Alpha Cattaneo, MD
Dr. Alpha Cattaneo is a psychiatrist by profession who considers herself foremost a mother.
She and her husband, Maurizio Cattaneo, a biomedical engineer, have 3 children – David, Francoise, and Christian. She was born to a lawyer who defended victims of human rights abuse and a public health doctor who spent her career treating tuberculosis in the Philippines and in Nigeria.
She obtained most of her formal education from the Philippines, where she majored in Medical Technology in college, then went on to be a doctor and specialize in Social and Community Psychiatry. Her career as a psychiatrist focused on disaster mental health, armed conflict, mental health across different cultures, and building mental health services in communities where none exist.
She is currently the director of a non-profit called the Casa Monte Cassino. Dr. Cattaneo, together with her family, hosts children who come to Boston for the treatment of cancer, blindness, burns, and various other illnesses from all over the world.