YSM News and Recognition

Daniel Boffa, MD, professor of surgery (thoracic), has been selected to serve as Vice Chair of the Commission on Cancer (CoC). The CoC is one of the largest cancer organizations in the world, with almost 75% of newly diagnosed cancer patients in the United States receiving care at a CoC-accredited hospital. The CoC works to ensure all cancer patients receive high quality care, by having hospitals comply with quality standards and supporting hospitals with educational and quality improvement resources – making sure best practices become routine practices.

Diane Bruessow, MPAS, PA-C, assistant professor adjunct of medicine (Physician Assistant Online Program), has been appointed for a two-year term to the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) Board, MassHealth, Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this role, she will advise the EOHHS on policy and guidelines related to formulary, drug utilization, and program quality assurance, improvement, and equity. She also will oversee the operation of the DUR program activities with contracted managed care entities.

John M. de Figueiredo, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry, has been elected as Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. The American College of Psychiatrists comprises more than 750 psychiatrists who have demonstrated excellence in the field of psychiatry, and achieved national recognition in clinical practice, research, academic leadership, or teaching.

First-year MD student Samira Glaeser-Khan, along with third-year MD students Karthik Chetlapalli and Daniel Wang, were chosen, in a highly competitive process, to present in the oral podium sessions at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in early December, before an anticipated hybrid audience of well over 1,000 people. Wang also was chosen for ASH's very selective 2024 Press Program. Additionally, Chetlapalli was first author and Wang second author of “Cost-effectiveness of iptacopan for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria,” which was published in the prestigious journal Blood this fall. All three students are part of Yale School of Medicine’s Goshua Lab.

Deborah Levy, MD, lecturer in biomedical informatics and data science, has been inducted into the 2025 class of Fellows of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA) Applied Informatics Recognition Program. FAMIA recognizes AMIA member professionals who apply informatics skills and knowledge towards the goals of enhanced personal and population health, improved organizational performance and learning, and individual empowerment in health care. Levy has significantly advanced the field by focusing on reducing documentation burden, a critical challenge in health care that directly impacts both health care outcomes and provider well-being.

Adati Tarfa, PharmD, PhD, postdoctoral associate, was one of five grantees of the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) pilot grant. Her pilot investigation, “Cost Analysis for a Retail Mobile Community Pharmacy Addressing Substance Use and HIV Prevention Services in Underserved Communities,” examines the startup and operational costs of deploying Dr. Sandra Springer's novel InMOTION mobile pharmacy clinic. Tarfa and her team also plan to develop and disseminate a resource to help pharmacists, community members, health care workers, and policymakers understand the budget needed to run and sustain a mobile pharmacy.