Remembering Jacqueline Satchell, MD

The Department of Internal Medicine hosted the Inaugural Dr. Jackie Satchell Honorary Grand Rounds on November 4, 2021 during Medical Grand Rounds. The event memorialized the life and work of Jacqueline Rosemarie Satchell, MD, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) and a leading clinician educator in the Section of General Internal Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, who died unexpectedly on October 7, 2020. The lecture was followed by the dedication of the VA Women Veteran’s Center as the Dr. Jacqueline Satchell Women’s Center.

A faculty member for over 20 years, Satchell was the medical director of the VA Women Veterans Program since 2018, with oversight of the care of nearly 5,000 female veterans. After her death at age 51, faculty from General Internal Medicine created the annual lectureship in her honor, said Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, MPH, Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and the section chief for General Internal Medicine. The faculty committee included Chris Ruser, MD, associate professor of medicine (general medicine); Lori Bastian, MD, MPH, professor of internal medicine (general medicine); Sally Haskell, MD, professor (general internal medicine); Mukta Dhond, MD, assistant professor (general internal medicine); Stephen Huot, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (nephrology) and Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education; and O'Connor.

The inaugural Satchell Lecture was delivered by Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine), on the topic of COVID-19, Equity, and the Role of Policy and Partnerships for Health Justice. Nunez-Smith began her remarks with reminiscences of Satchell, who was one of the first people Nunez-Smith met when she came to Yale School of Medicine as a fellow in 2004.

“One of my fondest memories is sitting at her kitchen table – her girls were running around – and we had just the best conversation and connection around the importance of health equity, about connecting with community, about being in that posture of service to those who are marginalized and minoritized,” Nunez-Smith said. “And I know that for so many of us, Jackie remains that North Star in the way she conducted herself with us as colleagues, with her family, with her patients, and with her many communities that were lucky to call her ‘member.’”

The Section of General Internal Medicine is committed to the core missions of patient care, research, education, and community health from the “generalist” perspective and is one of the 11 sections with the Department of Internal Medicine. To learn more about their mission and work, visit General Internal Medicine.