Center for Medical Education
The Center for Medical Education was established to foster excellence in medical education. It was founded in 2012 as the Teaching and Learning Center. In 2023, it was expanded and renamed the Center for Medical Education. The center provides a forum for YSM educators to find mentorship and educator development opportunities and has served as the medical campus hub for medical education research and scholarship.
The center’s programs and resources are developed and offered to the YSM community throughout all departments and across undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. A robust offering of educator development programs cultivates a vibrant community of YSM educators. These include the Medical Education Discussion Group (MEDG) series, the Yale Medical Educator Series (YES!), and Medical Education Day at Yale, an annual conference that showcases excellence and innovation in medical education.
For those interested in developing a career in the field of medical education, the center offers a Master of Health Science–Medical Education Track degree program, a fellowship for education scholars, and a longitudinal medical education concentration for students.
Center faculty and staff provide one-on-one and group consulting to members of the YSM community on issues related to medical education, including curriculum development and assessment methods. Teaching observations are also available wherein a center faculty observer watches a teaching session, records feedback, and meets with the teacher privately afterward to talk together about the feedback.
The center also houses the Assessment Hub and the Office of Continuing Medical Education. Led by faculty and staff experts in assessment and evaluation, the Assessment Hub oversees program, curriculum, educator, and student assessment for Yale School of Medicine.
For more information visit https://medicine.yale.edu/center-for-medical-education.
Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME)
The CME office is dedicated to providing the highest-quality learning opportunities for physicians and other health care professionals. Its mission is to develop and implement creative, ethical, and evidence-based educational programs that are designed to increase physician competence, enhance practice performance, promote patient safety, and, where applicable, improve patient outcomes. We strive to provide programs that not only educate but also inspire healthcare professionals to achieve excellence in their practice. For more information about these programs and services, visit https://medicine.yale.edu/cme.
The Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation
The Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation (YCHS) is under the Office of Medical Education. The simulation center is available to all members of Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS). Its mission is to provide excellent patient care through innovative medical education, assessment, research, systems integration, and outreach. The state-of-the-art center strives to provide members of the healthcare communities with an ideal learning environment that fosters self-reflection, mutual respect, and an integrated, interdisciplinary team spirit in order to optimize healthcare delivery and engender a culture committed to patient safety. The YCHS promotes the acquisition of basic and advanced clinical skills that are essential for healthcare providers to master for both supervised and independent practice. It also offers a variety of simulation-based systems analysis services in order to apply simulation strategies to new facility design and testing, perform environmental and workflow analysis, and integrate new systems into an already complex healthcare system. The simulation center contributes to the YNHHS/YSM research mission by identifying more effective educational methods and evaluation tools as well as using simulation technology to answer the most pressing issues in healthcare. The YCHS is also committed to providing educational research opportunities to all members of the Yale healthcare community.
Located at 728 and 730 Howard Avenue, YCHS is fully accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in all five categories: education, assessment, research, fellowship, and systems integration. The YSM Simulated Participant program is part of Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation.
For more information, visit https://medicine.yale.edu/md-program/special-programs/healthcare-simulation/
Office of Academic and Professional Development
Students should reach out to the Office of Academic and Professional Development (OAPD) with concerns about professionalism. Students are regularly reminded of the link to the OAPD website (https://medicine.yale.edu/faculty/academic-professional-development/professionalism/addressing-concerns) where they can report concerns and learn about OAPD’s review, remediation, and follow-up process.
Students also have access to university resources/initiatives including the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, Title IX coordinators, SHARE, Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA), and discrimination and harassment resource coordinators. If a student reaches out to OAPD about an issue involving sexual discrimination, harassment, or assault, OAPD is required under Title IX to report this to the university Title IX Office/OIEA. For incidents that involve bias or discrimination, OAPD consults the YSM deputy dean for collaborative excellence and/or OIEA.
Office of Collaborative Excellence and Student Engagement
The Office of Collaborative Excellence and Student Engagement (CESE) at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) is dedicated to creating a welcoming and supportive environment for all members of the YSM community in which everyone feels seen, heard, and empowered. CESE celebrates the broad range of experiences and perspectives that enrich our campus and the field of health care. Through outreach, education, and advocacy, CESE supports the development of a collaborative and well-rounded health care and biomedical workforce—including innovative physicians, researchers, advocates, and scientists who are prepared to serve and engage with communities in meaningful and responsive ways. Through robust outreach efforts, CESE aims to support and strengthen pathways for all talented individuals to pursue and succeed in careers in health care and biomedical research.
CESE supports several health and science pathway programs, including the Youth Science Enrichment Program, the Health Professions Recruitment Exposure Program, Yale Summer Enrichment Medical Academy, Yale Summer Research Program, and the Program to Advance Training in Health and Sciences. CESE supports and encourages open, respectful dialogue around community and belonging and actively seeks and responds to feedback from students and trainees.
The office of CESE supports medical student affinity groups that are open to all students, such as: the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA), Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), Jewish Medical Student Association (Maimonides Society), Medical Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses (MSDCI), Middle Eastern North African (MENA) students, Native American and Indigenous Medical Student Association, OutPatient, South Asian Medically-oriented Student Association (SAMoSA), Student National Medical Association (SNMA), Yale First-generation Low Income (YFLI),and Yale Muslims in Medicine (YMIM). In addition, CESE partners with local schools and organizations to host community events and supports ongoing community service projects throughout the year, advocating on behalf of populations in New Haven.
Deputy Dean for Collaborative Excellence Darin A. Latimore, M.D., along with Marietta Vázquez, M.D., associate dean for collaborative excellence and student engagement, heads the office. The contact person is Director Linda V. Jackson, M.S. The office is located at 367 Cedar Street, Suite 320, New Haven CT 06511; telephone, 203.785.7545.
Student Mental Health and Wellness Program
The YSM Student Mental Health and Wellness Program plays an important role in supporting the mental health of YSM students. The program provides short-term mental health consultation and intervention to address mild-to-moderate severity symptoms (e.g., depressed mood or anxiety) or acute adjustment issues (e.g., role stress, grief, relationship changes). These sessions can be virtual or in-person. If longer-term mental health concerns and need for treatment are identified, the program team will facilitate the transition to Yale Health Mental Health & Counseling or Magellan through Mental Health & Counseling and support students in getting connected to those ongoing services.
In addition to the mental health services provided by a social worker and psychologist, a wellness counselor works with students to address needs related to time and stress management, well-being, and self-care. The staff also facilitates groups and wellness seminars around topics of interest to YSM students.
Computing at the School of Medicine
Computing assistance is available at all times for Yale students, faculty, and staff by contacting the ITS Help Desk (203.432.9000, or helpdesk@yale.edu). Assistance is also available at the Sterling Hall of Medicine Technology Support Service Center (SHM L E20A), Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., located on the lower level of the Medical Library. For information on the extensive computer facilities in the Medical Library, see the chapter Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library.
All students can use their own personal computers at a variety of public, library, or teaching space locations that are equipped with wireless network access.
Yale Information Technology Services (ITS) has made special arrangement with vendors to provide discounted prices to Yale students, staff, and faculty. Information is available at http://software.yale.edu. Students who are interested in buying a personal computer or who simply want advice and information on personal computers or software packages and how to order them can consult the staff of the Walk-in Computer Support Center.