David Coleman, MD

Coleman returns to Yale following a 16-year tenure as chair of the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and chief of the medical service at Boston Medical Center. Prior to that he served as chief of medical service at VA Connecticut for 10 years and interim chair of the Department of Medicine at YSM for nearly four years. Coleman served as co-chair with Richard Lifton, MD, PhD, of the committee that recommended the establishment of YCCI in 2004.

The first ten years of Coleman's faculty career were focused on laboratory-based research on the mechanisms of macrophage activation. He had an active teaching and clinical load during this period, and also served as the Director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control and Director of the HIV Care program at academically affiliated Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

In 1993, Coleman assumed the position of Chief of Medical Service at the VA Medical Service in West Haven Connecticut affiliated with Yale School of Medicine. The responsibilities of this position were expanded in 1995 to include all of VA Connecticut that ultimately included two acute care facilities, six community-based clinics, and affiliations with both Yale and the University of Connecticut Schools of Medicine.

While Chief of Medical Service for VA Connecticut, Coleman also served as Acting Specialty and Acute Care Line Manager for three years and Acting Chief of Staff for a year and a half. In these positions, he had additional oversight responsibility for the clinical and academic affairs of he acute care line at VA Connecticut.

In February 2003, he assumed the position of Interim Chair of the Department of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and Chief of the Beeson Medical Service at Yale-New Haven Medical Center. During that time he led the school-wide strategic planning process to develop the clinical and population-based research that led to the establishment of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation and was the basis for the successful application for a Clinical Translational Science Award.

Coleman then became the John Wade Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Boston Medical Center, on the Board of Directors of the Faculty Practice Plan of Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, and was a member of the Executive Committee at Boston University School of Medicine.

He has had a long-standing interest in basic mechanisms of macrophage function and the role of cytokines in regulating host defenses. His recent work has focused on medical professionalism in medical education and clinical practice.