Latest Alumni News

A commencement ceremony was held on December 7 for the Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate (PA) Program’s Class of 2020—the 48th class to graduate from this program.

In September, 235 first-year Yale MD, Physician Associate (PA), and Graduate Entry Pre-specialty in Nursing (GEPN) students practiced patient-centered interviewing with over 200 volunteers aged 65 and older—virtually. Beyond gaining early telehealth experience, the students had the opportunity to incorporate questions about the “4Ms”—mobility, medication, mentation, and what matters most—into conversations with older adults.

Andrea Diaz-Stransky, MD, a graduate of the Solnit Integrated Training Program, is first author on a paper published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology that reports an online “Tantrum Tool” significantly reduces pediatric irritability and disruptive behaviors.

The Office of Global Health Education (OGHE), created 15 years ago at YSM, recently launched an e-newsletter to highlight the transformative impact of these experiences and the accomplishments of students, faculty, and alumni.

In mid-March, COVID-19 upended the traditional Yale School of Medicine (YSM) curriculum for MD students. Didactic coursework and clinical skills training had to be rapidly converted to an online format, and clinical rotations and most sub-internships (sub-Is) were suspended in the space of a few days.

On May 18, the 113 graduates of the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) MD Class of 2020 were celebrated in an hour-long virtual Commencement ceremony, an event that reflected tremendous collaboration among YSM students, faculty, and staff.

Yale University will experience a first on Commencement Day 2020, beyond its first virtual ceremony: it will be conferring Master of Medical Science degrees to the inaugural class of Yale School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Online Program (Yale PA Online), Yale’s first degree-granting program that blends online and in-person learning.

While the traditional gathering to showcase the winners of the annual Marguerite Rush Lerner Medical Student Creative Writing and Art Contest was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the creativity of the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) students who participated remains vibrant. For many of the students recognized for their poetry, prose, and visual artwork, the pandemic has heightened the importance of the arts.

Joe Cassar, MD, a graduate of the Yale Psychiatry Residency Program, writes about his experience testing positive for COVID-19 and subsequently living in self-isolation for three weeks. Cassar is the former Minister for Health, The Elderly and Community Care in Malta.