Michelle Hughes, MD

Michelle L. Hughes, MD, is a gastroenterologist at Yale Medicine who specializes in caring for patients hospitalized with acute and complex digestive diseases. Her clinical expertise includes gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, inflammatory bowel disease, nutritional disorders, foreign body ingestion, and the evaluation of suspected gastrointestinal cancers. She performs a range of endoscopic procedures, including upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, feeding tube placement and removal, and video capsule endoscopy.

Dr. Hughes is a nationally recognized leader in inpatient gastroenterology—also known as GI hospitalist medicine—and a frequent invited speaker for regional and national gastroenterology organizations on GI hospitalist program development, inpatient care, and complex GI and endoscopic emergencies.

She is also a leader in quality improvement, patient safety, and medical education. Her work focuses on improving gastrointestinal care, advancing the field of inpatient gastroenterology, and training physicians to improve healthcare systems. She serves as Medical Chief of Quality and Safety for Digestive Health at Yale New Haven Health and holds several educational leadership roles at Yale School of Medicine, including co-director of the first-year Energy and Metabolism course and co-director of graduate medical education programs in quality improvement, patient safety, and health equity.

Her research spans inpatient gastroenterology, healthcare quality and health equity, colorectal cancer prevention, and the relationship between nutrition, neighborhood food environments, and digestive health. A particular area of interest is understanding how limited access to healthy foods or high concentrations of unhealthy food options—sometimes called “food deserts” and “food swamps”—may contribute to gastrointestinal disease and health outcomes.

Her recent research has examined the relationship between neighborhood food environments, social vulnerability, and early-onset colorectal cancer.

Dr. Hughes earned her medical degree with honors from Albany Medical College. She completed her internal medicine residency at Boston Medical Center and her fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Michelle Hughes, MD, is a gastroenterologist at Yale Medicine specializing in the practice of gastroenterology in the inpatient setting. She is dedicated to providing comprehensive and compassionate care of acute conditions involving the gastrointestinal system for patients admitted to the hospital. She is interested in quality improvement and clinical research on inpatient-focused and general GI issues. She works closely with trainees and is heavily involved in medical education at the student, resident, and fellow level.

Dr. Hughes earned her MD with honors from Albany Medical College. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Boston Medical Center then went on to complete her Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY.

She treats a variety of conditions including GI bleeding, inflammatory bowel diseases, evaluation and management of nutritional disorders, removal of foreign bodies, and diagnostic workup of malignancies of the GI tract. She performs the following procedures: esophagogastroduodenoscopy (a diagnostic endoscopic procedure for the upper digestive tract, also known as EGD), colonoscopy, feeding tube placement and removal, and video capsule endoscopy.