YSM News and Recognition

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) continues to rank among the top hospitals in the country according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” listing. Of the nearly 5,000 hospitals surveyed, YNHH ranks nationally in 11 specialties and number one in the state of Connecticut. It earned the sixth spot nationally in Psychiatry and ranked among the country’s top 50 hospitals in Geriatrics (#24), Pulmonology and Lung Surgery (#29), Diabetes and Endocrinology (#31), Neurology and Neurosurgery (#38), Obstetrics and Gynecology (#39), Heart and Heart Surgery (#40), Urology (#40), Orthopedics (#41), Ear Nose and Throat (#42), and Cancer (#43).

Christopher Whitlow, MD, PhD, has been named chair of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and assistant dean for translational research at Yale School of Medicine, as well as chief of radiology at Yale New Haven Hospital and radiologist-in-chief across Yale New Haven Health System. Whitlow, who is currently the Isadore Meschan Distinguished Professor of Radiology and enterprise chair of radiology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, will assume his Yale posts on Oct. 20.

The Yale Women Faculty Forum has awarded a Public Voices Fellowship to Aba Black, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine (general medicine). The fellowship aims to assist scholars in increasing their influence as thought leaders whose ideas impact not only academia but also larger public debates. It gives faculty from all backgrounds the opportunity to work with top journalists from The OpEd Project.

Jeffrey Carbonella, MD, was recently designated Consultant of the Month (July) by the emergency medicine section of the Yale School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. The department regularly recognizes a consultant from other specialties who "consistently exemplifies clinical excellence, efficiency, professionalism, and a family-centered approach to care." A hospital resident, Carbonella focuses on urologic surgery, pediatric urology, robotic surgery, surgical education, and ethics in surgical decision making

James Elia, a doctoral candidate studying in the lab of Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, has received a prestigious F31 Award from the National Institutes of Health. Also known as the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship, the award provides financial support for students pursuing their dissertation research in health-related fields with the goal of enhancing their potential to become productive, independent research scientists.

Kanika Jain, PhD, associate research scientist at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, has been awarded the American Heart Association’s Transformational Project Award. The three-year award supports highly innovative, high-risk research that has the potential to shift current paradigms or create new fields of study in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular science. Jain’s research will delineate fundamental mechanisms driving vascular aging and disease.

Nicole J. Lake, PhD, assistant professor of genetics, is the recipient of a July 2025 Child Health Research Award from the Charles H. Hood Foundation. The award honors outstanding early-career investigators who are advancing innovative studies with the potential to transform pediatric health. Lake is working to uncover nuclear modifiers of mtDNA mutation pathogenicity in mitochondrial disease.