Lisa Sanders, MD, General Internal Medicine
Chief Resident: Yale School of Medicine
Resident: Yale School of Medicine
MD: Yale School of Medicine
BA: William & Mary
What does your promotion mean to you?
Promotion is how an institution tells you that what you do and what you care about is important and valued. In internal medicine, we value “normal” in our patients and, to a large extent, in our professional lives. This promotion meant that this institution accepted me even though I haven’t followed the normal path or direction in my career to get here. Hearing the news gave me a real Sally Field moment.
What was the first thing you did when you found out you were promoted to professor?
I sent a group text to my husband and children: I have arrived.
What are you proud of most thus far in your career?
I have helped dozens of doctors learn to write and publish through the writer’s workshop and the writing elective I teach.
What is your favorite part of academia?
Academia gives you the opportunity to do a deep dive into just about anything that interests you. What’s better than that? Oh, and teaching does that too. To have both in one place is something I never knew I wanted, but having it means the world to me.
Tell us a fun fact about you—something people may find surprising.
Before I came to Yale, I was a television producer for CBS News. I covered medicine towards the end of my tenure there. Television, I thought (and still think) was exciting without being interesting. My hope was that medicine would be both exciting and interesting. I was right.
Second fact: I am a Sherlock Holmes groupie. I belong to a group of Sherlock Holmes scholars who meet annually to present papers on the “canon.” I go to the Baker Street Irregulars meeting on Sherlock Holmes’s birthday (January 6) as often as I can.
The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.