Our Fellows

Charles Adler, MS, APRN, FNP-BC, CNL

Education
University of New Hampshire - Bachelor of Science in Nursing 
University of New Hampshire - Master of Science in Nursing, Clinical Nurse Leader 
University of New Hampshire - Post Master's Certificate, Family Nurse Practitioner 
Mass General Brigham - Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship-Primary Care

Bio 
Charlie is a new graduate Family Nurse Practitioner who completed his training in 2025 and most recently served as a Primary Care Advanced Practice Provider Fellow within Mass General Brigham outpatient clinics. Alongside his clinical fellowship, he has held academic appointments as an adjunct faculty, simulation instructor, and clinical instructor at the University of New Hampshire School of Nursing, where he taught undergraduate nursing students.

Charlie brings over nine years of inpatient nursing experience specializing in cardiology and critical care. He began his career as a cardiac ICU registered nurse and later worked as a travel nurse, gaining broad clinical exposure across diverse healthcare settings. He has also served as a clinical nurse leader, focusing on quality improvement initiatives and enhancing care delivery for patients with complex medical needs.

In 2026, Charlie was recognized at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) conference for his innovative and interprofessional simulation-based education in palliative and end-of-life care designed for nursing students. He completed his higher education at the University of New Hampshire and enjoys living in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire, where he spends his free time playing pickleball, performing improv comedy, and exploring local restaurants!

Palliative motivation
Charlie’s interest in palliative care stems from his work as a bedside ICU nurse, where he cared for patients facing serious illness and supported families through complex and emotionally challenging decision making. He deeply valued the opportunity to build meaningful relationships during vulnerable moments and to help patients and families navigate goals of care.

Charlie believes that caring for patients and families in the setting of serious illness represents the highest and most sacred expression of nursing practice. He places strong value on honoring each patient’s lived experience, supporting legacy building, and providing compassionate, person-centered care throughout the illness journey.

Spencer Matson, MD

Education
Medical education: University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry 
Post-graduate training: Emergency Medicine, Yale University

Bio
Hey everybody! I was born in New York City and grew up in Connecticut. I volunteered as an EMT throughout high school and college in my hometown but never seriously considered medicine until several years after college. After completing medical school in Rochester, New York, I returned to Connecticut for my residency in Emergency Medicine at Yale.

My wife, Bethany, and I love to travel – we’re always scheming about our next trips and have a particular love of the National Parks. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies (am an avid logger on Letterboxd), reading books (from our ever-growing pile at home) and spending time with Gus, our Wheaton terrier. My Spotify “Listening Age” is over twice my actual age as I tend towards classical music and play piano myself.

I’m super excited to spend time at Dartmouth for fellowship!

Palliative motivation
From early on in medical school, I had a particular interest in how we help patients and families navigate care and decision-making at end-of-life. I’ve had the privilege of participating in the management of patients with serious illness or approaching their end-of-life in the emergency department. These experiences are some of the most meaningful parts of my training and I’m excited to dig in further as a Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellow.

I believe in the ever-increasing role of emergency medicine providers in palliative medicine space as many of the points of access for our patients are in emergency departments. I hope to work on continuing to expand the overlap of palliative and hospice medicine during my career.

Sophia Musacchio, MD

Education
Medical education: Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 
Post-graduate training: Internal Medicine, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Bio
I grew up as the daughter of a social worker and teacher near Madison, Wisconsin. My love for classical piano took me to St. Olaf College, a small liberal arts school in Northfield, Minnesota, where I combined the arts and sciences for my pre-medical education. I moved back to Wisconsin for medical school, where my clinical experiences incited my sense of duty and fulfillment in providing Hospice and Palliative care, which led me to Internal Medicine Residency at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. During that time, I also met my husband who is now a pharmacy resident at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

My husband and I live with our Burmese cat. We enjoy going for walks, spending time with friends and family, and cooking plant-based foods including delicious baked goods! We also enjoy going on tropical vacations and exploring new places together.

Palliative motivation 
Creating ways of increasing patients’ quality of life during times of suffering is deeply fulfilling for me. My personal background in liberal arts and the humanities, as well as recent training in narrative medicine, have deepened my connections with patients. I look forward to further developing practices of symptom management; communication with healthcare teams, patients and their care partners; and researching ways narrative medicine can improve patient outcomes.

My career interests also include public health and preventive medicine, and in particular, ways plant-based nutrition can prevent and reverse chronic disease.

Carolyn Noyes, DNP, APRN, FNP-C

Education
Simmons College: Bachelor of Science of Nursing 
University of Massachusetts Amherst: Doctorate of Nursing Practice

Bio
Carolyn knew she wanted to get into healthcare as a teenager when she started doing medical service trips to the Dominican Republic. It was also there that she was first exposed to Spanish (and salsa music!) and motivated her to become fluent. She worked in a federal prison for a few years as a nurse before moving to Nicaragua where she worked as a program director at a bilingual school. Once she moved back to the States, she worked as a travel nurse in Nashville, Tennessee before returning to New England to start graduate school to become a nurse practitioner. While working on her doctoral degree she also worked in interventional cardiology and as a sexual assault nurse practitioner. It was also then that she met her life partner while he was a resident at Dartmouth!

For the past six years she has worked as a family nurse practitioner in central Texas where she fell in love with being able to deeply connect with her patients and help guide them through challenging moments in their lives personally and medically. She is very excited to be coming back home to New England again with her partner and baby girl and two fluffy dogs to enjoy all the family, hiking, apple picking, and skiing she was missing in Texas!

Palliative motivation
Carolyn has always valued developing connection and trust with her patients as both a nurse and nurse practitioner. She is very excited to join the Dartmouth palliative care and hospice team as they are renowned for their sense of community and dedication to their work and patients. After working in family practice for several years, she decided to further her education in palliative care to better learn how to provide support and guidance for people and their loved ones going through significant changes in their health and serious illness.

She is excited to start this fellowship to deepen her clinical expertise and refine her skills in symptom management, difficult conversations, and interdisciplinary collaboration so that she can offer her future patients the most compassionate and comprehensive care possible during life's most vulnerable moments.

Alexander Rokos, MD, MSc.

Education
Medical education: University College Cork School of Medicine
Post-graduate training: NH Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency

Bio
Alex grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and earned his Bachelor of Science in neuroscience and physiology from the University of Toronto. He then moved to Montreal to complete a Master of Science at McGill University, where he worked with vulnerable, non-communicative populations and developed a strong appreciation for compassionate, multidisciplinary care.

After a year working as a research assistant at the Montreal Neurological Institute, Alex relocated to Cork, Ireland, to complete his medical training at University College Cork. During medical school, he was drawn to the comprehensive and relationship-centered approach of Family Medicine and Palliative Care, particularly in rural settings. These experiences fostered his interest in caring for patients with complex needs and reinforced his commitment to supporting individuals and families across physical, emotional, and social domains.

In his free time, Alex enjoys skiing, hiking, hockey, and photography. He looks forward to continuing to explore the upper valley!

Palliative motivation
Alex chose to pursue a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship to further develop his skills in caring for patients with serious illness, with a focus on symptom management, communication, and aligning care with patients’ values and goals. He is passionate about providing thoughtful, intentional, patient- and family-centered care, and is excited to join the wonderful team at Dartmouth!