I am a practicing General Internist with additional training in Public Health (MPH, 1995, Johns Hopkins) and Medical Education (General Internal Medicine Fellowship, Johns Hopkins 1992-1995). I haven been working as a Yale Faculty member since 1995. I provide comprehensive medical care to my own panel of 1000 patients at Yale Internal Medicine Associates including preventive care, and I co-direct a required clinical clerkship for all Yale Medical Students, the Biopsychosocial Approach to Health - Primary Care Psychiatry Clerkship. Additionally, I serve on the Board of a local non-profit organization to improve access to medical care to New Haven area residents lacking health insurance, Project Access- New Haven (pa-nh.org).
Following is a more detailed biographical sketch:
I was born in 1961 in Milton, MA, graduated from Princeton University in 1983, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1987, and earned a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1995. I joined the Yale Faculty in 1995 as Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine with an interest in teaching medical education and in caring for underserved individuals.
Together with my Yale colleagues , we launched a successful outreach project providing medical care to homeless persons at the St Vincent DePaul Homeless Shelter in Waterbury CT. I worked as Interim Director of Public Health, City of Waterbury CT during 2002 which propelled me to thinking about community health. I discovered Project Access, a coordinated system of charity medical care started in Asheville, NC to improve access and quality of care for uninsured, low income patients. In 2004 we obtained a Federal HRSA grant and successfully launched Project Access in Waterbury. As Medical Director, I helped recruit over 300 physicians who agreed to provide voluntary care. The project donated over $3,000,000 in medical care.
In 2006 I joined Yale Internal Medicine Associates where I provide primary care to a panel of approximately 1000 patients. In 2010, working together with medical specialist colleagues, we launched Project Access New Haven (pa-nh.org) to improve access to specialty medical care for low-income, uninsured persons living in New Haven. We have donated over $50 million worth of care to patients to date.
In June 2016 I became co- Director of the Biopsychosocial Approach to Health - Primary Care Psychiatry Clerkship. The Clerkship are to equip Yale students with clinical skills needed to provide excellent Primary Care e.g., interviewing, physical examination, clinical reasoning. Students learn from dedicated, experience office-based preceptors while providing hands-on care managing patient's acute, chronic and preventive care needs. Students not learn not only about important medical and psychiatric conditions, but how to manage conditions that overlap specialties such as substance abuse, smoking cessation, somatic symptom disorder, delirium, and how to address social determinants of health. We want students to thinking holistically about health using a biopsychsocial approach.
I am proudest of these three awards:
1. Volunteerism and Community Service Award, Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physicians, 2003.
2. George Thornton Community Teacher of the Year, Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program 2005.
3. Distinguished Service Award, New Haven County Medical Association, 2009.
I live in New Haven together with my wife Merceditas Villanueva, MD, Director of the Yale HIV Program. We have two children, Maliya age 19 and Oceane, age 17, who inspire and humble us!
Award | Awarding Organization | Date |
---|---|---|
Excellence in Medical Education Research Award | Yale School of Medicine | 2015 |
Connecticut Magazine Top Docs 2016-present | Connecticut Magazine | 2015 |
Community Service Award | Connecticut Hospital Association | 2014 |
Fellow, American College of Physicians | American College of Physicians | 2010 |
Fellow, American College of Physicians | American College of Physicians | 2010 |
Physician Humanitarian Award | New Haven County Medical Association | 2009 |
Yale-Robert Wood Johnson International Scholar | Yale University School of Medicine | 2007 |
George Thornton Community Teacher of the Year | Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program | 2005 |
Volunteerism and Community Service Award | Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physicians | 2003 |
Associates Oral Abstract Award | Society of General Internal Medicine | 1994 |
Full-time Attending Teaching Award | Brown University School of Medicine | 1992 |
Senior Resident Teaching Award | Brown University School of Medicine | 1990 |
Alpha Omega Alpha | UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School | 1986 |
Organization | Role | Date |
---|---|---|
Yale Voluntary Faculty Appointments and Promotions Committee | Discuss and review applications for appointment and promotions among voluntary faculty | 2019 - 2022 |
Society for General Internal Medicine | Poster Judge, Vignette Competition, March 2016. New Haven CT | 2016 |
Primary Care-Psychiatry Clerkship Committee | I served first as Member and then Chair | 2015 - 2019 |
Community Health Worker Advisory Committee for CT State Innovation Model, State of CT | Member | 2015 - 2018 |
Yale Figure Skating Club Board | Member | 2014 - 2021 |
Yale Primary Care/Mental health Clerkship Redesign Committee | Co-Chair | 2014 - 2015 |
Yale Figure Skating Club, Yale Figure Skating Club | Board Vice President | 2014 - Present |
Yale School of Medicine Curriculum Rebuild Committee | Member | 2013 - 2015 |
Social Justice Committee, Yale Internal Medicine Residency Program | Member | 2012 - 2014 |
Longitudinal Clinical Experience Design Committee | Member | 2012 - 2014 |
CT Governor's Commission on Heath Equity, CT Governor's Commission on Heath Equity | Member | 2011 - 2014 |
Curriculum Design Committee | Member | 2011 - 2013 |
EPIC Clinical leadership Committee | Member | 2011 - 2012 |
Pre-Clinical Skills Committee | Member | 2010 - 2021 |
Clerkship Directors Committee | Member | 2010 - 2021 |
HAVEN Steering Committee | Member | 2010 - 2021 |
Board of Directors, Communities Joined in Action, Communities Joined in Action | Board Member for national non-profit organization | 2010 - 2019 |
Clinical Skills Assessment Committee | Member | 2010 - 2014 |
Yale HAVEN Steering Committee, HAVEN, Yale Medical school's student-run free clinic | I participate in regular meetings to guide student's operation of HAVEN, the student run free clinic | 2010 - Present |
Project Access New Haven | I am co-Founder and Past-President, Board of Directors for this non-profit organization. Our mission is to improve access to high quality medical care for under-insured in New Haven area. | 2008 - 2020 |
Board of Directors, Project Access New Haven | I have served in various capacities as Member, Vice President, and Board Chair | 2008 - 2020 |
Yale Medical Group Credentials Committee | Member | 2008 - 2016 |
Board of Directors, Girls, Inc. Waterbury CT | Member | 2003 - 2005 |
Society of General Internal Medicine | Abstract Review Committee | 1999 |
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | Crisis Review Committee, Multicenter Study of Hydroxyurea | 1992 - 1995 |
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | Physician Interviewer, African American Study of Hypertension and Kidney Disease | 1992 - 1994 |