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 2027-2028 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 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 behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based, and mindfulness-based therapeutic approaches.

Fellows also attend and participate in 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 choose two 6-month Primary clinical placements and up to three 4-month Secondary clinical placements. Primary rotations typically involve three days a week of training, and secondary placements typically involve one day a week of training.

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

Placements

• Cardiovascular Research^S
• Digestive Health^P
• Heart and Vascular Psychology^S
• Pain^S
• Primary Care^S
• Psychosocial-Oncology & Palliative Care^P
• Sleep Medicine^S
• Tobacco Research^S
• Transplant Psychology^P

^PPrimary placement option; ^SSecondary placement option

Training Plan Examples:

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

Fellow B chooses two 6-month primary placements: Digestive Health and Psychosocial-Oncology and one 12-month secondary research placement: Cardiovascular Research.

Placements in Interprofessional Team-Based Specialty Care

Cardiovascular Research^S

The Vascular Medicine 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 research rotation will heavily focus on the scientist-practitioner model. Fellows interact with the interdisciplinary vascular medicine team as well as with the VAMOS research program supporting the clinical program. A major focus of the program and a test to all 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, the program has developed a framework for a shared decision-making tool https://showme-pad.org/ for patients with lower-extremity peripheral artery disease, which serves 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. Our in-house PhD statistician has worked with us to develop our own internal vascular research data warehouse at Yale New Haven Health Hospital, and the research lab has a direct access data seat to the Medicare-linked nation-wide Vascular Quality Initiative outcomes registry. Furthermore, we have in-house longitudinal registry data with deep psychological profiling of patients with intermittent claudication and critical limb threatening ischemia. These investments allow us to create datamarts to answer various clinical outcomes questions as they pertain to patients’ behavioral health and subsequent health outcomes.

Digestive Health

Based within the Yale Gastroenterology Functional and Motility program, the Digestive Health rotation is an immersive six-month experience in an integrated specialty GI clinic located in North Haven, CT. Fellows deliver care for adults with disorders of gut–brain interaction (DGBI) and GI motility disorders. Referrals most often involve: (1) targeted brain–gut behavioral therapy to reduce GI symptoms and strengthen coping; (2) brief psychotherapy to support adjustment to chronic GI conditions and quality-of-life challenges; (3) skills-based preparation for pre-procedural anxiety that can interfere with endoscopy or motility testing; and (4) assistance addressing adherence and health-behavior barriers around medication routines, bowel prep, therapeutic diets, or home pelvic-floor programs. Fellows see a broad range of upper and lower GI presentations – IBS, functional dyspepsia, chronic nausea, belching disorders and rumination syndrome, esophageal motility disorders, and pelvic-floor dysfunction – and learn to develop rich biopsychosocial conceptualizations and communicate clear, actionable recommendations to medical teams.

Training emphasizes practical, in-demand skills aligned with core clinical health psychology competencies. Fellows conduct focused GI consultations; deliver health-behavior interventions that remove psychological barriers to medical care; and provide brief, evidence-based brain–gut therapies to reduce physical GI symptoms. Interventions include GI-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance-based strategies, and relaxation/skills training, as well as gut-directed hypnotherapy. Gut-directed hypnotherapy is available through observation and co-therapy for all trainees; direct provision and supervision are reserved for fellows who complete a Level 1/introductory hypnotherapy course through ASCH or SCEH.

The rotation is deliberately interprofessional and rooted in real GI spaces. Fellows are invited to observe endoscopy and motility procedures, shadow GI physicians and advanced practice providers in clinic, and spend time with dietitians and pelvic-floor therapists to see how dietary and pelvic-floor interventions interface with brain–gut treatment. These opportunities help fellows learn more about GI conditions, the role of different team members, and how patients may experience different points of contact with their care system. As interests and schedules allow, fellows are also invited to functional/motility case conferences and selected GI didactics to build fluency in the language and flow of specialty medical care.

Interested fellows can also able design a mentored “footprint” project that outlives the rotation – for example, launching a brief skills group, creating a protocol for pre-procedure anxiety or nonadherence, or developing a patient-education toolkit. Those drawn to health-system design can learn Epic Clinical Building skills (questionnaires, note templates, dashboards) and contribute to a system-wide innovation with guidance from a certified Epic Physician Builder. Trainees also may learn strategies for neurodivergent-affirming care – particularly for autistic adults and adults with ADHD – using sensory-aware, concrete, and structured approaches. Spanish-speaking fellows may provide care in Spanish with bilingual supervision, and language access is supported through interpreters when appropriate.

Heart and Vascular Psychology Clinic^S

The Heart and Vascular Psychology Clinic is a clinical placement co-located within YNHH’s ambulatory cardiology center in New Haven. The clinic receives referrals for psychological assessment and psychotherapy from a number of cardiology clinics within the Yale New Haven Health System. Most referrals are for patients with stress cardiomyopathy; individuals who experience PTSD following shocks from an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; individuals who survived cardiac arrest; women who are postpartum and require continued follow-up for hypertension due to preeclampsia; individuals recovering from myocardial infarction; and those with heart failure.

Due to the nature of the referrals, much of the clinical work is specialized toward trauma-informed therapies, most notably reflected in the EMDR therapy that is provided to patients with PTSD. Other therapies provided include Trauma Informed-CBT, CBT for depression and anxiety, CBT for insomnia, and CBT for chronic pain, as patients often present with co-occurring indications. Furthermore, hypnotherapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions are also offered as resources for patients to self-regulate, and as standalone modalities to improve pain and reduce craving. We are currently investing in biofeedback equipment with traditional sensors and heart-rate variability monitoring capabilities to integrate into the practice. This effort is set up as a clinical research lab within the clinical program—used not only therapeutically, but also to document improvements in cardiovascular-related metrics as patients progress through psychotherapy—so we can demonstrate a closer link between improvements in psychological functioning and corresponding cardiac and autonomic nervous system metrics. Fellows receive training in mind-body interactions for common clinical pathways in cardiology. Depending on fellow’s schedule, fellows may participate in monthly multi-disciplinary case conferences, shadow in the cardiology fellow’s clinic, and attend weekly cardiovascular grand rounds. Case collaboration occurs with social work, the palliative care program for heart failure, and the different cardiac rehabilitation units at Branford and New Haven. Clinical shadowing in the interventional cardiology can be requested as the clinical schedules and supervising cardiology attendings can accommodate. As for the clinical training, all clinical services are delivered in the ambulatory setting, in person (unless there is specific patient-need they can be through telehealth), and co-located in the cardiology ambulatory clinic. Fellows will be trained by the clinical psychologist to perform independent case assessment, be trained in the delivery of (trauma-informed) mindfulness-based stress reduction protocols for pain and craving reduction, and CBT for insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

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 within 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 73 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 Clinic (2) Outpatient Sexuality, Intimacy and Menopause Clinic, and (3) Inpatient Palliative Care Service.
Within Smilow Cancer Hospital’s outpatient oncology clinics, fellows provide brief 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, feeding/eating difficulties, end of life concerns, etc.) and may be seen individually or with a partner or caregiver. 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, Intimacy, and Menopause (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, advanced practice provider, and interdisciplinary medical learners 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 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.

Within the Tobacco Treatment Service, fellows work closely with the Director, a psychologist, and 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 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 2) 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, including training in CBT-I. 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 Research placement may serve as a study therapist or diagnostician to conduct standardized clinical diagnostic interviews/assessments, participate in focused didactics, as well as participate in the implementation of studies in the clinic, 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.

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, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy, Meaning Centered Psychotherapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Motivational Interviewing and Motivational Enhancement Therapy.

Psychological Assessment

Behavioral Medicine fellows conduct a variety of brief and 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 also include the evaluation of presurgical candidates within transplant and pain services.

Research and Scholarly Activity

The Yale School of Medicine ranks 4^th overall in the U.S. for research dollars awarded by the National Institutes of Health and 2^nd 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

Gabriel Cartagena, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Psycho-Oncology
Dana Cavallo, Ph.D., Site Supervisor, Pain Medicine
Dwain Fehon, Psy.D., Site Supervisor, Palliative Care
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.

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.

Supervision strongly emphasizes culturally responsive, trauma-informed care and health equity. Fellows are supported in supervision with striving towards cultural humility and learning to adapt assessment and intervention to patients’ identities, values, language preferences, and access needs. Spanish-speaking fellows may provide care in Spanish with bilingual supervision within the Psychosocial Oncology and Digestive Health placements, and language access is supported through interpreters when appropriate.

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. 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.

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 can 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.