and was the recipient of the Art and Art History Department Raina Giese Award for Creative Painting. She completed her Master of Arts in Expressive Therapy from Lesley University, specializing in Art Therapy. Ms. Blake has ten years experience working with adolescents in residential and education-based settings. Over the last seven years, she has worked and exhibited as a Fine Artist. She is currently the Expressive Therapist for the Klarman Eating Disorder Center, serving primarily as a full-time group therapist.

Caroline Schwarz-Schastny, MS, MA, M.Ed.

Ms. Schastny earned her BS from Boston University, two Masters Degrees from Lesley College (Special Education and Computers in Education) and a Masters degree from Suffolk University in Philanthropy and Media-part of the Visionaries Institute whose mission was to film non-profit organizations around the world for viewing on WGBH. She has 30 years experience in the field of Education. She was on the faculty of the Arlington School, a secondary school on the grounds of McLean Hospital. The school was originally for High School aged inpatients at the hospital but for the past 20 years has served as a Special Education School serving the needs of adolescents in the greater community. She has taught classes in the social sciences, computer science and started the photography/film-making curriculum at the School. She is currently the clinical educator for the Klarman Eating Disorder Center.

Jaimie Winkler, RD, LDN, CNSD

Jaimie Winkler earned a BA from the University of Michigan before completing a BS in nutrition and dietetics at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Ms. Winkler has been involved in eating disorders awareness, prevention and treatment for more than 5 years, including creating and/or moderating prevention programs at the middle school and college levels. Ms. Winkler trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. There she completed her internship and via work experience, earned additional credentials in metabolic and nutrition support. Ms. Winkler serves as the full time nutritionist for the Klarman Eating Disorders Program.