Directory of Faculty Mentors in Medicine, Culture, and Society

The Yale University School of Medicine faculty members listed below have indicated that they are open to the possibility of advising Yale medical students pursuing M.D. thesis research on medicine, culture, and society.

In compiling this database of prospective mentors and their areas of interest we have cast a broad net, including such areas as biomedical ethics, medical history, ethnography, medicine and the arts, medicine and literature, psycho-social dimensions of health, and the qualitative social sciences.

This data base of YSM faculty members includes prospective M.D. thesis sponsors as well as faculty members who can offer additional sources of guidance and advice to medical students undertaking research in the medical humanities and the arts. While the M.D. thesis sponsor must be a full time School of Medicine faculty member, dual mentorship arrangements are also possible that enlist the expertise of faculty members based in other parts of the University, and in some instances at other institutions (e.g. The Hasting Center, through the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy).

Name	Email	Interests
Altice, Frederick, MD	mailto:frederick.altice@yale.du	Research as the interface between infectious diseases and substance abuse, both domestic and international; community, clinical, drug treatment and prison settings.
Andiman, Warren, MD	warren.andiman@yale.edu	Barriers and challenges to health care for chronically ill adolescents transitioning from pediatric to adult health care settings. Emphasis on HIV/AIDS. The complex psychosocial, ethical and family issues raised by the need to disclose diagnoses of catastrophic illness to children and youth, ages 10-18.Ethical issues in pediatrics.
Angoff, Nancy, MD	nancy.angoff@yale.edu	Medicine and literature, medicine and ethics, and medicine and professionalism.
Baehring, Joachim M. MD	joachim.baehring@yale.edu	Primary brain tumors, brain lymphoma, neurologic complications of cancer (clinical); medical history; medicine and the arts.
Beardsley, Diana S. MD.,PhD	diana.beardsley@yale.edu	Clinical pediatric hematology. Mechanisms of platelet destruction in immune thrombocytopenia.
Belanger, Kathleen, PhD	kathleen.belanger@yale.edu	Environmental conditions affecting pregnant women, infants and children. Effects of air pollution exposure during pregnancy, and traffic related air contaminants on childhood asthma.
Berland, Gretchen, MD	gretchen.berland@yale.edu	Visual methods, qualitative research methods, narrative, documentary filmmaking, and medical humanities.
Bhagwagar, Zubin MD, PhD	zubin.bhagwagar@yale.edu	Neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders.
Braverman, Irwin, MD	irwin.braverman@yale.edu	Medicine and the arts (fine arts to literature) and the physician-patient relationship. Medical practices in the ancient world; medical diagnoses made from paintings, sculpture, etchings, etc. .
Brownell, Kelly, PhD	kelly.brownell@yale.edu	Studies of children’s food marketing, nutrition in schools, application of the law to obesity prevention, economic drivers of obesity, legislative approaches, framing and persuasion, and reduction of weight bias.
Bruce, R. Douglas MD, MA, MSc	robert.bruce@yale.edu	Work at the intersection of addiction and infectious diseases (especially HIV and Hepatitis C). Particular interest in medical ethics.
Colson, Eve, MD	eve.colson@yale.edu	Health behaviors; sudden infant death syndrome; qualitative research; medical education.
Costa, Jose, MD	jose.costa@yale.edu	Philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine, and social dimensions of health.
Davidson, Larry, PhD	larry.davidson@yale.edu	The intersection of the humanities/arts with psychiatry, mental health, psychology, and serious mental illnesses, their treatment and the care of individuals with them.
Delphin, Miriam E. PhD	miriam.delphin@yale.edu	Individual, organizational and service system level cultural competence including such areas as training, program design and evaluation, and system level strategic planning geared towards eliminating health disparities.
Doolittle, Benjamin R. MD,Mdiv	benjamin.doolittle@yale.edu	Burnout, spirituality, mental health, coping and urban medicine.
Duffy, Thomas, MD	thomas.p.duffy@yale.edu	Humanities/medicine and bioethics.
Ellman, Matthew MD	matthew.ellman@yale.edy	End-of-life and palliative care education.
Emmons, Christine PhD	christine.emmons@yale.edu	Psycho-social dimensions of health.
Espinosa, Mariola PhD	mariola.espinosa@yale.edu	History of medicine and public health, including the history of diseases and international relations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, history of yellow fever in the Americas, the relationship between disease and empire, and changing medical knowledge of tropical disease in the Caribbean.
Flanagan, Elizabeth, PhD	elizabeth.flanagan@yale.edu	Stigma towards people with mental illness, the DSM as a medical, social, and political document; and the classification and history of mental illness.
Fortin, Auguste, MD	auguste.fortin@yale.edu	Medical education, particularly in the areas of doctor-patient communication and the psychosocial aspects of medical care.
Genao, Inginia, MD	inginia.genao@yale.edu	Research on culture.
Gross, Cary, MD	cary.gross@yale.edu	The care and outcomes of older persons with cancer , as well as research ethics. His research ethics work has explored financial conflicts of interest and access to research studies.
Hershberg, Uri, PhD	uri.hershberg@yale.edu	Immunology; systems biology / theoretical biology; complex systems; cognitive science; artificial life.
Hostetter, Margaret, MD	margaret.hostetter@yale.edu	Medicine and literature.
Jubanyik, Karen, MD	karen.jubanyik@yale.edu	Palliative and end-of-life care.
Kaplan, Bonnie PhD	bonnie.kaplan@yale.edu	Medical history and philosophy.
Kaplan, Lewis J. MD	lewis.kaplan@yale.edu	Interest in medical history and philosophy.
Katz, David, MD	david.katz@yale.edu	Medicine and literature; the role of community in health; the ethics of medical uncertainty; the reconciliation of holistic and evidence-based care; and the dividing line between personal and public responsibility for health.
Kernan, Walter, MD	walter.kernan@yale.edu	Medical education and stroke treatment.
Khoshnood, Kaveh, PhD	kaveh.khoshnood@yale.edu	Research ethics.
Kidd, Mark PhD	mark.kidd@yale.edu	Neuroendocrine biology.
Kirwin, Paul MD	paul.kirwin@yale.edu	Psychosocial factors; has a poetry workshop for medical students.
Leventhal, John, MD	john.leventhal@yale.edu	The epidemiology of child maltreatment, distinguishing abusive injuries from accidental ones, and child sexual abuse.
Levy, Becca, PhD	becca.levy@yale.edu	Psycho-social dimensions of health, and social sciences and ethnography as applied to aging health.
Manuelidis, Laura, MD	laura.manuelidis@yale.edu	Poetry/literature & graphic arts; also history of science/medicine.
Martin, Andrés MD, MPH	andres.martin@yale.edu	Scholarly publication issues; medicine and the arts (literature, photography); educational outcomes and career choices.
Mayes, Linda, MD	linda.mayes@yale.edu	The ethics of scientific publishing, use of narrative methods in longitudinal research, the development of a “caring attitude” among physicians, and how creative writing plays a role in the health of a physician’s art.
Mark Mercurio, MD	mark.mercurio@yale.edu	Medical ethics, mainly but not limited to pediatrics.
McCabe, Megan MD	megan.mccabe@yale.edu	Pediatrics, children and families’ experience of illness; pediatric care at the end of life; non-traditional family structures and their experience of health care.
Miller, Geoffrey, MD	geoffrey.miller@yale.edu	Bioethics and the law and in particular, pediatric beginning and of life issues; disability; and neuroethics.
Moran, Meena S. MD	meena.moran@yale.edu	Clinical breast cancer research, particularly outcomes research.
Nunez Smith, Marcela, MD	marcela.nunez-smith@yale.edu	Research on culture.
Parikh, Chirag MD, PhD	chirag.parikh@yale.edu	History of medicine, biomedical ethics, and psychosocial dimensions of health.
Post, Lori, PhD	lori.post@yale.edu	Gender/ethnic disparities and violence.
Prah Ruger, Jennifer PhD	jennifer.ruger@yale.edu	Medical ethics, medicine and the law, health economics, political economy of health, health and social justice, global health justice and global health governance.
Rego, Mark MD	mark.rego@yale.edu	Interfaces between psychiatry and philosophy. These areas include: self/other perceptions in illness, autonomy, the process of recovery, the existential implications of increased psychotropic use, theoretical models of psychopathology, and the effects of modernity on the brain/mind.
Richman, Susan, MD	susan.richman@yale.edu	Women's reproductive health/choice, including the politics of pharmacy opt out of contraceptive provision, global gag rule, and lack of efficacy of abstinence only education in teen pregnancy rates.
Reisman, Anna MD	anna.reisman@yale.edu	Director of the creative writers program for residents.
Rohrbaugh, Robert, MD	robert.rohrbaugh@yale.edu	Ethics, especially as this relates to mental health and global health, as well as the psychosocial dimensions of mental health.
Rogers, Naomi, PhD	naomi.rogers@yale.edu	History of medicine and public health, including the history of disease, public health, gender and medicine, medical advocacy and radical health movements, health politics, medicine and imperialism, health and disability, and alternative medicine.
Rosenbaum, Julie Rothstein, MD	julie.rosenbaum@yale.edu	Biomedical ethics; other philosophical issues or quantitative social sciences.
Rosenbaum, Stanley H. MA., MD	stanley.rosenbaum@yale.edu	Biomedical ethics; would be delighted to help students who are writing on ethics, other philosophical issues or quantitative social sciences.
Rosenblatt, William, MD	will.rosenblatt@yale.edu	Current interests include the transfer of surplus medical materials from the US for the purpose of health care delivery in developing regions of the world.
Rowe, Michael PhD	michael.rowe@yale.edu	A sociologist with expertise in mental health, narrative medicine and medical humanities, ethics, and qualitative methods, and with experience in the arts.
Safdar, Basmah MD	basma.safdar@yale.edu	The relationship between depression, anxiety and heart disease and impact of gender on such a relationship.
Schilsky, Michael L. MD	michael.shilskyale.edu	Liver transplantation, living donor liver transplantation, liver diseases, metabolic liver diseases, disorders of metal metabolism.
Schlesinger, Mark, PhD	mark.schlesinger@yale.edu	Determinants of public opinion about health and social policy, the influence of bounded rationality on medical consumers, the consequences of for-profit organizations in American medicine, as well as the impact of managed care for consumers and health care professionals.
Shields, M. Bruce, MD	bruce.shields@yale.edu	Art and vision, but also in the broader field of humanities and medicine.
Siegel, Mark D. MD	mark.siegel@yale.edu	End of life decision making in the ICU; psychiatric morbidity in the family members of ICU patients.
Simen, Arthur MD, PhD	arthur.simen@yale.edu	Genetic and genomic approaches to the study of depression, brain aging, and cognition in human patients and mouse models. Includes psycho-social dimensions of health.
Smith, Brian R. MD	brian.smith@yale.edu	Educational approaches and methodologies in medicine; spirituality in medicine; gene therapy bioethics.
Spencer, Dennis, MD	dennis.spencer@yale.edu	Bioethics and neuroscience; art and neuroscience; and the history of neurosurgery.
Stack, Gary, MD, PhD	gary.stack@yale.edu	Biomedical ethics.
Steiner, Jeanne, D.O	jeanne.steiner@yale.edu	The doctor-patient relationship and psychosocial dimensions of care.
Strasser, Bruno J., PhD	bruno.strasser@yale.edu	History of medicine, including history of the biomedical sciences in the 20th century; history of drugs and pharmaceuticals; interactions between experimental science and clinical medicine; the development of scientific instrumentation; the relationships between science and society.
Summers, William, MD	william.summers@yale.edu	History of medicine, including history of molecular biology; Chinese science, medicine, and public health; history of East-West interactions in science and medicine.
Suter, Lisa, MD	lisa.suter@yale.edu	Rheumatologist and health services researcher interested primarily in medical decision making and how technology is integrated into clinical practice. Also interested in specialty referral and access issues and has experience with qualitative research
Van Ness, Peter H. PhD, MPH	peter.vanness@yale.edu	Social and cultural factors and their relationships to medicine and health.
Volkmar, Fred, MD	fred.volkmar@yale.edu	Autism, developmental psychopathology, developmental disorders, neuroscience.
Warner, John Harley PhD	john.warner@yale.edu	History of medicine, including history of clinical practice, orthodox and alternative healing, professionalism in medicine, the multiple meanings of scientific medicine, medical education, clinical record keeping, medical institutions, and medicine and visual culture.
Weitzman, Carol, MD	carol.weitzman@yale.edu	Developmental-behavioral pediatrics; in social-emotional development of young children; cultural, family, environmental and interactional influences on social-emotional development.
Donna Windish, MD, MPH	donna.windish@yale.edu	Medical education curriculum development communication skills quality improvement survey research clinical reasoning.
Yonkers, Kimberly, MD	kimberly.yonkers@yale.edu	Women’s mental health. The pathophysiology and treatment of behavioral disorders occurring in the context of a woman’s reproductive functioning, including premenstrual dysphoric disorder and perinatal depression. Commpleter systematic, randomized and controlled relapse prevention study addressing cocaine, marijuana and other illicit substance abuse in pregnant women.
Zonana, Howard, MD	howard.zonana@yale.edu	Psychiatry and law issues civil commitment, confidentiality, participation of psychiatrists in questioning of prisoners, disability rights, expert witness testimony, sex offenders, malpractice, criminal responsibility and competence.