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Lydia Aoun-Barakat, MD

she/her/hers
Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
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Appointments

AIDS
Primary

Additional Titles

Director, Yale Center for Infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases

Program Director, HIV Primary Care Training Track, Internal Medicine

Project Director, Connecticut New England AIDS Education & Training Center, HRSA

About

Titles

Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Director, Yale Center for Infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases; Program Director, HIV Primary Care Training Track, Internal Medicine

Positions outside Yale

Project Director, Connecticut New England AIDS Education & Training Center, HRSA

Biography

Dr. Lydia Aoun Barakat is the Medical Director of the Yale Center for Infectious Diseases and she oversees the infectious diseases ambulatory services at YNHH and Yale Medicine, including the care of over 1,500 patients living with or at risk of HIV, general infectious diseases, and transplant infectious disease.

Dr. Barakat’s career is highlighted by her commitment to improving the care for people with HIV and aging with HIV. She has received and contributed to multiple HRSA and CDC grants that are dedicated to the mission of serving the people living with HIV/AIDS and require a long term vision in accomplishing a high standard quality of care as well as a focus on outcome measures.

Dr. Barakat is a leader in Quality Improvement in HIV care and served as member on several local and national committees dedicated to improving HIV Quality. Her work has been recognized nationally by the presentation of the “Senior Leadership Award” for her role in building an HIV Quality infrastructure for patient care.

Dr. Barakat is nationally recognized and involved in workforce development in the area of HIV primary care, infectious diseases, and DEI. She is passionate about teaching residents, infectious disease fellows, and students, mentoring them for presentations in national meetings and completing clinical research projects. She has been honored to receive “Teacher of the year award” on several occasions during the last two decade. She also serves as the Program Director for the HIV Training Track within the Yale Primary Care Residency Program that she established and implemented since 2011.

Dr. Barakat has taken every opportunity to expand her knowledge and expertise in the fields of Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She enjoys the investigative process that results in the diagnosis of challenging infectious disease cases; whether diagnosing a “Fatal Inhalation Anthrax in a 94-year-old Connecticut Woman” published in JAMA, the patient who almost lost his vision due to Cat Scratch Disease or one of the first patients with COVID-19 reported in “Diagnosis” in the New York Times magazine.

Dr. Barakat is dedicated to her role as clinician educator scholar at Yale where caring for patients, mentoring students and trainees, and developing innovative research and curriculum are paramount.

Appointments

Education & Training

Fellow
Yale New Haven Hospital (2000)
Resident
Griffin Hospital (1998)
MD
Lebanese University (1994)

Research

Overview

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

HIV Infections; Patient Outcome Assessment

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Lydia Aoun-Barakat's published research.

Publications

2023

2022

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    NIH/DHHS Opportunistic Infections Guidelines reviewer

  • activity

    American Academy of HIV Medicine

  • activity

    Yale School of Medicine- Department of Medicine Diversity Equity and Inclusion

  • activity

    IDSA

  • activity

    IDSA

Clinical Care

Overview

Lydia Aoun-Barakat, MD, is an infectious diseases specialist who is recognized nationally for her work with HIV/AIDS. She is the medical director of the Nathan Smith Clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital and the program director of the HIV Primary Care Training Track at Yale, which provides care for more than 900 adults with the disease. She says she has always been driven by “the privilege to serve this special population.”

An associate professor of medicine (AIDS), Dr. Barakat says one of her goals is to help change the “health disparity and human injustice associated with HIV.” In addition to her clinical practice, she is an active researcher pursuing ongoing projects on HIV outcomes and aging. She has received and contributed in multiple federal grants dedicated to serving people who are living with HIV/AIDS and are in need of a long-term vision in achieving a high standard quality of care while focusing on outcome measures. Dr. Barakat also enjoys the investigative process involved in diagnosing other challenging infectious disease cases. She garnered attention for her work in two notable cases: “Fatal Inhalation Anthrax in a 94-year-old Connecticut Woman” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and a patient who almost lost his vision due to cat scratch disease reported in The New York Times magazine.

Clinical Specialties

Infectious Diseases; HIV & AIDs Medicine

Fact Sheets

Yale Medicine News

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Contacts

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Locations

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