Kathleen Akgün, MD, MS

Kathleen Akgün, MD, is a pulmonary, critical care and hospice and palliative medicine specialist. She provides care for people with complex lung conditions, including those who are immunocompromised and may require critical care due to life-limiting conditions. Her focus also includes palliative medicine that helps ease symptoms and enhance comfort for patients managing serious illnesses.

"There's a lot of 'grey area' in how each person experiences their condition and responds to treatment, and in how we determine the best approach for them as an individual,” Dr. Akgün says. “I apply my expertise to understand a patient's symptoms or condition and help guide our next steps as a team—patient and physician.”

As an associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Akgün explores ways to improve outcomes for people living with life-limiting conditions; she has worked extensively characterizing critical care diagnoses and outcomes for people aging with HIV through her work with the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS). Currently, she is focused on determining risk factors and outcomes for people with pulmonary and cardiac conditions using structured and unstructured data available through the VA. Her findings also develop approaches to promote person-centered care for all patients.

Dr. Akgün completed her medical training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and pursued residency and fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Yale School of Medicine.