Vanita Ahuja

I was appointed the Section Chief of General Surgery, within the Department of Surgery at the Connecticut VA Healthcare System (VACT) and Surgery Quality Liaison in Department of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine, in 2019. As section lead, I oversee all the operations of the section from clinical work, surgical volume, innovation, research, outcomes, and QA/QI. I lead numerous collaborative research and multidisciplinary efforts to provide comprehensive, quality care to Veterans. As a result of these successes, I was recently appointed the Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN)- 1 Northeastern region lead for general surgery to help ensure that the care is standardized. As the site residency program director for the Department of Surgery at VA, I oversee the training of 8 residents spread over their 7-year training period. I am an active member on the Clinical Competency Committee, the Program Evaluation Committee, the medical student surgery committees, and oversee the Education Committee. I am the chair of Surgical Site Infection committee for the Department and co-chair of Geriatric Surgery Program. Both programs are to optimize care of the Veterans with improvement in quality of care. I am also the medical student Clerkship Director, directly responsible for student education, evaluation, training, and wellbeing while they rotate through our clinical service. Starting in 2022, I am Yale GME Associate Co-Director of Quality & Safety where my primary responsibility is to help lead GME distinction pathway in patient safety, quality improvement and healthcare equity. I am the chair of Yale Surgery Citizenship Award committee to recognize and celebrate faculty, trainees and staff who lead by example. At Yale, I lead multiple quality initiatives that earned local and national recognition. I routinely assist with section chief searches (e.g., Section Chief, Critical Care) and was recently appointed as 2023 Associates of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library.