VA Connecticut Health Care

The VA Connecticut Health Care System in West Haven is one of the core training sites for Yale University School of Medicine students, house officers and fellows. The VA Connecticut provides care to 56,000 unique patients. It has just under 100 medical and surgical beds, including a 6-bed MICU, 10 bed SICU and active neurology, general surgical and specialty surgical care. VA Connecticut has received outstanding national ranking for clinical care among VA hospitals in the highest (1A) complexity category, and as such offers an exceptionally rich environment for clinical training.

The Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine (PCCSM) at VA Connecticut, directed by Dr. Hilary Cain, has an active clinical, educational, and research program. Six PCCSM faculty members spend the majority of their clinical and academic efforts at the VA campus, while other section faculty members make additional contributions to the VA program.

The Section’s Sleep Medicine Program is shared equally between the Yale and VA campuses. The VA site is undergoing a period to exciting growth such that three of the core Sleep Medicine faculty members are primarily at the VA campus: Drs. Meir Kryger, Klar Yaggi and Christine Won. In 2012 the VA Sleep center, under the directorship of Dr Won, is expanding to accommodate six inpatient studies per night, which is complemented by a busy ambulatory polysomnography program. The VA based faculty members offer exceptional mentoring for research and clinical training.

VA Connecticut is the site of the section’s academic program in Pulmonary Rehabilitation under the directorship of Dr. Carolyn Rochester. Fellows have the opportunity to work directly with veterans enrolled in the program, and research opportunities are available under the mentorship of Dr Rochester.

VA Connecticut provides exceptional training opportunities in outpatient care for the PCCM and Sleep fellowship program. The Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine clinics are located at the West Haven and Newington Campuses where over 4000 patient encounters occur annually. The clinics are a core site for PCCSM training, under the direction of Drs. Hilary Cain and Carolyn Rochester, respectively and are staffed by all of the VA PCCSM faculty. Trainees have exceptional opportunities to learn Sleep medicine and general pulmonary outpatient medicine. Extremely strong programs in Oncology and Cardiothoracic Surgery complement the Pulmonary care offered at VA Connecticut.

Some of the core PCCM and Sleep faculty members at VA Connecticut (Drs. Klar Yaggi and Kathleen Akgun) collaborate actively with Yale School of Medicine faculty in clinical epidemiology at the West Haven campus. These close academic relationships offer additional outstanding research mentorship opportunities to PCCSM trainees.

Hilary Cain, M.D.

Christine Won, M.D.

Carolyn Rochester, M.D.

Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Haven
950 Campbell Avenue
West Haven, CT 06516

Appts: (203) 932-5711
Fax: (203) 937-4784