Olga Sakharova, MD

Dr. Olga V. Sakharova is an endocrinologist with a career spanning more than three decades in clinical practice and medical education. She currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

Board-certified in both internal medicine and endocrinology, Dr. Sakharova’s primary interests are thyroid diseases, particularly thyroid cancer, and adrenal disorders. She practices at the Yale Endocrine Neoplasia Clinic at Smilow Cancer Hospital, where she actively participates in the endocrine tumor board. She collaborates extensively with endocrine surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and other specialists to precisely diagnose patients and tailor treatment plans.

“The depth of knowledge of the patient improves significantly when you discuss their case with other providers. The ability to review their radiology studies, laboratory data, and pathology results together as a team is invaluable in providing exceptional care,” Dr. Sakharova says. “An appointment may seem short, but there is a lot of thoughtful, complex work involved. I review their charts before the appointment, analyze diagnostic data after, and discuss their case with colleagues individually and with the tumor board. It’s important that my diagnosis is accurate, and that we discuss treatment options in detail and align them with the patient’s preferences."

Before joining Smilow Cancer Hospital, Dr. Sakharova earned her medical degree from St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University in Russia. There, she completed an internship in internal medicine, a fellowship in endocrinology, and several years of clinical practice. Part of the first generation of Russian students to have access to American medical texts, Dr. Sakharova became determined to move her practice to the United States.

She eventually moved to Boston for a research fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and then repeated her training in endocrinology with an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, and an endocrinology fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. She later served as section chief of endocrinology at the Hospital of St. Raphael, where she played a key role in the implementation of an in-hospital diabetes program, outpatient endocrinology clinic, and endocrinology curriculum for the Internal Medicine Program. While there, she received the Medical Staff President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Performance and the Leadership Award Recognized for excellence in both clinical care and education. Dr. Sakharova rejoined the endocrinology section of Yale School of Medicine when the Hospital of St. Raphael merged with Yale New Haven Hospital in 2016.

“I greatly value the atmosphere of close collaboration here and the relationship I’ve built with my colleagues over the last twenty years. It is one of the most rewarding aspects of my work and it’s one of the main reasons I love being at Yale.”