Melissa Langhan, MD, MHS
Cards
About
Titles
Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and Emergency Medicine
Director of Operations, Pediatric Emergency Medicine; Fellowship Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine; Director of Education, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Biography
Dr. Melissa Langhan is a professor in pediatric emergency medicine at Yale University with a focus in clinical, patient-oriented research and medical education scholarship. Melissa completed her medical education at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn where she graduated summa cum laude in 2000. From here she completed residency and chief residency in pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
Her early clinical research focused on the use of bedside technology, including capnography, portable spirometry and bedside ultrasonography to improve the accuracy of patient care in the emergency department. She then began honing in on capnography, assessing its use to monitor ventilation in patients with acute asthma exacerbations, altered mental status, procedural sedation and endotracheal intubation, as well as assessing the utilization of capnography in different patient care areas. Melissa later employed translational research methods to improve the dissemination and implementation of research into practice. She has explored the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of technology into acute care settings and completed a pilot study to improve use capnography in the emergency department for critically ill patients.
Dr. Langhan also serves as the fellowship director for pediatric emergency medicine and is engaged in both local and multicenter collaborative research in medical education. She serves on the Subspecialty Pediatric Investigative Network and the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Directors Committee. Currently, her focus is on educational research, in particular on assessing for biases and disparities in the evaluation of trainees and prospective candidates, use of different assessment methods, as well as developing new curricula and fostering educational scholarship. Dr. Langhan runs the Pediatric Medical Education Research Collaborative to provide support and mentorship to faculty and trainees who are interested in pursuing medical education scholarship.
Appointments
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
ProfessorPrimaryEmergency Medicine
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Emergency Medicine
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Yale Medicine
- Yale Ventures
Education & Training
- MHS
- Yale University (2013)
- Fellow
- Yale University School of Medicine (2011)
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Yale University School of Medicine (2007)
- Chief Resident
- Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY (2004)
- Resident
- Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY (2003)
- Intern
- Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY (2001)
- MD
- SUNY Downstate (2000)
- BS
- University of Richmond, Biology (1995)
Research
Overview
I am currently involved in a variety of medical education research projects. In an effort to improve equity and diversity of our workforce, my work focuses on discovering and mitigating areas of bias in our assessment of trainees and prospective applicants. Along with the fellowship directors in pediatric emergency medicine across the country, I assessed the impact of Covid on fellowship training and recruitment, remediation of trainees, and variations in autonomy across programs. We have evaluated our fellow Milestones, clinical work hours, and levels of autonomy. As a representative on the Subspecialty Pediatric Investigative Network, I help to implement multicenter medical educations studies across all pediatric specialties. Some recent projects include:
- Competency assessments among MD and DO residents in 4 medical specialties
- Disparities in EPA assessments among pediatric subspecialty fellows
- The impact of remediation on program directors
- Are Graduating Pediatric Fellows Meeting the Expected Level of Supervision for the Common Subspecialty Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs)?
- Longitudinal Evaluation of the Required Levels of Supervision for Pediatric Fellows
- Use of Structured Interviews to Reduce Bias in Trainee Evaluations
- Perceptions of an ICU rotation on medical student training
My academic clinical research career focused on applying new, noninvasive technologies to the clinical problems seen acutely in children by designing and executing carefully planned patient-oriented research. I have been able to successfully complete several research projects using new technologies in the pediatric emergency department such as capnography and portable spirometry. Furthermore, I have been able to document that capnography is not being utilized to its full potential in both the emergency and critical care settings. I now spend time mentoring trainees and junior faculty in their clinical research interests, such as:
- Adolescent and parental access to the medical record and the CURES act
- Kawasaki disease and MISC: what are the differences?
- Gender differences in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine workforce and leadership positions
- Developing a prediction model to identify children with MISC who will decompensate
Medical Research Interests
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
Clinical Care
Overview
When parents bring children into the Pediatric Emergency Department, Melissa Langhan, MD, assures them they are in the right place.
“As health care providers, we need to understand that this really is their emergency,” Dr. Langhan says. “A lot of these problems, we see all of the time, but for a parent whose child has a high fever or is vomiting, it is distressing. I like to explain that we will examine their child, reassure them that it’s going to be OK, and make them feel comfortable taking their child home.”
Variety is what Dr. Langhan says she enjoys the most about her work. “We see so many different things that come through our doors. To be able to work on cases that are new and complex, and others that are straightforward—all at the same time—is great,” she says.
Dr. Langhan has a special interest in clinical patient-oriented research, and has worked extensively with capnography, a noninvasive way to measure patients’ ventilation and cardiac output when they are under anesthesia or in intensive care. She is currently working on a pilot study focused on improving the use of the technology in the emergency department for critically ill children.
Dr. Langhan is an associate professor of pediatric emergency medicine and of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine.
Clinical Specialties
Board Certifications
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Certification Organization
- AB of Pediatrics
- Latest Certification Date
- 2017
- Original Certification Date
- 2009
Pediatrics
- Certification Organization
- AB of Pediatrics
- Latest Certification Date
- 2011
- Original Certification Date
- 2003
News
News
- February 28, 2024
Find Yale Pediatrics at the 2024 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting
- April 06, 2023
Yale Pediatrics Poster Presenters at PAS 2023
- April 06, 2022
Abstract by Drs. Boolchandani and Langhan Selected for Research Award
- March 28, 2022Source: Medium
Health care providers: Expand HUSKY to undocumented immigrants