Robert B. Saper, MD MPH
Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Family Medicine

MD, Harvard University
MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
BA, Brandeis University

Pronouns: he/him/his



Dr. Saper is the Director of Integrative Medicine for the Boston Medical Center Department of Family Medicine and Professor in the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Saper attended Brandeis University for his undergraduate education. After graduating Harvard Medical School in 1988, he completed a family medicine residency and chief residency at UCSF from 1988-92 and was in private practice for 8 years in the San Francisco Bay area. While in California he worked closely with Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversal of Heart Disease. In 2000 he moved back to the Boston area and retooled professionally by entering the three year NIH-funded Integrative Medicine Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School which included an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. As a fellow, he published the first nationally representative survey of yoga use in the United States.

In 2004 he joined the Boston University faculty and medical staff of Boston Medical Center where he directs the Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities. The mission of the Program is to bring evidence-based integrative medicine approaches to all, regardless of ability to pay. Soon after arriving at Boston Medical Center, he received a five year Academic Career Development Grant from the NIH National Center for Complementary Alternative Medicine. With this support, he published a pilot study of yoga for chronic low back pain in predominantly low income minorities recruited from federally qualified community health centers. In 2010 Dr. Saper was funded by the NIH to conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and cost of yoga, physical therapy, and education for back pain in 320 adults. He is also funded by NIH to study yoga for back pain in veterans. Other major areas of research include the safety and efficacy of traditional Indian herbal medicines. Dr. Saper is the Past Chair of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.



Innovations in Non-Pharmacologic Approaches to Pain Management for the Underserved
03/14/2018 - 03/14/2020 (PI)
Charities Aid Foundation America / CAFA MEDTRONIC

Targeted Interventions to Prevent Chronic Low Back Pain in High Risk Patients:A Multi Site Pragma…
07/01/2015 - 12/31/2019 (PI)
University of Pittsburgh Patient-Centered Out

Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations
09/01/2013 - 08/31/2018 (PI)
NIH-NCCIH
3R01AT005956-05S1

Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations
09/01/2010 - 08/31/2017 (PI)
NIH-NCCIH
5R01 AT005956-05

Yoga vs Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations
09/01/2013 - 08/31/2016 (PI)
NIH-NCCIH
3R01AT005956-05S2

Moving Massage from Nice to Necessary: An Inpatient Pilot Study
01/01/2014 - 12/31/2015 (PI)
Muscular Therapy Institute Foundation

Integrative Medicine Group Visits: An Innovative Model of Care for the Future
11/01/2011 - 12/31/2015 (PI)
Chigier Family Fund

Academic Career Dvelopment in CAM Research and Education
08/01/2005 - 06/30/2011 (PI)
NIH-NCCIH
5K07AT002915-05

Therapeutic Massage for Cancer Patients at Boston Medical Center
09/01/2006 - 08/31/2007 (PI)
Massage Therapy Foundation


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2024 Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: an Embedded Pragmatic Trial 4UH3AT012413-02
2023 Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: an Embedded Pragmatic Trial 1UG3AT012413-01
2015 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 3R01AT005956-05S1 9
2015 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 3R01AT005956-05S2 9
2014 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 5R01AT005956-05 9
2014 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 3R01AT005956-04S2 9
2014 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 3R01AT005956-04S1 9
2013 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 5R01AT005956-04 9
2012 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 5R01AT005956-03 9
2011 Yoga vs. Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain in Minority Populations 5R01AT005956-02 9
Showing 10 of 16 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Spurgeon E, Saper R, Alexopoulos A, Allendorfer JB, Bar J, Caldwell J, Cervenka M, Darling S, Dombrowski S, Gallagher L, Lazar S, Modlo E, Perko J, Sajatovic M, Tilahun B, Yardi N, Najm I. Proceedings of the 2022 "Lifestyle Intervention for Epilepsy (LIFE)" symposium hosted by Cleveland Clinic. Epilepsia Open. 2024 Aug 23. PMID: 39177045
     
  2. Taylor S, Sachdeva S, Darling S, Arrotta K, Gallagher L, Supan A, Shipta G, Perko J, Bar J, James J, Petschek I, Lioi A, Kundu S, Ellison L, Bekris LM, Willard B, Sangwan N, Mata I, Fernandez H, Katzan I, Conway D, Pillai J, Leverenz J, Busch RM, Floden D, Saper R, Barnard J, Machado A, Najm I, Punia V. Multidisciplinary lifestyle interventions for neurological disorders during the Silent phase (MINDS) study: a multi-omics randomized controlled trial protocol. Neurol Res Pract. 2024 Aug 01; 6(1):39. PMID: 39085927; PMCID: PMC11293137; DOI: 10.1186/s42466-024-00334-3;
     
  3. Patil SJ, Bhayani V, Yoshida Y, Bushweller L, Udoh EO, Todorov I, Saper R, Stange KC, Bolen S. Lay advisor interventions for hypertension outcomes: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and a RE-AIM evaluation. Front Med (Lausanne). 2024; 11:1305190. PMID: 38831986; PMCID: PMC11144929; DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1305190;
     
  4. Roseen EJ, Joyce C, Winbush S, Pavco-Luttschwager N, Morone NE, Saper RB, Bartels S, Patel KV, Keysor JJ, Bean JF, Laird LD. Primary care barriers and facilitators to nonpharmacologic treatments for low back pain: A qualitative pilot study. PM R. 2024 May 02.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38695321; DOI: 10.1002/pmrj.13183;
     
  5. Nagaswami MV, Saper RB, Streeter CC, Uebelacker L, Ding G, Dalvie A, Norton R, Mischoulon D, Nyer MB. Yoga-Based Interventions in Low-Income Populations: A Scoping Review. J Integr Complement Med. 2024 Aug; 30(8):735-752.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38536707
     
  6. Joyce CT, Roseen EJ, Smith CN, Patterson CG, McDonough CM, Hurstak E, Morone NE, Beneciuk J, Stevans JM, Delitto A, Saper RB. A Cluster Analysis of Initial Primary Care Orders for Patients with Acute Low Back Pain. J Am Board Fam Med. 2024 Jan 05; 36(6):986-995.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38182423; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2023.230123R2;
     
  7. Uebelacker LA, Braun TD, Taylor LE, Saper R, Baldwi M, Abrantes A, Tremont G, Toribio A, Kirshy S, Koch R, Lorin L, Van Noppen D, Anderson B, Roseen EJ, Stein MD. Evaluation of intervention components to maximize yoga practice among people with chronic pain taking opioid agonist therapy: A factorial experiment using the multiphase optimization strategy framework. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Feb; 137:107411.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38103784; PMCID: PMC10922864; DOI: 10.1016/j.cct.2023.107411;
     
  8. Roseen EJ, Weinberg J, Saper RB. Yoga Versus Education for Veterans with Chronic Low Back Pain. J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Jan; 39(1):141.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37907773; PMCID: PMC10817863; DOI: 10.1007/s11606-023-08447-2;
     
  9. Roseen EJ, Smith CN, Essien UR, Cozier YC, Joyce C, Morone NE, Phillips RS, Gergen Barnett K, Patterson CG, Wegener ST, Brennan GP, Delitto A, Saper RB, Beneciuk JM, Stevans JM. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Incidence of High-Impact Chronic Pain Among Primary Care Patients with Acute Low Back Pain: A Cohort Study. Pain Med. 2023 Jun 01; 24(6):633-643.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36534910; PMCID: PMC10233486; DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnac193;
     
  10. Gallego-Pérez DF, Declercq E, Saper RB, Barnes LL, Wardle J. Characterizing Therapeutic Pluralism Policies in Latin America: A Qualitative Content Analysis. J Integr Complement Med. 2023; 29(6-7):439-450.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37200459
     
Showing 10 of 136 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 136 publications over 21 distinct years, with a maximum of 20 publications in 2015

YearPublications
19851
19912
20044
20072
20087
20098
20102
20112
201210
201311
201414
201520
20167
20176
20181
20199
20204
20217
20228
20235
20246


Challenges Faced When Implementing an Integrative Care Model

Practical Pain Management 11/26/2018

2019 Boston Medical Center: Be Exceptional Award
2014 South Boston Community Health Center: Best Preceptor Award
2010 Society for Teachers of Family Medicine: Honorable Mention, Best Research Paper Award
2006 South Boston Community Health Center: Best Preceptor Award
2006 Society for Teachers of Family Medicine: Honorable Mention, Best Research Paper Award
2003 Harvard Medical School Class of 2003: Recognition for Outstanding Teaching
1998 Alta Bates Medical Center: President's Award
1983 Brandeis University: Summa cum laude with highest honors in biology
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Ayurveda
complementary alternative medicine
health disparities
integrative medicine
low back pain
yoga

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