Obstetrician honored for superb patient care

In his medical practice, Michael J. Paidas, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, has a custom that some physicians might find unusual: in his initial consultations with new patients, he provides them with his cell phone number.

The compassion and thoughtfulness that lies behind such gestures are among the reasons Paidas earned this year’s David J. Leffell Prize for Clinical Excellence. “Dr. Paidas has focused on providing excellent, patient-focused clinical care,” said Robert J. Alpern, M.D., dean and Ensign Professor of Medicine, at the October annual meeting of the Yale Medical Group (YMG), the clinical practice of School of Medicine faculty. “His patients have access to him 24/7. It’s faculty like this that make Yale what it is today.”

Paidas, who came to Yale in 2002, is a founding co-director of Yale’s Women and Children’s Center for Blood Disorders, which addresses clotting and bleeding disorders during the reproductive, menopausal, fetal, neonatal and geriatric periods of life. Paidas also co-directs the National Hemophilia Foundation Baxter Clinical Fellowship at the School of Medicine.

The Leffell Prize was established in 2007 with a donation made by David J. Leffell, M.D., David Paige Smith Professor of Dermatology and Surgery and chief executive officer of YMG, and his wife Cindy.