Program Director

Sophie Kwass is a licensed independent clinical social worker who earned an undergraduate degree in social work from the University of Vermont in Burlington and a master’s degree in social work from Simmons University in Boston, Mass. Sophie, who specializes in bipolar and psychotic disorders, has extensive experience providing clinical support in inpatient, residential and outpatient settings.

Before joining Accord, she worked as a social worker at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., for close to eight years, where she was the lead social worker in an inpatient unit specializing in bipolar and psychotic disorders, and was later promoted to director of admissions for a residential-treatment program. Sophie was also the recipient of a Pillars of Excellence Award for expertise collaborating across the system while working at McLean. She maintains a successful private practice that provides therapy and case-management services and also has experience working in a county jail developing and facilitating a therapy group for incarcerated young males and military veterans. She is also a board member for a professional dance company and a strong believer in the benefits of movement and exercise for mental wellness. Her passion for providing an overarching approach to wellness that goes beyond therapy and medications matches the values of Accord, and Sophie is excited to lead this new company on the frontier of expanding mental health-care options.

Health Coach

Donika Hristova is a Certified Keto for Mental Health Coach, trained by Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede, and co-author of three publications on the use of ketogenic therapy for psychiatric conditions in Frontiers. A recipient of the Metabolic Mind Fresh Start Award, Donika also brings powerful lived experience of using ketogenic therapy to achieve remission from Bipolar type 2 depression. In addition to her Keto for Mental Health certification, she holds credentials in Integrative Nutrition and Life Coaching. She supports individuals and groups in reclaiming their health and lives through lifestyle-as-medicine, blending compassion with evidence-based and root cause healing-based strategies.

Donika facilitates a growing community of over 1,500 members dedicated to ketogenic metabolic therapies for mental health and is actively engaged in clinician networks and research initiatives advancing the field of metabolic psychiatry. Her mission is to empower others to take agency over their health and thrive physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Dr. Maya Schumer is a psychiatric neuroscientist and postdoctoral fellow at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she studies the neurobiology of bipolar disorder—the very condition she lives with. Dr. Schumer’s work focuses on understanding the neural networks underlying bipolar disorder, particularly mania and mixed states. She received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she led large-scale meta-analyses and cross-sectional replication efforts to identify reproducible, robust risk markers of bipolar disorder. As a postdoctoral scholar, she continues to study the brain network dynamics involved in bipolar disorder mood state transitions, applying dynamical and complex system approaches to neuroimaging datasets. Her research has been published in top-field journals such as JAMA Psychiatry and Molecular Psychiatry. Dr. Schumer’s path is both professional and personal, as she has lived with bipolar disorder for over a decade. After years of persistent symptoms despite extensive treatment, she began exploring metabolic approaches to mental health, including ketogenic therapy, which profoundly changed her own trajectory. This lived experience informs her scientific work and advocacy, where she is passionate about bridging the gap between research and real-world healing. In addition to her research, Dr. Schumer is actively involved in national and international efforts to integrate lived experience into psychiatric science. She serves on committees within the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and she is dedicated to advancing more personalized, biologically grounded approaches to mental health care. Through her research and public speaking, Dr. Schumer aims to expand how we understand and treat bipolar disorder—bringing together neuroscience and lived experience to help others find more effective paths to remission and stability.

Lauren Kennedy West was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2016, and has since become a prominent voice in mental health and schizophrenia advocacy through her YouTube channel formerly called ‘Living Well with Schizophrenia’. In 2024, she publicly shared and documented her experience of trying metabolic therapies, particularly medical ketogenic therapy, to treat her schizoaffective disorder. It completely changed her experience of her illness and her life. Her channel is now called ‘Living Well After Schizophrenia,’ and she is dedicating her advocacy to bringing this therapeutic intervention to as many others as possible.