Dr. Tanev, , MD, MPH, is a psychiatrist, neuropsychiatrist, and psychotherapist. He is teaching faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He did a psychiatry residency program at Brown University and a Neuropsychiatry Fellowship at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Since joining MGH and HMS in 2008, he has been providing clinical care, supervising trainees, and conducting neuropsychiatry research.
Clinical expertise and innovation: From 2008 until 2013, Dr. Tanev worked as an attending on the MGH medical psychiatry unit, caring for critically ill psychiatric patients with comorbid medical and neurological problems. Dr. Tanev has been treating veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI at the MGH Home Base Program since its inception in 2009. As part of the Home Base leadership, Dr. Tanev participated in the launching of innovative clinical programs for veterans and military service members with PTSD. He is also part of a group of MGH clinicians who share a passion for neuropsychiatry. Dr. Tanev founded the MGH TBI Clinical and Research Program in 2018 to address neuropsychiatric problems after TBI. His clinical expertise in comorbid PTSD and TBI has led to speaking engagements throughout the country and internationally. In addition, he treats patients with stroke, movement disorders, and epilepsy who suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. He practices psychotherapy and hypnosis at MGH and at his private practice.
Research: Dr. Tanev has conducted clinical research on sleep disturbances in hospitalized patients with dementia, Huntington’s Disease, and neuropsychiatric correlates of TBI. He completed a NIMH career development award focusing on whether cognitive performance and neuroimaging such as MRI and DTI can predict the response to cognitive behavioral therapy in veterans with PTSD and comorbid mild TBI. Dr. Tanev’s current research interests include biological markers of PTSD, memory reconsolidation blockade as treatment for PTSD, and novel treatments for post-TBI depression. His research trajectory involves studying new treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders and understanding the brain mechanisms underlying these treatments.
Teaching: Dr. Tanev teaches and supervises MGH psychiatry residents and behavioral neurology & neuropsychiatry fellows. He teaches psychotherapy and hypnosis to Harvard psychiatry residents and colleagues. He has presented locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally on a variety of neuropsychiatry topics and hypnosis.
Administration: At MGH, Dr. Tanev is the Medical Director of the MGH TBI Clinical and Research Program. He is also Director of Clinical Neuropsychiatry Research at MGH. At the Home Base Program, Dr. Tanev serves as the Chief Scientific Officer as well as Chief Medical Officer. He is the Medical Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. Regionally, he is past-President of the New England Society of Clinical Hypnosis (2017-2020). Nationally, he is past-President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association (2021-2023).
