Current Scholars
Instructor
Dr. Eric Isaac Elliott obtained his MD and PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in 2018. His research was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Fayyaz Sutterwala and Dr. Suzanne Cassel on Nucleotide-Binding Leucine Rich Repeat-Containing Receptors (NLR) that form inflammasomes; central to his thesis work was the regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation by mitochondria and the novel role for the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin in NLRP3 and caspase-1 recruitment. His research interests remain focused on innate immune mechanisms for sensing pathogens and cell stress, and how activation or dysregulation of these systems relate to infectious disease susceptibility and auto-immune/inflammatory disease processes. Select Publications:Elliott EI, Miller AN, Banoth B, Iyer SS, Stotland A, Weiss JP, Gottlieb RA, Sutterwala FS, Cassel SL. Cutting Edge: Mitochondrial Assembly of the NLRP3 Inflammasome Complex Is Initiated at Priming. J Immunol. 2018 May 1;200(9):3047-3052.Ulland TK, Jain N, Hornick EE, Elliott EI, Clay GM, Sadler JJ, Mills KA, Janowski AM, Volk AP, Wang K, Legge KL, Gakhar L, Bourdi M, Ferguson PJ, Wilson ME, Cassel SL, Sutterwala FS. Nlrp12 mutation causes C57BL/6J strain-specific defect in neutrophil recruitment. Nat Commun. 2016 Oct 25;7:13180.Elliott EI, Sutterwala FS. Monocytes Take Their Own Path to IL-1β. Immunity. 2016 Apr 19;44(4):713-5.Elliott EI, Sutterwala FS. Initiation and perpetuation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and assembly. Immunol Rev. 2015 May;265(1):35-52.Iyer SS, He Q, Janczy JR, Elliott EI, Zhong Z, Olivier AK, Sadler JJ, Knepper-Adrian V, Han R, Qiao L, Eisenbarth SC, Nauseef WM, Cassel SL, Sutterwala FS. Mitochondrial cardiolipin is required for Nlrp3 inflammasome activation. Immunity. 2013 Aug 22;39(2):311-323.Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Instructor of Medicine (Medical Oncology)
Dr. Jeremy B. Jacox, MD, PhD, is an Instructor in the Department of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale School of Medicine and a Medical Oncologist at Smilow Cancer Hospital. He earned his bachelor’s degree from MIT before pursuing his MD and PhD at Yale University School of Medicine. Under the mentorship of Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov, Dr. Jacox completed his doctoral studies in immunobiology, focusing on how intracellular circuits based on growth factors regulate macrophage and fibroblast interactions in both homeostasis and melanoma. His work was supported by a Ruth Kirchstein F30 NRSA Fellowship from the National Cancer Institute, and his PhD dissertation work awarded with Distinction and the MD/PhD Prize from Yale. Dr. Jacox completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital through the Physician-Scientist Training Program and continued his specialized training with a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Yale Cancer Center. His clinical practice primarily focuses on the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancers. During his post-doctoral fellowship, mentored by Dr. Mandar D. Muzumdar, Dr. Jacox investigated the impact of obesity and extreme dietary conditions on the development of pancreatic cancer. He also explored how targeting the tumor microenvironment can enhance anti-tumor immunity in pancreatic cancer. His research efforts have been supported by the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Yale Cancer Center Advanced Training Program for Physician Scientists (T32), and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (KL2). Dr. Jacox's interests include community service and his faith, DIY (home and auto), and being with his family. Since meeting his spouse on the Yale shuttle bus, they have raised a family of five precious children together, his greatest accomplishment.Instructor; NRTP, Yale Department of Psychiatry
My interest in neuroscience and understanding the neurobiology of psychiatric diseases began when I worked the University of Pennsylvania for several years prior to medical school. I worked in a translational neuroscience laboratory using cell lines derived from patients with psychiatric disorders to identify disease- and treatment-specific molecular changes in glucocorticoid signaling pathways. During this time, I became particularly interested in MDD and in understanding the heterogeneous symptomatology of this disorder. As an MD-PhD candidate, my dissertation research focused on effects of GABAergic neurotransmission and subsets of GABAergic neurons on anxiety- and depression-related phenotypes using rodent models. I also studied the role of GABAergic transmission in ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects. Upon entering the NRTP at Yale, I became interested in the neurobiological mechanisms of psychedelics and their use as potential therapeutics for depressive disorders. I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the input of several mentors including Alex Kwan, Marina Picciotto and Al Kaye. My current work focuses on structural plasticity in the mouse frontal cortex with psychedelic compounds. I’m generally interested in the effects of psychedelics on circuits and brain regions important for depressive disorder and what drives the timescale of their clinical effects. Clinically, I am interested in interventional psychiatry and mood disorders. In my free time, I enjoy biking, rock climbing, playing touch rugby, and spoiling my two cats.Assistant Professor of Public Health (Social & Behavioral Sciences)
Olivia N. Kachingwe, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. Her research focuses on understanding how healthcare providers, peers, family members (particularly fathers), and technology can better support the sexual and reproductive health of Black youth and young adults, with an emphasis on health disparities rooted in systemic racism and discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities. A central component of Dr. Kachingwe’s research is strong partnerships with community-based organizations and providers. She has expertise in qualitative methods and community-engaged research. Dr. Kachingwe received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Behavioral and Community Health and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Maternal and Child Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health. Dr. Kachingwe’s most recent projects include (1) a qualitative exploration of parent-child sexual health communication among Black LGBTQ+ young adults and (2) the evaluation of an evidence-based parenting intervention implemented among Black fathers and fathers on probation, parole, and supervised release.Assistant Professor of Surgery (Colon and Rectal); Assistant Professor, Biomedical Informatics & Data Science; Clinical Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Program - Yale Cancer Center; Clinical Fellow, Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), Department of Veterans Affairs
Dr. Leeds is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery's Division of Colon & Rectal Surgery. His clinical practice broadly covers benign and malignant diseases of the colon, rectum, and anus. In addition, he leads a clinical research lab focused on identifying and optimizing modifiable risk factors of abdominal surgery. After obtaining an undergraduate degree at Princeton, Dr. Leeds taught high school science in Memphis, Tennessee with Teach For America. Dr. Leeds then went on to medical school at Emory University and completed clinical training in general surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then finished subspecialty training in colon and rectal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Along with his clinical training, Dr. Leeds has also obtained additional post-graduate degrees in business administration at the University of Oxford and clinical investigation at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.Lecturer
Andrew Loza is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on predictive analytics and population health. He received his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in biophysics studying mechanisms of collective cell migration using time lapse microscopy coupled with computer vision methods and simulation. He completed his MD degree at the Yale University School of Medicine and residency in Internal Medicine – Pediatrics also at Yale. During this time he contributed to development of a COVID-19 census prediction model and conducted research on the effect of COVID-19 on routine pediatric outpatient care. He is currently a Clinical Informatics fellow in the ACGME Yale/VA program led by Dr. Edward Melnick with clinical work at the Yale Internal Medicine – Pediatrics Clinic.Assistant Professor
Dr. Micevic completed his MD and PhD degrees at Yale School of Medicine. His doctorate focused on epigenetic changes in melanoma formation and progression with Dr. Marcus Bosenberg. He completed dermatology residency at Yale New Haven Hospital and dermatopathology fellowship. For his post-doctoral work, he joined the lab of Dr. Richard Flavell at the Yale Deparmtent of Immunobiology, where he investigated the immune cell populations required for long-term response/anti-tumor memory in the setting of checkpoint inihibitor therapy in melanoma. In 2024, he joined the Yale School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Dermatology and the Yale Cancer Center to build a research group focusing on skin immunobiology of melanoma and inflammatory skin diseases and to better understand how individual immune cells orchestrate skin inflammation in benign and malignant conditions. His current work focuses on the immuno-epigenetics in cutaneous melanoma, and developing better treatment modalities for patients with melanoma. As a physician scientist with a strong interest in skin immunology, he sees patients suffering from cutaneous malignancies, and also has a general interest in chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, alopecia areata and psoriasis.Assistant Professor of Neurology; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Dr. Prust received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed residency training in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital, where he served as chief resident in his final year, and completed fellowship training in neurocritical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Prust is dedicated to providing the best care to patients and their families who are suffering from acute neurologic illnesses such as brain hemorrhage, stroke, seizure, and traumatic brain injury. His research interests lie at the intersection of neurology, critical care, and global health, and he is passionate about finding ways to improve outcomes from neurologic emergencies in resource-limited settings.Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Founder and Lead, Global Women's Health Faculty Network, Yale Institute for Global Health
Dr. Ringel received her bachelor’s degree in Biology with a Specialization in Neuroscience from Boston University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with College Honors. She then spent several years working in global health prior to starting her medical career. She received her MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at New York University and Bellevue Hospital, where she earned several academic and teaching awards. She then completed her Urogynecology/Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) fellowship at Georgetown University School of Medicine/Medstar Health, where she also completed a Masters in Clinical and Translational Research. She is a double-board certified Urogynecologist and Obstetrician Gynecologist through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Dr. Ringel has published numerous peer-reviewed publications, several book chapters, and has presented her research at many academic conferences. She has held national leadership positions and is an active member of leading medical societies in her field. Her areas of expertise include vaginal, robotic and laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and pelvic fistula.
2023 Scholars
Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology
Dr. Susan Gueble is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology. She received her MD and PhD degrees as part of the medical scientist training program (MSTP) at Yale School of Medicine and completed her residency in radiation oncology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Her clinical focus is in caring for patients with gynecologic, prostate, or genitourinary malignancies using radiation treatment. Her primary clinical practice is in Trumbull, CT. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of novel DNA modifying agents and DNA damage response pathways, with the goal of translating her findings into therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer.Assistant Professor
Zach Harvanek is an Assistant Professor and a board-certified Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist. He completed his MD and PhD at the University of Michigan, studying the neurobiological mechanisms through which stress impacts the aging process. He trained at Yale for his Psychiatry residency and his fellowship, and worked with Drs. Rajita Sinha and Ke Xu to analyze how adversity and psychological resilience are related to epigenetic aging. His current work focuses on relationships between mental health and long-term physical outcomes, including obesity, metabolic health and aging.Instructor
Built on a strong foundation of academic training as a pulmonologist in Japan and the United States, Dr. Ishikawa has an enduring passion for pioneering innovative treatments for pulmonary fibrosis. After completing his clinical training in Japan, Dr. Ishikawa sought to broaden his medical expertise in the United States. He honed his research skills and expanded his knowledge base by earning a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Emory University. Driven by his relentless pursuit of excellence, Dr. Ishikawa further bolstered his credentials by undertaking an Internal Medicine Residency and a Fellowship in Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. During this comprehensive clinical training, he faced the harsh realities of pulmonary fibrosis — a relentless, fatal form of progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD). This impactful experience galvanized Dr. Ishikawa to dedicate his career to devising innovative treatments for this severe condition. Committed to advancing his mission, Dr. Ishikawa finished a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University under the expert guidance of the esteemed Dr. Erica L. Herzog in 2023. As part of his role, he has the privilege of caring for ILD patients at the Yale Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, an experience that lends practical insights to his research work. In the intellectually vibrant setting of Dr. Herzog's laboratory, Dr. Ishikawa is exploring a newly identified neuro-stromal and neuro-innate fibrotic mechanism. This fascinating process involves intricate interactions between nerve-derived noradrenaline and lung fibroblasts/immune cells that express alpha-1 adrenoreceptors. Guided by a vision to transform the treatment landscape for pulmonary fibrosis, Dr. Ishikawa's ultimate goal is to translate these intricate scientific findings into potent, effective therapies. He remains staunchly dedicated to this pursuit, propelled by the hope that his research will contribute significantly to advancing patient care.Associate Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Environmental Health)
Instructor, Pediatrics (Nephrology)
James Nugent, MD, MPH is an Instructor of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and an Investigator at Yale’s Clinical and Translational Research Accelerator. He completed his medical degree at Duke University School of Medicine and his residency training in Pediatrics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Following residency, he served as an active duty general pediatrician in the United States Air Force for four years. He then completed his fellowship training in Pediatric Nephrology at Yale School of Medicine. He is board-certified in pediatric nephrology and general pediatrics and practices pediatric nephrology at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and pediatric primary care at Fair Haven Community Health Center. His research is focused on improving the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of children with hypertension.Associate Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Dr. Orfano is an Associate Research Scientist in the department of Epidemiology and Microbial Diseases at Yale School of Public Health. She receive her master's degree (2012) and Phd (2016) in Health Sciences from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil. During her PhD program she received an one year fellowship to develop part of her PhD training outside of Brazil and she spent one year at Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research- NIH. After finishing her PhD, she continued her training as post doc and in 2019 she joined the Yale School of Public Health as a postdoctoral associate, and in 2021 she became a junior faculty at the EMD-YSPH. Dr. Orfano's research is focused on understanding the parasite vector interaction dynamic. She is currently working on Genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum and how this can affect the transmission to the Anopheles mosquito.Assistant Professor; Director, Pediatric HEROS Survivorship Program
Dr. Rodwin completed her clinical fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Yale in 2020, and subsequently conducted research in childhood cancer survivorship as a Pediatric Scholar and post-doctoral fellow in the Cancer Prevention and Control T32 Program. She has also served as director of the HEROS Childhood Cancer Survivorship Clinic since 2021. She looks forward to continuing her research aimed at minimizing treatment-related toxicities in childhood cancer survivors and leading the HEROS survivorship program.Assistant Professor Adjunct of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases)
Dr. Rogne is a medical doctor and researcher who focuses on perinatal epidemiology. Some of the ongoing projects includes evaluating how climate change affects pregnancy, the role of modifiable risk factors on reproductive health and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and how being born preterm affects the risk of cardiovascular and infectious diseases in adulthood. To tackle clinically relevant questions and providing robust results, he applies modern methods ranging from negative controls and inverse-probability weighting to genetic epidemiological methods and genome-wide association analyses. Dr. Rogne places emphasis on using high-quality data, in particular by use of data from population based cohorts and national registries.Assistant Professor
Dr Mancy Tong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. Dr Tong received a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences in 2012 and was awarded her Ph.D. in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2017, both from The University of Auckland, New Zealand. She arrived at Yale School of Medicine to continue her training as a postdoctoral associate in 2017 and in 2020, she became faculty in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale School of Medicine.Dr Tong's research focuses on understanding the impact of viral infection and inflammation on endometrial function and their downstream effects on placental development and pregnancy outcome. Dr Tong is an active member of the Society for Reproductive Investigation and the International Federation of Placenta Associations, and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals within the Reproductive Sciences field.
2022 Scholars
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
Irene Chernova, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine who's studying the role of B cells in lupus nephritis in the Craft laboratory. Dr. Chernova received her MD and PhD in Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania and then completed her Internal Medicine and Nephrology fellowship training at Yale New Haven Hospital. The Craft lab allowed her to combine her interest in clinical kidney disease and love of kidney physiology with her training in Immunobiology and tackle questions regarding immune cells survival in the inflamed kidney. Specifically, Dr. Chernova is interested in how the unique ionic environment of the kidney influences the survival and function of infiltrating lymphocytes as well as broader questions concerning ion-immune cell interactions which she hopes will form the foundation of her independent laboratory.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology, Allergy & immunology)
Dr. Chock is a physician and clinical researcher investigating medication use and offspring outcomes amongst parents with rheumatic diseases. She has strong interests in reproductive rheumatology and utilizing large datasets to support her research. Dr. Chock completed her MD degree at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She completed her residency at New York Presbyterian in Queens, New York. Dr. Chock joined the Section of Rheumatology for her fellowship in 2016, she received her MPH degree from Johns Hopkins University.Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director, NYKS Justice Lab, Internal Medicine; Director, JUSTResearch Training Program, Internal Medicine
Johanna Elumn, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine in General Internal Medicine, Director of the NYKS Justice lab, core faculty of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, and the evaluation lead of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Internal Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. She is a social worker and researcher who brings her personal, clinical, and research experience to studying the intersection of incarceration, sleep, and health disparities using community-engaged research (CEnR) approaches and mixed methods. Her current projects focus on the sleep health of people impacted by incarceration and related health outcomes. In addition, she has expertise in leading interdisciplinary teams and training community members and people with a history of incarceration to work as part of research teams. Prior to transitioning to research, she spent ten years leading the social work unit and community outreach efforts at a community-based public defender office. Her work there focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating services for those involved in the criminal legal system at all stages of their contact, from pre-arrest to reentry.Assistant Professor; Instructor of Medicine
Dr. Geer is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. She received an MD from New York University School of Medicine and an MHS from Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Geer completed internship, residency, and fellowship training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. As a member of the PCCSM faculty, Dr. Geer's clinical interests include caring for the critically ill as well as the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing, narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia, and insomnia. In addition to her clinical contributions, Dr. Geer also has a strong track-record of interdisciplinary scholarly work within the domain of sleep apnea and stroke.Assistant Professor in Dermatology
Dr. Jeff Gehlhausen, MD, PhD, is a dermatologist at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. He specializes in caring for patients with complex autoimmune skin conditions such as lupus and dermatomyositis. Dedicated to helping those with challenging skin diseases that affect overall health, he combines his deep understanding of the immune system with the latest treatments to improve patient well-being. Dr. Gehlhausen earned his medical degree and PhD from Indiana University. He completed an internal medicine internship at Vanderbilt University and a dermatology residency at Yale, where he served as chief resident. He further specialized in autoimmune skin disorders during advanced training at Brigham and Women's Hospital. As both a physician and researcher, Dr. Gehlhausen works to understand the signals underlying autoimmune diseases to better diagnose, treat, and manage patients. His work includes basic and translational research, using patient-derived samples to study the diseases he sees in the clinic. He has published basic, translational, and clinical manuscripts on autoimmune diseases and has written multiple textbook chapters as well. In addition to his clinical work, he teaches and mentors residents and medical students at Yale. Dr. Gehlhausen is committed to providing compassionate, comprehensive care, using the latest scientific insights to help his patients manage their conditions and improve their quality of life.Associate Research Scientist
Chenxi Huang finished her PhD program in Biomedical Engineering at Yale University in 2015. Her PhD thesis focuses on dealing with outliers in cryo-EM reconstruction of large molecules. Her research interests are fundamental issues of and innovative mathematical and computational approaches to biomedical data analysis, identification and integration of critical information in and across various imaging modalities, and sparse representations in detection and estimation for massive high-dimensional and noisy data. Prior to her PhD, she received her bachelor degree in Information Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Yale University.Assistant Professor; Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine
Snigdha Jain is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Jain completed her medical school at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa before starting her fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She joined Yale as a post-doctoral fellow in the NIA-funded T32 Geriatric Clinical Epidemiology and Aging-Related Research program to pursue her research interest of improving health outcomes of critically ill older adults. Her research interests include improving patient-centered outcomes of older adults with serious illnesses including critical illness and advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with an emphasis on health equity. Her research investigating differences in healthcare delivery as a potential mechanism for disparities in outcomes of older adults hospitalized with critical illness, and distressing symptoms among them, has been funded by the NIA Grant for Early Medical and Surgical Specialists Transitioning to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) Award, the Parker B. Francis Family Foundation Fellowship Award, the Yale Pepper Research and EducScholar Award, and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar Award.Instructor of Medicine (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology)
Dr. Korn obtained her MD, PhD degrees at the University of Pennsylvania in 2015. She completed internal medicine residency at Yale and started rheumatology fellowship in July 2017 via the ABIM physician-scientist pathway. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov in July 2018 for her post doctoral training.Associate Research Scientist; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Dr. Martinez is an Associate Research Scientist in the Section of General Internal Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, core faculty at the Equity Research and Innovation Center, and Lecturer in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Martinez is a maternal-child public health nutrition investigator and implementation scientist with a focus on translating effective interventions into public health policy and practice in disparity populations. She has extensive experience using social and behavioral theory in research design, piloting, implementation and evaluation. Dr. Martinez’s research focuses on how community-based behavior change, health communication, and systems-level interventions can be used to encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors and the effects these interventions have on reducing the risk of overweight and obesity across the life cycle. Her current work aims to improve maternal-child nutrition in the WIC population through breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support. Her current research also examines the role of food security in nutrition-related cardiometabolic outcomes in disparity populations.Assistant Professor
Dr. Oluwabunmi (Bunmi) Olaloye is an Instructor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology. She received her M.D. from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, completed her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and her neonatology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include deciphering the role of immune dysfunction in necrotizing enterocolitis to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Her research explores immune-epithelial interactions in the pathogenesis of neonatal spontaneous intestinal perforation using deep immunophenotyping of human tissueAssistant Professor in the Child Study Center; Solnit Integrated Program, Yale Child Study Center
Emily Olfson is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on the genetics of childhood-onset psychiatric conditions. She received her MD-PhD from Washington University in St. Louis where her dissertation in Human and Statistical Genetics focused on the genetics of smoking and alcoholism in the laboratory of Dr. Laura Bierut. She then completed residency and fellowship training in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry in the Yale Solnit Integrated Program. At Yale, Dr. Olfson also pursued research training focused on the neurogenomics of trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and childhood anxiety disorders in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Fernandez. Under the mentorship of Dr. Fernandez and Dr. Michael Bloch, she has developed the first DNA sequencing study focused on parent-child trios impacted by body-focused repetitive behaviors (tabsstudy.org). Dr. Olfson works clinically with adults and children in the Tic and OCD Program in the Yale Child Study Center. She has received research support from the NIMH, AACAP, IOCDF, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, and Alan B. Slifka Foundation through the Riva Ariella Ritvo endowment.Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center; Solnit Integrated Program, Yale Child Study Center
Kartik Pattabiraman is an assistant professor and child psychiatrist at the Yale Child Study Center. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from University of California, San Francisco. He completed his Ph.D. thesis work in the laboratory of John Rubenstein M.D., Ph.D. Afterward, he completed his clinical training in adult and child psychiatry and his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Nenad Sestan M.D., Ph.D.Associate Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
The surveillance and epidemiology of vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases, especially pneumococcal disease, is my passion. I want to determine how to efficiently and effectively protect populations from pneumococcal disease, both invasive (bacteremia, meningitis) and non-invasive (otitis media, non-bacteremic pneumonia). I'm interested in respiratory disease surveillance, serotype replacement, antibiotic resistance, vulnerable populations, vaccine schedules, vaccine advocacy, and overcoming vaccine hesitancy. You can find me on Twitter @StephPerniciaro.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Division of Addiction Sciences, Yale Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Steele is an addiction neuroscientist committed to developing treatments for individuals who suffer from substance use disorders (SUDs). Currently, his lab targets dysregulated circuits in SUD with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to elicit neuroplastic change. The goal is to identify malleable circuits that, with chronic treatment, could lead to positive long-term outcomes treating SUDs. Acute and chronic neuroplasticity is assessed with both electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Dr. Steele earned a Ph. D. in psychology with an emphasis in cognitive and biological psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2011. He completed two post-doctoral fellowships at the Mind Research Network (2011-2015; Albuquerque, NM) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (2015-2019 Baltimore, MD). As of January 2020, he joined the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at Yale University as an Assistant Professor. He is affiliated with Hartford Hospital and Hartford Healthcare with his primary lab located on the campus of the Institute of Living in the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center.Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Affiliate Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. I have a background in ecology, medical entomology, virology, and genomics. During my PhD at Wageningen University & Research, I studied the role of Culex pipiens mosquitoes in transmission of West Nile virus in Europe. My interdisciplinary project involved local mosquito surveillance in the field, vector competence studies in the laboratory, and modeling. These studies led to important insights in the role of climate as a limiting factor to transmission of West Nile virus in Europe. During my postdoc at the Yale School of Public Health, I shifted my focus to using genomics to understand the role of virus evolution in the unexpected scale and severity of the Zika virus epidemic in the Americas. Using a reverse genetics platform, we engineered Zika virus mutations and determined their impact on transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the laboratory. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I temporarily shifted my research focus to utilize my expertise in molecular virology and genomics to respond to a global public health emergency. Our team led the laboratory development of a saliva-based test called SalivaDirect that received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and we established the Yale SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Surveillance Initiative through which >25,000 SARS-CoV-2 samples were sequenced. Building on these experiences, we recently developed amplicon sequencing approaches for emerging viruses (i.e., human monkeypox virus) and arboviruses (i.e., dengue virus and Powassan virus) to uncover their patterns of emergence and spread. In the Vogels Lab, we use experimental approaches to study the ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of arthropod-borne (arbo)viruses. By combining field, laboratory, and computational approaches, we investigate how complex interactions between arboviruses, their vectors, and the environment influence their transmission dynamics. Our goal is to increase our understanding of the drivers and barriers of arbovirus transmission to improve prevention and control strategies.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Zakiniaeiz’s work broadly focuses on investigating the neural and molecular circuitry underlying several types of addictions and at-risk populations, such as alcohol use disorder, tobacco smoking, prenatally cocaine-exposed adolescents, and gambling disorder, using two neuroimaging techniques – functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Her work also emphasizes the importance of sex as a biological variable in the study of addiction.
2021 Scholars
Associate Professor of Surgery (Plastic)
A native of Connecticut, Dr. Michael Alperovich is a Board Certified plastic surgeon, full-time faculty member, and Director of the Craniofacial Fellowship at Yale University. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, attended the University of Oxford for graduate school receiving Distinction honors, and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Alperovich completed a plastic surgery residency and a craniofacial fellowship at New York University's Department of Plastic Surgery. He has clinical expertise in facial, breast and body aesthetic surgery. Notably, Dr. Alperovich is a national leader in gender affirming facial surgery and previously taught one of the first courses in the United States on this topic. Watch a video with Dr. Michael Alperovich>> Dr. Alperovich has been named to Connecticut Magazine's "Top Doctors" list for consecutive years and to New York Magazine's New York Metro "Top Doctors" list. He has been invited nationally and internationally as a visiting professor and guest faculty to speak about craniofacial, gender affirming and aesthetic surgery. Dr. Alperovich has authored over 200 publications and multiple plastic surgery book chapters. He serves on the Editorial Board of plastic surgery journals as well as contributes as an ad hoc reviewer for several other journals.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
My overarching interests are in the promotion of cardiometabolic health in diverse populations through understanding the relationships between cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and metabolic risk factors. My research is focused on the intersection between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and CVD with a sub-focus on elucidating mechanisms of CVDs in OSA. Over the last 3 years, my work has focused on improving our understanding of the role of OSA in the occurrence, severity, and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). I have recently uncovered a strong association between abnormal myocardial flow reserve (a reduction in the capacity of the heart to increase its blood flow in proportion to its demands) and severe obstructive sleep apnea. Abnormal myocardial flow reserve may be a marker of disease of the small blood vessels of the heart (coronary microvascular dysfunction). My work has been presented at national conferences such as the Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The findings of my research are published in major peer-reviewed scientific journals such as JACC, JACC Cardiovascular Imaging, Circulation Quality of Care and Cardiovascular Outcomes, JAHA, and Mayo Clinic Proceedings.Assistant Professor of Child Psychiatry
Dr. Kammarauche (Uche) Aneni is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. She is an assistant professor of child psychiatry, biomedical informatics, and data science. She is the Principal Investigator of the ACCESS Lab at the Yale Child Study Center. The overall goal of her research is to improve access to preventive interventions for adolescents at risk for substance use and mental health problems. Her research interests focus on developing, testing, and implementing preventive digital interventions, particularly culturally informed family-based interventions for racial/ethnic minorities in community-based settings. She is also investigating the utility of digital tools in identifying adolescents at risk for substance use and mental disorders through digital biomarkers and machine learning approaches. Dr. Aneni’s research is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH) AIM-AHEAD program, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation.Assistant Professor; Director, Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program, Neurology
Rachel Beekman began her medical training in her home state of New York at Stony Brook University School of Medicine but has since relocated to New Haven, where she completed her neurology residency and neurocritical care fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital. Rachel is the first Yale alumni to continue as faculty in the department of neurocritical care. Rachel has a passion for treating survivors of cardiac arrest and is building a multi-disciplinary cardiac arrest program. In her spare time Rachel loves being mom to her two young boys and spending family time at all the beautiful Connecticut parks.Assistant Professor
Dr. Nina Brodsky is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Critical Care Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She received her M.D. from the University of Maryland, completed her Pediatric residency training at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, and her Pediatric Critical Care fellowship at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. Her research interests include the genetic and environmental etiologies of immunodeficiency and pathologic inflammation, as well as signaling and mechanisms of disease in patients with these conditions. Dr. Brodsky is particularly interested in human T cell developmental immunology and regulation of inflammation in health and disease. Her goal is to uncover and develop targeted translational therapies to improve immune responses during vaccination, infection, and immune-mediated diseases.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology); Medical Director, Sickle Cell Program
Dr. Cecelia Calhoun, MD, MPHS, MBA, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and (Hematology/Oncology) at Yale University School of Medicine, specializing in the care of individuals with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). She also serves as the Medical Director of the Adult Sickle Cell Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital. Dr. Calhoun's research focuses on addressing educational and healthcare obstacles faced by adolescents with sickle cell disease, employing mixed methods to find effective solutions. Her career is dedicated to designing and implementing evidence-based interventions that support a successful transition from youth to adult care for individuals with sickle cell disease. As an NIH-funded investigator, she collaborates with hematology colleagues nationwide, utilizing Implementation Science methods to improve outcomes for patients with sickle cell disease across their lifespan. Dr. Calhoun's expertise and dedication make her a respected figure in the field of hematology, particularly in the realm of sickle cell disease and health equity. Her commitment to improving outcomes for individuals with sickle cell disease underscores her valuable contributions to the academic and medical community.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Dr. Cudahy is an assistant professor in infectious diseases with a research interest in HIV and tuberculosis co-infection. He currently conducts research in South Africa focusing on improving treatment outcomes in people co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV by investigating biomarkers of treatment response and analysis of within-host tuberculosis strain diversity. Dr. Cudahy is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery; Assistant Professor, Neuroscience
Eyiyemisi Damisah, MD, Neurosurgeon who treats adults and children with medication refractory epilepsy and movement disorders. She specializes in minimally invasive approaches and advanced brain mapping technologies for the treatment of epilepsy. She also has extensive experience with implantable devices such as DBS, RNS, and VNS that stimulate specific nerves to halt seizures movement disorders or other psychiatric conditions. She is the division chief of epilepsy and functional neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine. Dr Damisah’s research focuses on the neural mechanism of threat processing in humans and neuroanatomical substrates of higher order cognition that can be modulated for the treatment of threat-based disorders such as anxiety and PTSD. She codirects the Center of Brain and Mind Health. The center brings engineering psychiatry and neurosurgery to develop technology to treat patients with neurological disorders and functional movement disorders. Dr. Damisah received her bachelor's degree in 2006 from Biola University in Religious Studies. She obtained her MD, Neurosurgical residency, and Functional Neurosurgery fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. She started her clinical practice as the Director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program in 2019 and opened the Damisah Lab at Yale in 2021.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases); Assistant Hospital Epidemiologist, Hospital Epidemiology & Infection Prevention, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System
Rupak Datta, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and an Assistant Hospital Epidemiologist at the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System. He completed his undergraduate training at Tufts University, earned his MPH at the Yale School of Public Health, and received his MD/PhD at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. The central focus of his research is to improve clinical outcomes and reduce adverse events among older adults through antimicrobial stewardship. His research has been supported by the NIA Imbedded Pragmatic Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias Clinical Trials Collaboratory, Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. His areas of interest include healthcare epidemiology, antimicrobial resistance, and quality improvement.Assistant Professor
I am an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinic. My current research endeavors seek to uncover the underlying pathogenesis of inflammatory conditions. During my postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Andrew Wang, I explored fundamental allergy biology and the role of manmade xenobiotics in the development of allergic disease. Over the course of my postdoctoral training and during my PhD in the laboratory of Katya Ravid, DSc at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, I developed an interest in the impact of the external environment – from food preservatives and additives in topical products to the nutrients we ingest – on inflammation in the body, and in particular, at the skin barrier. Undergraduate School: Middlebury College Undergraduate Major: Biochemistry Medical School: Boston University, School of Medicine Internship: Newton Wellesley Hospital, Newton MA Residency: Yale New Haven HospitalFounding Director of Youth4Wellness at Yale, General Internal Medicine
Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes, Ed.D., LPC, MCHES, NCC is a youth mental health and substance use prevention expert with experience in public schools, clinical settings, and research institutions. Previously, her work focused on a practitioner-based approach that concentrated on health education, social and emotional learning (SEL), and school climate. She served as a former public school teacher, bilingual school counselor in New York City, and part of the founding leadership team at Bard High School Early College Newark where she developed and oversaw student-centered policies, programs, and structures. As part of her doctoral studies, she explored facilitators and barriers to the implementation of school wellness policies. She was also a project director at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence where she led the earlier stage of development for the inspirED Online Resource Center. Recognizing the impact and reach of evidence-informed, technology-based interventions to improve mental health and well-being in youth, she completed her postdoctoral studies in the design and evaluation of digital interventions at the Yale School of Medicine. Since her transition to a research career, she continues to apply a public health approach to reach more students and to improve youth mental health and wellbeing outcomes in schools with a specific focus on reducing the risk of suicide. Currently, Dr. Fernandes is the Director of Research and Evaluation at Born This Way Foundation as well as an assistant clinical professor in the Child Study Center and an assistant professor adjunct in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at the Yale School of Medicine. She is a former Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar and assistant professor of Medicine (General Medicine) where she received a career development award by NIH/NCATS to design and to evaluate a digital game to prevent suicide among youth who misuse substances, including opioids. In her current role, she remains the Founding Director of Youth4Wellness at Yale and collaborates with XRPediatrics, CHIL@Yale, and The ACCESS Lab. She previously worked with the play2PREVENT Lab. In her role at the play2PREVENT Lab, she served as the Deputy Director of Mental Health & Wellbeing and the Project Director of a NIH-/NIDA-funded Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to address opioid misuse in youth in school-based health centers. She was also a Guest Editor in the Supplemental Issue in Prevention Science Journal highlighting the coordinated efforts among 10 HEAL research projects across the nation in preventing opioid misuse. Other research interests focus on youth-led participatory action research and the translation of policies into practices and successful transitions from high school to post-secondary education, employment, and healthcare. Dr. Fernandes aims to use evidence-based research to inform federal-, state-, and local-level policies and to provide support to schools in their youth-led implementation efforts. She served on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Association of School-Based Health Centers as Treasurer. Dr. Fernandes also practices as a licensed professional counselor and serves on the Digital Wellbeing Advisory Board at the Peer Health Exchange. She is a 2024-2025 Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the Yale Women Faculty Forum.Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine)
Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center
Karim Ibrahim is an Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. His translational neuroscience research focuses on brain networks associated with emotion regulation impairments in childhood-onset psychiatric disorders. Dr. Karim Ibrahim’s research is interdisciplinary and integrates multimodal imaging methods including functional and structural MRI, machine learning, and network neuroscience/connectomics approaches to identify biomarkers relevant to child psychopathology. His recent interests lie in using and developing tools predictive modeling/machine learning approaches that leverage large-scale neuroimaging datasets, including data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, for identifying robust brain-based biomarkers. Among other things in this area, his research also investigates dynamics of the human functional connectome and large-scale networks, how brain connectivity is altered in mental health disorders (such as a disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, and autism spectrum disorder) and the neural response to treatment in youths. As a licensed clinical child psychologist, he also has extensive experience in developmental psychopathology, including assessments and cognitive-behavioral interventions for autism spectrum disorder, mood, anxiety, and disruptive behavior. Karim completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center T32 research program in Translational Developmental Neuroscience and through an award from the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation multidisciplinary research training program.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Kaye is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, using a combination of circuit and computational approaches to understand adaptations to the danger in the environment and how those adaptations underlie PTSD. He graduated from the University of California M.D., Ph.D. program, where he used two-photon imaging and computational modeling to understand the organization of visual motion processing. Then, he joined the psychiatry residency at Yale, where he worked in Alex Kwan's lab on using calcium and neurotransmitter imaging to understand how arousal states change after stress, and also developed computational models of PTSD.The lab will focus on understanding how neuromodulatory circuits reprogram one another to create adaptive responses to traumatic experiences. Underlying this idea is the central problem of developing a mechanistic and functional understanding of stress and anxiety. The lab uses microendoscope and two-photon imaging of calcium and neurotransmitter sensors, large-scale electrophysiology (Neuropixels), computational analysis of behavior (DeepLabCut), and single cell transcriptomics to understand this problem.Assistant Professor
Dr. Maudry Laurent-Rolle received her B.S. from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in Biology in 2001. She then obtained her MD and PhD from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her dissertation research was funded by an NIH pre-doctoral fellowship, which allowed her to examine the molecular mechanisms by which flaviviruses inhibit host innate immune responses. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center in 2016 then joined the Infectious Diseases Fellowship program here at Yale University. Her research focus is on vaccine design and development of antivirals. She is originally from the beautiful Caribbean island of Dominica, known for its many rivers, tropical rainforests, and natural hot springs.Associate Professor of Neurology; Director, Clinical Research, Neuroimmunology; Director, Fellowship Program, Multiple Sclerosis & Other Inflammatory Brain Disease
Dr. Longbrake is an associate professor in the Department of Neurology. She graduated summa cum laude from Cedarville University in 1998, then earned combined MD/PhD degrees at the Ohio State University. Her dissertation research focused on the neuro-immune response to traumatic spinal cord injuries. Dr. Longbrake then completed her neurology residency at Washington University in St. Louis. From 2013-2016, Dr. Longbrake was a Sylvia Lawry fellow of the National MS Society. During her fellowship, she was involved in numerous MS clinical trials and focused her research on better understanding the effects of modern MS disease modifying drugs. Dr. Longbrake is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Society and the American Academy of Neurology. She joined the Yale faculty in 2016. At Yale, she is Director of Clinical Research in the Neuroimmunology division, designing and implementing numerous clinical trials and other human research studies. She is also the Program Director for the Neuroimmunology Fellowship at Yale. Dr. Longbrake's research focuses on working towards personalizing management strategies for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and detecting the disease at the earliest physiologic signs of damage, before clinical symptoms develop. MS is a heterogeneous disease which at times causes minimal disability and at other times is neurologically devastating within years, despite appropriate treatment. By the time the first symptoms emerge, the disease has already caused permanent neurologic damage. No predictive algorithms or biomarkers currently exist to detect pre-clinical disease or to stratify risk and guide treatment decisions at the time of diagnosis. Dr. Longbrake's current work focuses on early-stage MS and identifying the earliest immunologic and radiologic changes associated with disease. One area of particular interest is the microbiome/metabolome and how it relates to the immune system and MS clinical course. Dr. Longbrake has extensive experience in designing/implementing clinical trials, both investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored.Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences; Co-Medical Director, Yale University Reproductive Sciences Biobank
Dr. McAdow received her MD and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Chicago. Her doctoral studies investigated the interactions between Staphylococcus aureus virulence factors and the host coagulation cascade during the pathogenesis of bacterial infection under the mentorship of Dr. Olaf Schneewind. She came to Yale University for her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and stayed for fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine. Dr. McAdow cares for patients pregnancy complications. She is the recipient of one of the inaugural Yale Physician Scientist Development Awards and a training grant from the Foundation for the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine and the American Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology Foundation. Her research, conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Anne Eichmann in the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, investigates the molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction in preeclampsia, a common complication of pregnancy that jeopardizes the health of the mother and fetus. Her other research interests include the biology of labor induction and fetal growth restriction.Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (General Pediatrics); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Julia Rosenberg is a graduate of Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Yale Pediatric Residency, and the Yale National Clinician Scholars Program. She is the Associate Director of the Yale Pediatric Immigrant and Refugee Clinic, and her work focuses on access to mental and behavioral health care for immigrant and refugee children and families and addressing disparities in access to care.Assistant Professor; Director, Primary Immunodeficiency Program
Dr. Shin completed Allergy and Clinical Immunology fellowship training (2017-2020) at Yale and joined the Yale Section of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology as a faculty in 2020. As an Allergy and Immunology specialist, she cares for patients with wide range of allergic and immunologic diseases. Dr. Shin also joined Dr. Insoo Kang's laboratory in 2018 and has been studying the immune system of patients with immune deficiency and/or immune dysregulation using in-depth immune profiling techniques. Dr. Shin’s overall research goal is understanding how immune alterations occur and affect the pathogenesis of such disorders in relation to their genetic defects, clinical presentations and comorbidities.
2020 Scholars
Research Scientist
Jason earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York, City University of New York in 2015. His dissertation focused on the validation and improvement of quantitative PET of atherosclerotic plaque metabolic activity using novel simultaneous PET/MR systems. Jason is currently using PET imaging to investigate mechanisms of disease and receptor/enzyme pharmacology in metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Current projects include using PET to image dopamine in the pancreas both in type 1 and type 2 diabetes; whole-body distribution of the cortisol activating enzyme (11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1); and method development (image reconstruction, attenuation and scatter correction) for whole-body kinetic modeling of novel PET radioligands in clinical and preclinical studies.Assistant Professor
Kamil Faridi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and an Investigator at the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. He received his medical degree from the Duke University School of Medicine and went on to complete his residency training in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. As a cardiology fellow, he also completed a research fellowship at the BIDMC Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology and received a Master of Science Degree in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and echocardiography, and is a general cardiologist and echocardiographer at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Echocardiography. Dr. Faridi’s research interests include primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and stroke, utilization of cardiovascular medications and echocardiography in clinical practice, and effective use of real-world evidence to enhance cardiovascular care. He has recently been awarded the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) Junior Faculty Scholar Award to pursue outcomes research in cardiology.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Fineberg holds an MD PhD from the University of Iowa, where she studied the molecular mechanisms that control early fate decisions for neural stem cells in mouse brain. She initially became interested in science as an undergraduate student at Oberlin College in physiology classes, where mechanism came alive in narratives about the evolutionary and individual history of the organism. She came to Yale in 2010 to pursue clinical and research training in psychiatry. Her current research engages both stories and brain-based mechanisms of mental illness, asking questions about how patient social experiences relate to neural circuits and learning mechanisms.Dr. Fineberg has been awarded young investigator grants from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to pursue studies about social learning in Borderline Personality Disorder.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Angela Haeny is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and leads the Racial Equity and Addiction Lab (REAL) at Yale School of Medicine. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with specialty in substance use disorders. Dr. Haeny is committed to eliminating racial disparities and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, which cuts across all aspects of her work. Her research investigates effective alcohol and drug treatments among individuals underrepresented in substance use research with a focus on Black adults. Her research also involves identifying understudied risk factors for substance use and problems especially salient to Black people. Currently, Dr. Haeny’s research is considering how to target racial stress and trauma and other relevant constructs in drug and alcohol treatment to improve treatment outcomes, retention, and satisfaction among Black adults. This work is funded by a 5-year career development award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Lorig Kachadourian completed a B.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. She currently is a research psychologist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Her primary research interests concern anger and aggression and associated risk factors including trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use. She also is interested in developing and testing alternative treatments for anger and aggression, including mindfulness-based interventions.Assistant Professor of Dermatology, Director of Yale Vulvar Dermatology Clinic
Undergraduate School: Amherst College Undergraduate Major: Chemistry and Neuroscience Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine Research Fellowship: Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine Internship: Yale-New Haven Hospital Internal Medicine Alicia Little, MD, PhD, is a dermatologist with expertise in women’s skin health and autoimmunity. She is the director of the Vulvar Dermatology Clinic, which is dedicated to compassionate, interdisciplinary management of vulvar skin diseases. Dr. Little specializes in skin disease of pregnancy and vulvar skin diseases; autoimmune skin diseases including cutaneous lupus, dermatomyositis, morphea, lichen sclerosus, and lichen planus; and inflammatory skin diseases including psoriasis, atopic dermatitis (eczema), and rosacea. She also handles general dermatology, acne, and skin cancer screening. “I enjoy meeting new patients and developing lasting relationships with them,” Dr. Little says. “I love looking at my schedule and recognizing patients who I have helped with uncomfortable rashes, acne, or skin cancers, and continuing to support them over the years with any new or chronic skin conditions.” Dermatology, she says, allows her to see patients of all ages and to use her background in immunology since many skin diseases and rashes are caused by an overactive immune system. “As dermatologists, we have the wonderful privilege of seeing our patients get better quite literally, since their symptoms are often also visible to us on the skin,” she says. When not caring for her patients, Dr. Little, who is an assistant professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, conducts research on the immune cells responsible for autoimmune skin disease. “By studying what is going wrong to cause the body to attack itself, I hope that we can identify targets for future treatments to improve patients’ lives,” she says.