Faculty & Staff

Ash Alpert, MD, MFA, (pronouns they/them) is an Instructor of Medicine (Hematology). Dr. Alpert completed their post-doctoral fellowship (T32) in health services research at the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Alpert received their medical degree from the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine and completed residency at Cambridge Hospital and fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Wilmot Cancer Institute of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Their research and scholarship focuses on improving experiences and outcomes for transgender people with hematologic disease or cancer, and they work with a community advisory board of transgender people diagnosed with cancer with whom they have conducted research and published research and scholarship for over five years. They received a Young Investigator Award from Conquer Cancer, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Foundation to develop patient-centered and non-stigmatizing gender identity data collection methods to be implemented in oncology settings and investigate the connections between experiences of violence and cancer risk for transgender people. Dr. Alpert is also involved with advocacy efforts nationally including working with national oncology organizations such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and ASCO to implement structural changes to improve outcomes for transgender people with cancer.

Frederick (Rick) L. Altice is a professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health and is a clinician, clinical epidemiologist, intervention and implementation science researcher at Yale University School of Medicine and School of Public Health. Dr. Altice’s primary research focuses on interventions and implementation science at the interface between infectious diseases and addiction and he has conducted research in several global health settings. He also has a number of projects working in the criminal justice system, including transitional programs addressing infectious diseases, medications for opioid use disorder (methadone, buprenorphine, extended release naltrexone), mental illness, homelessness and social instability. Specific topics include alcohol, opioid, stimulant and nicotine use disorders on HIV treatment outcomes, HIV and addiction treatment, interface with the criminal justice system, and pharmacokinetic drug interactions between treatment for substance use disorders and antiretroviral and tuberculosis therapy. At a basic level, his research focuses on clinical epidemiology, especially in key populations at risk for HIV (e.g., MSM, TGW, PWID, prisoners, sex workers) and development, adaptation and evaluation of of biomedical and behavioral interventions to improve treatment outcomes. His research, however, has evolved and included development and testing of mobile technologies (mHealth) to intervene with key populations to promote health outcomes.  His research is especially concentrated in health services research techniques with a focus on implementation science, seeking to introduce and scale-up evidence-based interventions in numerous contexts. A number of implementation science strategies are underway to examine scale-up of medication-assisted therapies to treat opioid use disorder in community, criminal justice and in primary care settings. Most recently, his work has been augmented through use of decision science techniques to understand and promote patient preferences, including the development of informed and shared decision-making aids. His work has emerged primarily with a global health focus with funded research projects internationally in Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, and Indonesia. He has participated in projects through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, Special Projects of National Significance with HRSA, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. He is currently also collaborating on projects with the WHO, UNAIDS, USAID, PEPFAR and UNODC. Current internationally funded projects in dedicated research sites that are being conducted in Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Peru. His research and training sites in Malaysia (2005), Peru (2010) and Ukraine (2005) are dedicated training and research sites for the Global Health Equity Scholars Fogarty Training Program and the Doris Duke International Fellowship program. He is currently the director for two International Implementation Science Research and Training Centers with collaborations between Yale University and the University of Malaya and Sichuan University.

Andrea Barbieri is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology. She provides clinical care as a surgical pathologist with expertise in endocrine, head and neck, gastrointestinal and liver pathology. She is a Michigan native and received her undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. She subsequently completed her residency in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital in 2013 and gastrointestinal pathology fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2014. She is board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. She co-leads the Community and Visibility working group of the Dean's Advisory Council on LGBTQI+ Affairs. She serves as the Residency Program Director for the Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency training program.

Diane Bruessow divides her time between academia, clinical practice, and service. She has graduate and post-graduate teaching experience, over 30 years of clinical practice experience, and extensive leadership experience in mid-size non-profit corporations within the healthcare sector with annual operating budgets of $25m+. She is experienced in best practices of governance and oversight, and moving culture toward inclusion and belonging by reducing systemic bias. Bruessow has received honors, awards, and legislative proclamations for academic, clinical, humanitarian, and leadership excellence - including the New York State Society of PAs as the PA of the Year (2019), New Jersey State Society of PAs as the outstanding Humanitarian of the Year (2017), as well as the designation of Distinguished Fellow, a recognition of exceptional professional achievement, leadership, professional interaction, learning, and community service by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA). Less than two percent of PAs earn this designation. She is nationally certified by the NCCPA with excellence awarded in Primary Care (reflecting scores within the top 5th percentile). Her professional interests include healthcare disparities, workforce, policy, and leadership. Bruessow has been an invited speaker and has authored original research and other published articles and medical textbook chapters. She has held elected and appointed positions on multiple national boards, councils, and commissions. She formerly served as a board officer for GLMA (formerly the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association) and is a past president of the LBGT PA Caucus. In 2020, after serving in the roles of Director at Large and Secretary-Treasurer, she was elected President-elect of the American Academy of PAs. She has served on the editorial advisory board of the Transgender Health Journal since its inception and is serving a 3-year term on the board of directors of the US Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH). Bruessow graduated from the LIU Brooklyn PA program in 1993. In 2023, she was inducted into Pi Alpha, the national PA honor society, as a distinguished alumnus. She has been practicing clinically for over 30 years and has over 20 years of experience in transgender medicine across the lifespan. She is licensed to practice autonomously in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts and independently in Wyoming. Bruessow joined the Yale University PA Online Program in 2018 and gave the keynote address for the inaugural class White Coat ceremony. She currently serves as the director of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and an assistant professor adjunct in the Department of General Internal Medicine. She regularly participates in committees at the program and institutional levels, including academic affairs and the YSM Diversity Champions Advisory Council. She previously served on the PA Online program mission committee and the joint diversity, equity, and inclusion mission committee. She has served as a core member of the YSM Dean's Advisory Council (DAC) on LGBTQI+ Affairs and has chaired the DAC's LGBT health policy working group. Her faculty responsibilities include serving as course director of Preparing Future PAs 1, co-course director for Clinical Medicine and Capstone, an academic advisor, and facilitator for Problem-Based Learning 1-3, which includes small group work 3 days each week. She has been a lecturer in pulmonary, musculoskeletal, psychiatry, geriatric, and sexual history, taking lectures within Patient Assessments 1 and 2. She developed a virtual clinical elective in Sexual and Gender Minority Health that launched in 2020 and ran for 3 years during COVID. During the program's intensive residencies, Bruessow also teaches hands-on skill development in patient assessment and clinical procedures. She developed standardized patient case scenarios involving transgender patients which was implemented in 2021, and supported the development of a Virtual Inter-Professional Education (VIPE) scenario that included a transgender patient.

Samuel Byrd (any pronouns) is a QT identifying Gender and Sexuality educator, consultant, and national board-certified counselor originally from rural Appalachia. As a first-generation professional, Samuel has worked over a decade to expand access to education, to support primary care and mental health and wellbeing, and to dismantle systems of oppression. Over the years, Samuel has served as a public school teacher, college counselor and lecturer, interfaith chaplain, lobbyist, and community activist. Samuel received their undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, a Master of Education from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a Master of Theological Studies from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Whether in the halls of Vatican City, in legislative chambers on Capitol Hill, or in the classroom, Samuel advocates for underrepresented communities and promotes social transformation through a radical and enthusiastic practice of inclusion. Samuel's research interests are at the intersections of queer, womanist, and postcolonial thought, organizational praxis, and historical analysis of ancient civilizations. Samuel currently is the Director of the Yale LGBTQ Center and serves as a senior diversity leader of numerous initiatives that promote a transformative and inclusive environment at Yale University.

My primary activities involve teaching residents, medical and PA students at Yale School of Medicine, with an emphasis on curriculum development and the application of new technologies for instruction.

Chelsey R. Carter is an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health with a secondary appointment in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Black feminist anthropologist of medicine, public health, and race from St. Louis, Missouri. Her scholarship examines the relationship(s) between social determinants of health (e.g., anti-Black racism, socioeconomic status, gender) and neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and motor neuron diseases (MND). Carter has a background in anthropology and public health, with specific training and expertise in ethnographic research, qualitative methodologies, and applied public health interventions. Her most recent research on race and ALS informs her first book project, tentatively titled, Finding the Forgotten: Race, Bias, and Care in the World of ALS. This book centers on the experiences of Black people living with ALS (and their families), scientific knowledge production, and how embodied inequality impacts diagnosis, treatment, and engagement in clinical trials. Her current research projects investigate precision medicine and genomic research in Black communities (The Black Genome Project) and caregiving among persons impacted by ALS. Her scholarship has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Wenner Gren Foundation, and more. Her public and scholarly work has been published in Anthropology News, Scientific American, Museum Anthropology, Medical Decision Making, British Journal of Health Psychology, American Ethnologist, and Medical Anthropology Quarterly. She is Founder and Director of The LEITH (Lived Experiences Igniting Transformations in Health) Lab, a hub to address Black invisibility and misdiagnosis for rare neurodegenerative and genetic diseases, in honor of anthropologist, Dr. Leith Mullings.

Keith Choate M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist who employs tools of human genetics to understand fundamental mechanisms of disease. His laboratory studies rare inherited and mosaic skin disorders to identify novel genes responsible for epidermal differentiation and development.  His laboratory has identified the genetic basis of over 12 disorders and has developed new therapeutic approaches informed by genetic findings.  His laboratory is funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and of Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health.Dr. Choate mentors undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in his laboratory, teaches at Yale Medical School, and trains resident physicians and fellows.

Robert Cole is a senior health care administrator with over 30 years of experience in the public sector as well as in academic psychiatry. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in 1976 with a BA in History and from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH in 1990 with a master's degree in Organization and Management. He joined Yale Psychiatry and the CT Mental Health Center (CMHC) leadership group in 1988 as the chief administrator of CMHC. He was subsequently promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer, following a reorganization in 1997. Prior to coming to Yale, Robert served as Director of Grant and Contract Management and Chief of Administrative and Fiscal Services for the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (subsequently merged administratively with DMHAS).

Andrew DeWan is a genetic epidemiologist with a focus on extending and applying analytical methods to identify genetic susceptibility variants for complex traits. A key theme throughout his work is applying a strategy of delineating narrowly defined phenotypes and stratification by ancestry to reduce heterogeneity and increase statistical power. To better elucidate the genetic architecture of complex traits, his research extends analytical methods to identify genetic interactions as well as pleiotropy. He has applied these genetic mapping methods across a number of diverse phenotypes including asthma, obesity, leukemia, pediatric lung cancer, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and bacterial bloodstream infections. He has been the Principal Investigator of external grants to fund his research (5 NIH grants, including three R01s). He is the Co-Director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE) which brings together diverse faculty with interests in the health of women and children through epidemiologic research investigating the impact of environmental, genetic and clinical factors on pregnancy, birth and childhood. He recently served a three-year term as a member of the Program Committee for the American Society of Human Genetics, the primary scientific organization for human geneticists worldwide. He has been able to incorporate his research interests through to his educational activities, teaching the course Genetic Concepts in Public Health, guest lecturing on genetic epidemiology and teaching at international courses for linkage and association analyses.

As both a licensed clinical psychologist and a yoga teacher, I use a variety of approaches to offer support through struggles with anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, addiction, depression, perfectionism, workaholism, burnout, stage of life issues, and religious trauma.  For more information, please visit: https://www.lauriemedwardspsyd...

My contributions to education and research during my career have focused on organizing and delivering health-related services for vulnerable populations and training health professionals. With a PhD in Sociology of Medicine, I initially worked on national and international evaluations of HIV/AIDS programs and mental health services. More recently, I've applied my skills to medical education, primarily assisting faculty in assessing trainees and training programs and designing curriculum in health professional education. At Yale School of Medicine, I serve as the Executive Director of Evaluation & Assessment at the Center for Medical Education. My expertise includes evaluating health professional education curricula; training faculty, staff, and students in feedback methods; improving assessment systems for educators; and consulting on program and curriculum evaluation approaches for scholarly work. I teach curriculum development and evaluation in the Masters of Health Science/Medical Education program and other educational programs. I am chairperson of the School of Medicine's Learning Environment Subcommittee of the Education Policy and Curriculum Committee. Additionally, I integrate LGBTQI-health topics into the curriculum and serve on the Dean's Council for LGBTQI Affairs. In select graduate medical education programs, including my academic department, Psychiatry, I gather and analyze qualitative data for internal reviews of training programs.