Yon Sugiharto began his career as a high school history teacher in his native Canada. It was the early 2000s, and the use of computer technology in the classroom was rapidly expanding.
“I was fascinated by the idea of using technology to make education more exciting,” Sugiharto says. So he went on to get a master’s degree in instructional technology and media from Columbia University. And then his career took a direction that he never anticipated—training and development in the health care field.
Sugiharto recently joined Yale Medicine as director of learning and development. In that newly created position, he will be working to enhance the effectiveness and engagement of Yale Medicine employees through professional development, leadership development, technology training, and more.
“Yale Medicine leadership hired Yon as part of our commitment to invest in our most important asset—our staff,” says YM Chief Administrative Officer Fred Borrelli. Sugiharto’s new position “is designed to approach employee learning and development in a proactive way, and to ensure that employees have access to programs that result in professional success at Yale.”
Sugiharto brings more than a decade of experience leading learning and development programs in complex health care organizations. After earning his master’s degree at Columbia, Sugiharto went to work for New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP), where he managed enterprise-wide education programs including onboarding, leadership development, and regulatory and compliance. He also worked to build learning strategies for NYP ambulatory and medical practice settings and created a standardized model of training for new hospital acquisitions. In addition to working at NYP, Sugiharto managed IT systems training and revenue cycle training programs for regional hospital systems and practices in New York’s Hudson Valley. Sugiharto is a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP).
At the end of the day, I want everyone to be proud that they work for Yale Medicine and that everything we do is because we care for our patients and for each other.
Yon Sugiharto
In his new role at Yale Medicine, Sugiharto’s immediate priorities include building orientation programs for new employees and new managers that are specific to YM. He also is working to enhance YM technology training and leadership development programs.
One of the goals of these programs will be to make sure all Yale Medicine employees are familiar with the new YM brand and with the practice’s core values and guiding principles, Sugiharto says.
“At the end of the day, I want everyone to be proud that they work for Yale Medicine,” he says, “and that everything we do is because we care for our patients and for each other.”