Meet our Faculty

I am James Preston Ebaugh and I am an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center. I have been at the Child Study Center since starting my fellowship training here in 2020 and continued as faculty after graduating in 2022. My clinical roles include outpatient psychiatry at the Child Study Center, emergency psychiatry in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Yale New Haven Hospital, and consultation in the pediatric clinic at Fair Haven Community Health Care. I work with psychiatry fellows as an outpatient clinic supervisor and as an educator for emergency psychiatry services with scheduled didactics. I truly enjoy teaching and learning alongside the fellows, and I feel grateful to be part of the fellowship’s academic curriculum.

I have enjoyed my time living in Connecticut. I was born and raised in Florida prior to training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. I enjoy the city of New Haven with its food options, museums, beautiful campus, and locations to walk around. Outside of the city, I also like going on hikes with my puppy, traveling to nearby beaches, or staying in to watch movies, TV shows, and sports. My wife and I have always felt warmly welcomed within the Yale Health System and the greater New Haven community. I am eager to discuss any of my experiences with those who are interested in joining us at the Child Study Center!

I began my time at Yale in 2021 as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow on the Solnit South track. Teaching has always been a driving force in my career, and I was fortunate to have that passion nurtured throughout fellowship. Spending nearly half of my training at the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center – South Campus gave me a strong sense of community and a commitment to lifelong learning that aligned perfectly with my personal and professional goals. And, of course, the apizza around the state played its own small but delightful role in choosing to stay around!

Now, as an attending on the Solnit South Campus Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) and an Assistant Clinical Professor for the Yale Child Study Center, I approach both treatment and supervision through a biopsychosocial-cultural lens. My goal is to humanize psychiatrists for the youth in our care, fostering collaboration and hopefully reducing hesitancy or related barriers when it comes to rapport or engagement. Many of the youth we serve carry the weight of profound trauma, and I believe the consistency and care we offer has the potential to meaningfully and positively alter the trajectory of their lives.

I was born, raised, and attended medical school in Mexico, where I initially thought I’d return to and settle down for good. I came to the US to train, first in Miami for two years, then in Boston for five, and after getting married to my wife Rebecca, thought we’d try New Haven for a year or so. 26 or so years later, I remain at Yale, the one and only employer I have had in my life. The pull to stay at Yale and in New Haven has clearly been strong.

For over 20 years, I have served as the medical director of Winchester One, the young child psychiatric unit at Yale–New Haven Hospital. I love the intensity, the kids, the teamwork, and the ability to make a difference, all while helping train the next generation of practitioners. Winchester One and the Child Study Center have one strong commonality: how they blend old, long-standing traditions, with vibrancy and freshness of thought. For example, the Child Study Center has been around for over 110 years, and conducts today some of the most cutting-edge research. Winchester One, in turn, is around 50 years old, and incorporates on a daily basis some of the brightest fellows and medical students in the country. This mixture of the old and the new is a real gift of the Center and of Winny 1.

When I think of supervision and guidance to our fellows and medical students, I like to balance giving complete freedom, but not so much so as to feel like wild cowboys, all on their own. I try to remain hovering in the background, nonintrusive, non-smothering, but just there, following along and being available. In addition to child psychiatry, my main academic interests are in medical education (did you know that Yale School of Medicine has a Center for Medical Education? I am a proud member of it), as well as in qualitative methods, which I am trying hard to bring into the mainstream of our specialty.

I continue to live in New Haven, where my four kids went through public schools before going off to college. I love this town. Most recent discovery/personal obsession: sailing in the New Haven harbor. This is a little city, but one with plenty of surprises for everyone.

I have been at the Child Study Center since 2011, when I completed my fellowship here, with a brief one-year hiatus at UF Jacksonville as an Academic Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. I wanted to stay at Yale from the beginning, but there were no openings at the time. That’s actually a common theme here — people often want to stay after fellowship.

Funny story: when I was moving to New Haven, my family and friends told me I was going to get murdered. I’m happy to report I am still alive and kicking. Like any city, you just need to know which areas to avoid and have common sense about where and when you walk around.

What I love about academic medicine is the opportunity to work with talented trainees from different backgrounds, life experiences, and stages of training. I especially enjoy consultation and liaison psychiatry, as it lets me keep the medical knowledge and approach I developed during medical school and my two years in Surgery residency. Patient care here is deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary, and I find that incredibly rewarding.

Being a Yale CAP alum also means joining a network that continues long after graduation. We consult with each other, refer patients, and stay connected in meaningful ways.

In my spare time, I love exploring new restaurants and cuisines. I was pleasantly surprised by how diverse and vibrant the food scene is in New Haven. I also enjoy hiking and taking little road trips with my family to nearby NY, MA, and RI. I like to think of myself as a weekend warrior.

I have been at Solnit for over two decades. After completing my Child Psychiatry fellowship on the Solnit track, I decided to remain as an attending and stay involved in the fellowship program. Over the years, I’ve been an active part of the training program, teaching and supervising fellows. Each year, I continue to be inspired by the energy and enthusiasm that new fellows bring, and it’s pure joy to watch them learn and grow into confident, well-rounded child psychiatrists.

Currently, I serve as the Associate Medical Director at Solnit and the Associate Program Director for the fellowship program. Teaching and mentoring young, passionate doctors who will become the next generation of child psychiatrists around the country and the world remains one of the most rewarding aspects of my work. Hearing from graduates who go on to become leaders in the field gives me immense satisfaction and motivates me to continue contributing to their development.

Yale is a welcoming and inclusive place, and I am deeply appreciative of Dr. Stubbe’s unwavering support and commitment to the training program. She brings a wealth of experience and is always available to guide and help. Our administrative staff are equally kind and dedicated, making the experience for both fellows and faculty remarkably smooth.

My academic interests in Child Psychiatry center on trauma-informed care, which led to my involvement in efforts to reduce restraints and lower PRN medication use at Solnit. I’ve helped develop and implement milieu programs based on the ARC framework (Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency). Another passion of mine is deprescribing—raising awareness about polypharmacy in child psychiatry and promoting multidisciplinary approaches to managing complex psychiatric conditions.

In my teaching and supervision, I believe that developing autonomy and independent thinking is essential for fellows to evolve into confident professionals. I strive to provide a balance—allowing trainees the space to cultivate their unique clinical style while guiding and supporting them along the way.

Outside of work, I’m an avid cook and food enthusiast who enjoys trying new cuisines across the diverse restaurant scene of Greater New Haven. I also love hiking and exploring the many beautiful trails throughout Connecticut.

Solnit offers a truly unique fellowship experience as one of the few state-run programs in the country. Because our patients stay longer than in most community inpatient settings, our team has the opportunity to make meaningful, lasting changes in the lives of youth who have faced significant trauma and adversity. The multidisciplinary approach to care here is unparalleled, giving fellows the chance to collaborate closely with school staff, rehabilitation specialists, and occupational and speech therapists—making Solnit a deeply rewarding and transformative place to train.

I have been at Yale for the past 40 years as a clinical psychologist with a specialization in pediatrics, ADHD, tics, OCD, training, and coaching. I am still here—and still having fun! Previously, I was at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. My family and I moved here to work with friends at Yale and to be closer to grandparents. While I have had many roles at Yale, my heart is in training first, and then applied research and clinical practice. It’s also wonderful that my best friends are here on the faculty throughout Yale.

Currently, I am a professor at the Child Study Center and part of the Tic/OCD/ADHD Clinic alongside several outstanding attendings, as well as the Fernandez Genetics Lab, with an interest in ADHD, tics, and OCD. I enjoy supervising Child Psychiatry Fellows, along with graduate students and post-docs. I have a national role as a training program site visitor and several international research collaborations. My current research focuses on the use of mindfulness meditation to lower medication rates in inner-city children with ADHD. I am also committed to the Yale Wellness Program, which supports all residents across Yale, and I provide executive function coaching for residents. In addition, I run a company that provides leadership training and executive coaching in New York, San Francisco, Mexico, Rome, and Istanbul.

I have taught many seminars on CBT and greatly enjoy supervising our fellows. I take an eclectic approach as a supervisor and have always felt that we need broad training and diverse skills in order to be our best clinicians for others. I am very proud of the many child psychiatrists I have helped train, who are now spread around the world doing great things. I have fun keeping in touch with our CSC extended family.

Alongside work, I am interested in tennis, travel, cooking, and our CSC book club. I am proud of the very rich history we have here at the CSC, and I hope to meet you if you’re an interested applicant.