Michael O'Brien, MD, PhD

Dr. O’Brien earned a B.A. from St. Anselm’s College in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neuroscience from Wake Forest University in 1988 where he was the recipient of the Norman Sulkin Scholarship Award in Neuroanatomy. Dr. O’Brien completed his studies at Wake Forest University with an M.D. in 1991. After an internship at Waterbury Hospital Health Center, he completed his residency and chief residency at The Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1996. Dr. O’Brien then joined Surgical Associates of New Haven, P.C. and received his Board Certification in General Surgery. Since his appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery in 1996, Dr. O’Brien has been teaching the Gross Anatomy course in the Yale School of Medicine in conjunction with his surgical practice. He has helped create an entirely new course “Clinical Anatomy” that emphasizes a clinically relevant surgical approach to anatomy. He has been a mentor to medical students on their third-year rotations in Surgery since its inception in 2001. Since joining the Yale-New Haven Hospital medical staff, Dr. O’Brien has been asked to serve on a number of Hospital Committees including YNHH OR Committee, Co-Chair of NSQIP Subcommittee on Surgical Site Infection, Temple Surgical Medical Board, YNHH Medical Board, YNHH Administrative Medical Board, and he is the President-Elect for the Yale Surgical Society. In 2000, he was elected Associate Chief – Section of General Surgery. Dr. O’Brien has been an academic advisor in the medical school since its inception several years ago. Dr. O’Brien is involved in the International Education of Yale Medical Students in that he brings a Yale medical student with him on his annual two-week surgical rotation in Mwandi, Zambia. In further demonstration of his commitment to teaching, he serves as a Fellow of Yale University’s Trumbull College where he also serves as a Freshman Advisor. Dr. O’Brien was awarded the Bohmfalk Teaching Prize 2005-2006 for Clinical Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and inducted into the Yale School of Medicine’s Society of Distinguished Teachers.