Department Chair
Chair, Anesthesiology
Dr. Leffert is the Chair of the Yale University School of Medicine and Chief of Anesthesiology at Yale New Haven Hospital and Bridgeport Hospital. Dr. Leffert is nationally and internationally recognized as a clinical expert in obstetric anesthesia and the management of pregnant patients with complex comorbid neurologic and substance use disorders. She recently served as President of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia & Perinatology (SOAP), reflecting her subspeciality area of concentration. As SOAP President (2019-2020), she led a governance restructure of the Board and its committees to enhance the diversity, inclusion and the quality of its officers and to professionalize their communications and inter-society collaborations and strengthen their ability to execute their mission. Dr. Leffert does research in neurologic disease and vulnerabilities in pregnant women, and has published original research, reviews, and interdisciplinary guidelines on this topic. She lectures on diverse topics such as peripartum stroke, the anesthetic management of patients with intracranial lesions, strategies for placing neuraxial anesthetics in patients with comorbidities, and the peri-delivery care of patients with substance use disorder.