Yale-PCCSM Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

Working on this newsletter, I was distracted because of the events in Israel. Having been born and raised in Israel, I always believed that the country, having emerged through the atrocities of 20th century authoritarian regimes, would be immune to the temptations of bigotry and authoritarianism. Obviously, it is not. I am proud of the many who are protesting in Israel, including academics and health care workers, but I am also reminded that as clinicians, researchers, educators, or administrators, we no longer have the luxury to dismiss such events as "political."

As we have learned in recent years, quite often political decisions have a direct effect on our patients’ lives. Indeed, the changes proposed in Israel will have detrimental effects on reproductive rights, access to gender-affirming care, and the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship – sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Personally, this is the reason I have in recent years participated in papers advocating for climate change, gender equity, and most recently, the need for medical societies to consider location in the age of abortion bans, because these issues affect all of us, our faculty, trainees and staff, patients, and also our families and friends – #ThisIsOurLane. I hope to see many of you at the ATS meeting in DC in May and hope to hear your thoughts about the topics I mentioned, and maybe have even more advocacy papers!

Lastly, on a personal note, as always at this time of year, I would like to remind you to vote for us in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals Survey. Reputation means a lot, and recognition means even more. Our teams are definitely among the best – they deserve the recognition.

Looking forward to seeing you all in DC,

Naftali Kaminski, MDBoehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Endowed Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary) and Pharmacology
Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
naftali.kaminski@yale.edu