Michael Lyons

Michael S. Lyons, MD, MPH is the Vice Chair for Research, Discovery, and Innovation in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. As a practicing emergency physician and nationally recognized leader in health services research, Dr. Lyons has pioneered innovations at the intersection of emergency care and public health. This work has helped redefine emergency medicine as not only a point of access for the stabilization of acute illness and injury, but also a platform for advancing population health through proactive health promotion and disease prevention. These efforts aim to improve health outcomes while reducing system inefficiency, fragmentation, and costs across systems and organizations.

Dr. Lyons earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University before receiving his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine and earning a Master of Public Health from Emory University. He completed residency training and served as Chief Resident at the University of Cincinnati, the nation's first emergency medicine residency program. Following a distinguished faculty career at the University of Cincinnati, and receipt of the 2021 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Public Health Leadership Award, he was recruited to Ohio State University as a tenured Professor and Director of Population Health and Health Services. While there, his numerous accolades included the prestigious Dean's Excellence Award for Health Services Research.

Throughout his career, Dr. Lyons has developed innovative models for integrating population health interventions into emergency care, particularly in the areas of substance use disorder and transmissible infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C. These efforts included embedding adjunct public health workers in emergency departments, leveraging clinical informatics to implement prevention interventions, and extending health services into communities. He has led or substantially contributed to numerous large-scale, multidisciplinary initiatives, ranging from one of the largest per-capita naloxone distribution programs ever reported to a $17 million community-deployed COVID-19 testing initiative, and the $64 million Ohio arm of the NIH/SAMHSA HEALing Communities Study. Collectively, his work has been supported by more than $50 million in funding from agencies including NIH, CDC, and SAMHSA, resulting in more than 140 peer-reviewed publications.

In addition to his strong commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and team science, Dr. Lyons is deeply dedicated to mentorship and workforce development. He has created innovative longitudinal curricula and fellowship programs in population health for emergency medicine and has mentored numerous trainees who have gone on to secure highly competitive federal funding and leadership positions. As Vice Chair for Research, Discovery, and Innovation, Dr. Lyons is working to strengthen Yale's research enterprise and national leadership in emergency medicine research by fostering innovation, supporting investigators at every career stage, and expanding collaborations that improve the health of patients and communities.