Behavioral Medicine Service

Overview

The Behavioral Medicine Service is a psychological consultation and intervention program integrated within team-based interprofessional specialty medical services of Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) and Smilow Cancer Hospital. Fellows train within interprofessional teams of physicians, surgeons, nurses, social workers, and psychologists while gaining valuable experience in the provision of behavioral health consultation, psychological assessment, and evidence-based behavioral health intervention with a broad range of medically ill patients. Emphasis is placed on understanding biopsychosocial factors that influence health and illness and applying this knowledge along with behavioral interventions to prevent disease, improve disease management, increase quality of life, and facilitate end-of-life planning and care needs.

Placement Options

PRIMARY PLACEMENT - This track consists of a single, full-time, twelve-month placement within YNHH's Psychological Medicine Service. (There are no secondary placements within YNHH).

Number of Fellows

Two doctoral fellows will be selected into the Behavioral Medicine track for the 2025-2026 academic year.

The Setting

The Behavioral Medicine Service, developed in 2008, is part of the Psychiatric Services of Yale New Haven Hospital. The Service includes a large and growing community of psychologists and is a valued and integrated component of Yale-New Haven Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. Clinical training for Behavioral Medicine fellows occurs within several interprofessional team-based specialty care centers within Yale New Haven Hospital and the Yale School of Medicine.

The Internship

The goal of the Behavioral Medicine Service is to provide behavioral health expertise as a co-treating discipline to patients seen by interprofessional treatment teams linked with the referring medical specialty so that the patient’s emotional and behavioral health needs can be addressed within the context of their overall medical care. The service operates under the premise that integrated behavioral medicine has the potential to benefit both patients and providers by improving access to behavioral health care for medically compromised individuals. Primary goals of this service are to: improve adherence and adjustment to medical illness and medical treatments; target psychosocial issues, lifestyle and health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, dietary practices, sleep, tobacco and other substance use) affecting health and wellness; address issues of pain management, stress tolerance, addictions, and coping; and to help prevent the development of more serious mental health disorders through early detection and intervention.

Behavioral Medicine fellows receive in-depth training within a number of team-based specialty medical services that align with their primary training goals and interests.

Within each of these medical services, Behavioral Medicine fellows consult with medical providers and their interdisciplinary teams and provide evidence-based assessment and intervention services to medically ill patients using evidence-based behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based, and mindfulness-based therapeutic approaches.

Fellows also attend and participate in a number of weekly multidisciplinary team meetings and case conferences. These may include Psychological Medicine case conferences, Tobacco Treatment Service team meetings, Palliative Care Rounds, Psycho-Oncology Team Meetings, Liver Transplant Recipient Review Committee, Liver Donor Advocacy Meeting, Sleep Medicine conferences, and a host of other interdisciplinary seminars and workshops which may be attended by advanced fellows in psychiatry, palliative care, addiction medicine, pulmonary care, sleep medicine and internal medicine depending on fellow’s rotation.

Primary and Secondary Clinical Placements:

Fellows receive clinical training within several Interprofessional Team-Based Specialty Care Centers of YNHH and the Yale School of Medicine.

Training plans are individualized and based on fellow’s training goals and primary areas of interest. Fellows to choose two 6-month Primary clinical placements and up to three 4-month Secondary clinical placements.

Fellows may create their own training plan from any of the following placement options:

Placements

• Pain^S
• Primary Care^S
• Psychosocial-Oncology/Palliative Care^P
• Sleep Medicine^S
• Tobacco Treatment^P,S
• Transplant Psychology^P
• Cardiovascular Research^S
  

^PPrimary placement option; ^SSecondary placement option

Primary rotations involve three days a week of onsite training, and secondary placements typically involve one day a week of onsite training.

Training Plan Examples:

Fellow A choses two 6-month primary placements in Psychosocial-Oncology and Transplant Psychology with three 4-month Secondary placements in Sleep, Tobacco and Pain.

Fellow B choses two 6-month primary placements in Tobacco Treatment and Psycho-Oncology and one 12-month secondary research placement in Cardiovascular research.

Placements in Interprofessional Team-Based Specialty Care

Pain Medicine

The Yale New Haven Hospital Spine Center, part of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health, provides multidisciplinary outpatient services for acute and/or complex spinal conditions. Back ailments and pain are very common, and the Spine Center focuses on a personalized approach that includes surgical and non-surgical options with a goal of improving a patient’s condition and quality of life. The pain medicine program is one option that is usually offered to all patients who are interested, with referrals being made from the Spine team’s physiatrists, anesthesiologists, physical therapists, and surgeons. Pain medicine utilizes empirically supported behavioral interventions and offers a comprehensive approach to the management of persistent pain and related conditions.

Within the Pain Medicine Program, fellows work closely with a licensed clinical psychologist to receive specialized training in motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral therapy to promote behavior change and treat persistent pain. Fellows also receive some training in the evaluation of other comorbid disorders, such as addiction, anxiety, and depression, as well as psychological evaluations specific for Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) and Peripheral Nerve Stimulator (PNS) placement. Fellows will participate in a weekly skills group for pain, as well as contribute to the quarterly Pain Neuroscience course delivered in collaboration with the physiatry and physical therapy specialties. Fellows may also have the chance to participate in research activities related to this course.

Primary Care

The Primary Care rotation with Yale Internal Medicine Associates (YIMA) is an ambulatory care setting serving approximately 6,000 adults. This clinic uses the AIMS Collaborative Care model to screen and treat patients with depression or anxiety. The interdisciplinary staff on the team includes a physician, psychiatric consultant, social worker, psychologist, and nurse. Patients are referred for care by their primary care provider by “warm handoff” or via the electronic record. Fellows will learn to conduct brief evaluations with patients referred to the program, conduct motivational interviewing, assess risk and offer cognitive behavioral therapy or problem-solving therapy to reduce severity and impact of mood symptoms. A patient registry is used to track patients’ enrollment, outcomes, and billing.

Psychosocial-Oncology/Palliative Care

The Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital combine a tradition of innovative cancer treatment and quality care for patients. Yale Cancer Center is Connecticut's only cancer center designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute—and one of only 72 in the nation. National Cancer Institute centers are national leaders in cancer research, prevention, detection, and treatment. Smilow Cancer Hospital provides patients with novel, state-of-the art cancer detection and treatment options within the context of patient-centered expert care.

Within Smilow Cancer Hospital, Behavioral Medicine fellows train within several overlapping clinical services: (1) Outpatient Psycho-Oncology Clinics (2) Outpatient Sexuality, Intimacy and Menopause Clinic, and (3) Inpatient Palliative Care Service.

Within Smilow Cancer Hospital’s outpatient oncology clinics, fellows provide co-located evidence-based individual psychotherapy to referred patients. Patients may be referred from any cancer-specific disease team and may be at any stage of illness. Patients are referred for a variety of reasons (e.g., emotional distress, pain, sexuality, body image, managing addictions, end of life concerns, etc.) and may be seen individually or with a partner or other family member. Fellows work with the patient’s oncology team (oncologists, advance practice nurses, social workers, and nurses) to provide coordinated oncology clinic-based care.

Behavioral Medicine fellows also participate within the Cancer Center’s Sexuality, Menopause, and Intimacy (SIMs) Clinic—a unique twice a month interprofessional clinic within the Department of Gynecology-Oncology. Here, fellows train side-by-side with a faculty gynecologist and a gynecology-oncology fellow and perform brief behavioral health consultations with women who have a history of cancer and whose primary concerns relate to sexuality, sexual functioning, body image, or menopause.

During the inpatient Palliative Care rotation, fellows function as a member of the multidisciplinary palliative care consult team, attend daily rounds, and work closely with palliative care physicians, advanced practice nurses, social workers, and chaplains. Fellows provide bedside consultation and brief evidence-based interventions to address issues related to pain, emotional distress and end-of-life. Training goals on this rotation include exposure to inpatient multidisciplinary team care, increased understanding of issues faced by individuals with advanced cancer approaching end of life, assessing goals of care, and the utilization of brief bedside therapies to address physical/emotional distress, mortality and existential issues. Fellows also can attend palliative care journal club meetings, disease specific tumor board meetings, Yale Cancer Center’s Grand Rounds, and Schwartz Rounds.

Sleep Medicine

The Yale Sleep Medicine Center evaluates and treats patients with sleep disorders and sleep-related conditions. Accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the sleep medicine program offers a coordinated approach to the management of a variety of sleep disorders and related conditions. The sleep medicine team includes physicians and psychologists boarded in sleep medicine in addition to other specialties such internal medicine, pulmonary disease, neurology and pediatrics.

Within the Sleep Medicine Program, fellows work closely with a board-certified sleep psychologist and within a multidisciplinary team while receiving advanced training in cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi), an evidence-based treatment for insomnia that is the practice standard. Fellows also receive training in the evaluation and cognitive-behavioral treatment of other sleep-related disorders such as circadian rhythm disorders, narcolepsy, night eating syndrome and parasomnias. Behavioral sleep methods are also used to increase CPAP adherence for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Fellows review sleep studies and learn about pharmacological ways to manage sleep disorders as well. They also participate in a half-day seminar and case conference sponsored by the Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and weekly Grand Rounds.

Tobacco Treatment and Research

The Tobacco Treatment Service provides tobacco use assessment and intervention for patients treated at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Smilow-affiliated community-based Care Centers across CT, as well as patients referred from the rest of the Yale-New Haven Health System. The Service comprises a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, physicians, advanced practice nurses, tobacco treatment specialists, and clinical research staff and provides care that is integrated with patients’ oncology/medical treatments. Patients receive evidence-based pharmacological and behavioral tobacco interventions either in-person or via telemedicine. Care is predominantly outpatient, but there are opportunities to provide inpatient tobacco use consultations.

Given the changing landscape of tobacco use, the Service now treats an increasing number of patients, both adolescents and adults, for e-cigarette use and other tobacco product use besides combustible cigarettes. Moreover, patients who are not interested in quitting are advised of tobacco harm reduction options (e.g., switching from combustible cigarettes to a non-combustible tobacco product lower on the harm continuum such as e-cigarettes).

Within the Tobacco Treatment Service, fellows work closely with the Director, a psychologist, to receive specialized training in motivational interviewing/ enhancement techniques and cognitive-behavioral interventions to promote tobacco behavior change. They also learn about evidence-based tobacco pharmacotherapies and how to address medication misperceptions and promote medication adherence. Fellows participate in weekly Tobacco Treatment service rounds. Fellows may also have the chance to participate in research activities conducted through the Service, either by serving as a study therapist or collaborating on scholarly projects.

The Service supports several clinical research projects including: 1) a NCI-funded clinical trial of a presurgical smoking cessation intervention for patients with cancer or suspected cancer, 2) a NIDA-funded combined clinical trial and imaging study to evaluate CBT for Insomnia as an adjunct to standard tobacco treatment and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying deficient sleep as tobacco relapse risk factor, and 3) NCI-funded clinical trials of e-cigarette cessation interventions being conducted through the Service. Fellows can be trained in the delivery of manualized behavioral interventions for clinical trials. The Service has close collaborations with the Yale Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science (TCORS) including an ongoing trial to test the effects of e-cigarettes vs. oral nicotine pouches and their constituents (i.e., flavor, nicotine concentration) on cigarette smoking in adults. Fellows interested in Tobacco as a Secondary Research placement may serve as a regular member of the Tobacco Service and then as a study counselor or diagnostician to conduct standardized clinical diagnostic interviews/assessments, leading focus group interviews, focused didactics, participating in the implementation of studies in clinic and establishing collaborations with other healthcare providers, and data analyses.

Transplant Psychology

The Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center (YNHTC) provides expert, comprehensive and compassionate care for adult and pediatric patients throughout the world who are candidates for organ transplantation. The YNHTC specializes in liver, kidney, pancreas, and heart transplantation; and is the region's leader in the evaluation and treatment of advanced liver disease.

Within the Yale New Haven Transplantation Center, fellows gain valuable experience with issues related to organ allocation, patient selection, transplant ethics, and the psychological and neurocognitive functioning of patients with acute organ failure and end stage liver and kidney disease. Fellows play a vital role in the evaluation and on-going support of liver and kidney transplant candidates. Fellows conduct cognitive screenings and psychosocial assessments of risks and strengths associated with transplant outcomes, with a goal of mitigating risk through evidence-based CBT and third wave interventions, supporting patients through their transplant journey.

Specifically, fellows provide co-located psychoeducation about solid organ transplant, individual drug and alcohol relapse prevention counseling, self-management strategies for adjustment to chronic illness, and stress management to adult pre- and post-transplant patients. Counseling for post-transplant liver, kidney and heart patients also addresses the arc of psychological recovery from transplant, including transplant-related PTSD, re-entry into a healthy lifestyle and sobriety maintenance.

Finally, fellows also receive specialized training in the evaluation of potential living liver donors, and play a critical role in living liver and kidney donor selection. Fellows may have the opportunity to follow living liver donors after donation as well.

Fellows attend and participate in the program's regular psychosocial team meetings with social work and Transplant psychiatry, bi-monthly Donor Advocacy Team meetings and weekly multidisciplinary meetings and case conferences such as the Liver Transplant Recipient Review Committee.

Cardiovascular Research

The Vascular Medicine clinical program at Yale has grown exponentially over the past decade and has profiled itself as a destination center nationwide for complex vascular disease pathology. It is one of the largest academic vascular medicine programs in the nation and includes the groundbreaking Vascular Medicine Outcomes (VAMOS) program, one of the nation’s few outcomes research programs dedicated to vascular populations, led by Drs. Smolderen (psychologist) and Mena-Hurtado (interventional cardiologist). The combined peripheral vascular disease population served system-wide by YNHH in the past decade is more than 117,000 patients, with over 2000 patients receiving lower-extremity peripheral vascular interventions annually as well as carotid artery stenting interventions for complex vascular disease.

This rotation will heavily focus on the scientist-practitioner model and you will interact with the interdisciplinary vascular medicine team as well as with the VAMOS research program supporting the clinical program. A big focus of our program and a test to all of the work VAMOS does, is whether it meets the standards of patient-centered care as seen from the patients’ and their families’ perspective. In addition, it aims to test and implement through clinical trial programs integrated care pathways that are patient-centered and address behavioral aspects. As an example, support programs, stress reduction programs, psychosocial assessment, and collaborative and patient-preference sensitive depression treatment pathways are part of ongoing research programs that will blend in the clinical services that the fellow will help support. In addition, it has developed the framework for a shared decision-making tool https://showme-pad.org/ for patients with lower-extremity peripheral artery disease, which will serve as a foundation for a variety of patient populations going forward. Key to our work are partnerships with patient experts and their families, as they have guided our insights and work throughout the past decade. Lastly, we have in-house expertise on leading and overseeing complex analytic frameworks for understanding critical quality of care and outcomes questions in large databases. It has also formed a close relationship with the Center for Computational Health to develop our own internal vascular research data warehouse at Yale New Haven Health Hospital. These investments would allow us to create datamarts to answer various clinical outcomes questions as they pertain to patients’ behavioral health and subsequent health outcomes.

Evidence-Based Practices

The following evidence-based practices (EBPs) are used in this placement setting. Fellows generally have exposure to most of these EBPs though do not necessarily receive training or supervised experience in all of them. The EBPs include: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management and Relaxation Training, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Dignity Therapy, Meaning Centered Psychotherapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and Motivational Enhancement Therapy.

Psychological Assessment

Behavioral Medicine fellows conduct a variety of brief and (in some cases) comprehensive psychological and neurocognitive assessments during the year. Assessments are typically conducted within the fellow’s primary or secondary rotation, and involve the administration, scoring and interpretation of brief symptom or problem-based assessments. Assessments may also include evaluations of neurocognitive functioning and may also include the evaluation of presurgical candidates within cardiovascular, transplant, and pain services.

Diversity

At Yale-New Haven Hospital diversity and inclusion are important components of its organizational values. The hospital is committed to providing an environment of inclusion that supports the diversity of its patients, visitors, employees, business partners and communities. Serving the Greater New Haven area and surrounding Southern New England region, YNHH admits a diverse population of patients, both diagnostically as well as demographically. Racially, approximately 65 percent of patients admitted to the hospital are Caucasian, 15 percent Black, 15 percent Hispanic and 5 percent Asian. Nearly 60 percent of patient’s hospital costs are paid for through Medicare or Medicaid. The hospital is committed to providing the highest standard of care to all patients regardless of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, geography, disability and age.

Research and Scholarly Activity

The Yale School of Medicine ranks 4th overall in the U.S. for research dollars awarded by the National Institutes of Health and 1st for Psychiatry. As such, a core feature of the internship is to provide advanced research training to help fellows enhance their skills in conducting patient outcomes research, implementing research projects in applied settings, and designing and testing novel health psychology interventions.

Fellows have a minimum of four hours per week of protected time to design and conduct a scholarly project of their choice in collaboration with the primary advisor, and/or another faculty mentor involved in a program of active research. Fellows may design a project with faculty within their primary training placement, or request to be matched with other Yale faculty based on their shared interests and faculty availability. The fellow’s scholarly activity can take many forms such as analyzing data from a completed or ongoing research project, evaluating a clinical service or program, or helping design and implement a new project that will benefit the individuals receiving services within the YNHH system. Fellows are encouraged to select a project that can be submitted as an abstract for a local/national conference and/or manuscript.

Past faculty mentors include Behavioral Medicine faculty as well as other faculty across Yale.

Faculty

Dwain Fehon, Psy.D., Director, Behavioral Medicine, Site Supervisor, Palliative Care
Gabriel Cartagena, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Psycho-Oncology
Dana Cavallo, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Pain Medicine
Lisa Fucito, Ph.D., Site Supervisor; Director, Tobacco Treatment
Francisco Calvache-Meyer, PhD, Site Supervisor, Digestive Health
Susan Rubman, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Organ Transplant
Caroline Schmidt, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Primary Care
Kim Smolderen, Ph.D., Research Supervisor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Lynelle Schneeberg, Psy.D., Site Supervisor, Sleep Center
Kathi Croce, Ph.D., Voluntary Faculty Clinical Supervisor
Anne Dutton, LCSW, Voluntary Faculty Mindfulness Supervisor
Malinda Fehon, Ph.D., Voluntary Faculty Clinical Supervisor
Amit Oren, Ph.D., Voluntary Faculty Clinical Supervisor

Supervision

Fellows receive, on average, at least four hours of supervision each week. Fellows have weekly individual supervision with their primary advisor, secondary advisor, and additional site supervisors, and outside voluntary faculty supervisors. Fellows also participate in a weekly Mindfulness group supervision meeting and receive as-needed psychological assessment supervision. Formal evaluations of the fellow’s performance are completed three times a year that serve as opportunities to review progress on training goals and address progress toward mastering core competencies.

Formal evaluations of the fellow’s performance are completed three times a year that serve as opportunities to review progress on training goals and address progress toward mastering core competencies.

Fellows may also be assigned the role of "peer supervisor" to junior trainees within the Behavioral Medicine placement. Typically, junior trainees are third- or fourth-year graduate students from regional doctoral psychology programs who are participating in clinical practicum placements at YNHH. As a "peer supervisor", fellows meet weekly with their supervisee and have the opportunity to develop basic skills as a clinical supervisor by processing this experience within the context of their own primary supervisory relationship.

Seminars and Specialized Training

Behavioral Medicine fellows attend and participate in the weekly core seminar held within the Department of Psychiatry, as well as separate weekly hospital-based seminars for fellows and other psychology trainees based at YNHH. In addition, Behavioral Medicine fellows participate in a Behavioral Medicine didactic seminar and have the opportunity to attend multidisciplinary seminars and case conferences with advanced psychiatry fellows, residents, and medical students within the Department of Psychiatry’s Consult Liaison Fellowship program. During their Sleep Medicine rotation, Behavioral Medicine fellows are also able to interact with advanced fellows in pulmonary, critical care, cardiovascular and sleep medicine and attend the weekly State Sleep Conference (State of the Art in Sleep Medicine), Research in Progress Sleep Medicine meetings, Sleep Journal Club, Vascular Medicine Outcomes Research meetings, and other special events such as the annual Sleep Research Symposium.

Numerous additional didactic health and medicine related case conferences, seminars, and grand rounds are offered through the Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center, Yale Cancer Center, and Yale School of Medicine. Participation in these optional activities is at the discretion of the fellow and their primary advisor as schedules permit.

Applicant Qualifications

Strong applicants for this placement generally have prior experience working within medical settings with individuals diagnosed with serious or chronic medical illness, and/or working with individuals on lifestyle and health behaviors that negatively affect health. These applicants will also have experience conducting evidence-based therapies (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy) and have some basic experience with neuropsychological assessment. Fellows who match with this placement typically have a strong interest in the provision of clinical care and/or scholarship related to behavioral medicine or clinical health psychology and show promise for developing into leadership roles.

Applicants selected for this placement must successfully pass background checks conducted by Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

For Further Information

For more information about this placement site, please e-mail dwain.fehon@yale.edu.