As part of our “Meet Yale Internal Medicine” series, today’s feature is on Lynn Fiellin, MD, associate professor of medicine (general internal medicine) and in the Child Study Center.
When deciding what field to pursue in medical school, Lynn E. Fiellin, MD, sought advice from a ‘warm and compassionate’ female surgeon.
“She told me, ‘If there is anything that you love more than surgery, do that thing,’” recalls Fiellin. “I decided that internal medicine was the best route for me and I haven’t looked back since.”
Fiellin jokes that she was one of ‘those unconventional students that Yale likes to take’ and when she decided to go to medical school several years after completing her bachelor’s degree, she relocated from Massachusetts to Connecticut and Yale School of Medicine with a two-year-old in tow.
“I had my second child during medical school and my third [child] during residency," said Fiellin. "Yale is a very family friendly place.”
Fiellin raised her children in New Haven as her career transitioned from clinical, caring for adult patients at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), to research, creating educational games for adolescents.
“I've been engrossed in my children’s lives every step of the way, there's no way to separate that,” said Fiellin. “But throughout my clinical experience, I heard the stories of patients and how their medical issues started so early in life. I thought, ‘If we can just plant some seeds early and help kids think ahead and understand what could happen because of the choices they make, perhaps they can avoid some of these illnesses.’”
In 2009, Fiellin started her lab, play2PREVENT. Through a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R01 grant, she and her team created a graphic novel-style game intervention for teens called PlayForward: Elm City Stories, focused on risk reduction and HIV prevention.
If we can just plant some seeds early and help kids think ahead and understand what could happen because of the choices they make, perhaps they can avoid some of these illnesses.
Dr. Lynn Fiellin
“Through digital media, we can show what the outcomes are graphically, so that the player can see how their decisions will affect their life,” explains Fiellin. “Players can go back and take different paths and make different decisions. It is constantly a shifting landscape.”
In addition to Elm City Stories, other games developed by her team have focused on STI testing, HIV testing, smoking prevention and substance use disorders. All of their games are web-based and can be accessed through the play2PREVENT website.
Recently, the play2PREVENT lab partnered with the CVS Health Foundation to distribute their smoking prevention game, smokeSCREEN.
Fiellin splits her time now between research, teaching and clinical work, becoming YNHH’s Fitkin Firm Chief in July 2017. In this role, Fiellin treats patients in the hospital, works with residents, teaches medical students and performs administrative duties like her “chief resident days.”
Fiellin is pleased with her decision to come to Yale 27 years ago.
"New Haven has been wonderful,” reflects Fiellin. “Yale is a great place to learn, train others and do research. The community is fantastic. I couldn't ask for more. Being here is exactly the right place.”