Dear YSM Colleagues,

Yale School of Medicine (YSM) commencement is right around the corner and we want to thank you for your unwavering commitment to our educational, research, and clinical missions. Your contributions to training our outstanding students, engaging in transformative research discoveries, and improving health for our communities is the cornerstone of our work.

During the remainder of the academic year, we encourage you to participate in upcoming faculty workshops and wellness webinars highlighted in this newsletter. This issue also includes important information and resources to support you in your career, highlights from the Healthcare Leadership Program, as well as the latest "What's Your Y?" feature, where we ask one of our exemplary faculty members to reflect on their why-or what inspires them. We hope it inspires you too.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to advance our missions.

Sincerely,

Samuel A. Ball, PhD, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs

Robert Rohrbaugh, MD, Deputy Dean for Professionalism and Leadership

OAPD’s Healthcare Leadership Program (HLP) launched in 2023 with a cohort of leaders from YSM and YNHHS. The program is designed to enhance the leadership skills of participants and support them as they guide their teams toward the shared alignment aspiration of becoming a leading academic health system. The HLP curriculum was developed by the OAPD professionalism and leadership team, Daryn David, PhD, Robert Rohrbaugh, MD, Andrea Terrillion, JD, and Karen Wu, JD, to include workshops from Yale and national experts on leadership development, conversations with alignment leadership, self-assessments in leadership styles, and individual coaching sessions.

Highlights from this year’s cohort include discussions on the importance of emotional intelligence and creating psychological safety in health care settings, as highlighted below.

If you are interested in participating in the next HLP cohort, scheduled to begin in fall 2025, please note nominations to the ten-month program are submitted by department chairs and we ask that you contact your chair to be considered.

The second HLP cohort participated in a session with Marc Brackett, PhD, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, professor in the Yale Child Study Center, and author of Permission to Feel. Dr. Brackett’s presentation "Leading with Emotional Intelligence: From Theory to Practice," highlighted how emotional intelligence (EI) enhances leadership and workplace outcomes. HLP participants engaged in thoughtful discussions on the concept of “being a feelings mentor," by exploring key traits such as empathy and active listening.

Dr. Brackett also shared practical strategies through the use of online tools, the Mood Meter and How We Feel app, for reflection, reframing stress, and engaging in meaningful conversations about emotions. The session emphasized how understanding emotions and integrating EI strategies into leadership practices builds trust, strengthens relationships, and empowers teams to thrive. By applying these insights, health care leaders have the potential to create more supportive and emotionally intelligent workplaces that foster well-being.

The HLP cohort also explored the importance of psychological safety in health care teams. Taylor Mauriello, PhD, principal consultant with Aristotle Performance, and a national expert on enhancing psychological safety, team learning, and team performance, led the cohort through an all-day session, including:

• Understanding psychological safety and its crucial role in promoting effective teamwork, improved patient outcomes, and resilience in health care
• Identifying barriers that hinder psychological safety in health care settings
• Cultivating leadership practices that foster psychological safety among dynamic health care teams

What is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety can be described as the belief that one can speak up about ideas, issues, concerns, or mistakes without fear of punishment, rejection, or humiliation (Edmondson, A. (1999), "Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams," Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383). In health care, psychological safety is especially critical on the front lines, as the challenging, complex, and demanding high stakes work requires collaboration among teams where decisions can be a matter of life or death.

When team members feel safe, there is a greater opportunity to share vital information, collaborate effectively, and address issues before they escalate. Promoting psychological safety in the workplace leads to better patient outcomes and a stronger workplace environment for the individual, the team, and the organization. Dr. Mauriello shared five tips for creating psychological safety among teams:

• Create shared meaning and expectations with a clearly defined purpose and roles for each team member. This can be achieved through regular check-in meetings, encouraging different perspectives, and providing constructive feedback.

• Ask more than you tell where teammates know their voice is welcome and expected. This can also be achieved through a commitment to continuous improvement between leaders and their teams.

• Admit fallibility and show your colleagues that you are receptive to hearing the truth, accepting their feedback with humility versus creating a culture of blame. It can be helpful for leaders to acknowledge the courage it takes to speak up and share how feedback can result in learning opportunities for everyone.

• Thank the messenger and reinforce a culture that encourages team members to speak-up when an issue occurs. Expressing appreciation when information is shared strengthens trust among teams.

• Repair when breakdowns occur and validate the experience of your team member in coming forward and rebuild the relationship, if needed. It is important to acknowledge the impact of their actions, agree on solutions, and find the best way to move forward.

Read the full article: The Power of Psychological Safety in Health Care Teams.

Thank you for your continued participation in the Faculty Development Annual Questionnaire (FDAQ) process. Since its implementation in 2022, faculty members have cited the FDAQ as a valuable tool for fostering meaningful conversations when discussing career progression and professional development goals, enhancing mentor-mentee relationships, promoting sponsorship opportunities, and strengthening connections with department leaders. Please note the next deadline for completing conversations with department leaders is June 1.

As a reminder, the goal for ladder track faculty participation is 100%. While participation is not mandatory for research rank faculty, meeting with PIs is encouraged.

Whether you are new to YSM or have been with us for several months, the incoming faculty orientation provides useful information and resources to help you thrive as you pursue your career at Yale. The day-long program also offers an opportunity to meet and network with peers, colleagues, and leaders from YSM and YNHHS. OAPD will request your department relieve you of any clinical obligations that day. The orientation includes overviews of:

• YSM’s clinical, education, and research missions and resources
• Faculty ranks and tracks (with break-out sessions)
• Resources related to annual feedback, communications, professionalism, well-being, and leadership development
  

Do you need a professional headshot or want to update your current one? Does your YSM profile need an update? YSM Communications has resources to help promote your important clinical and research work.

• Sign up for the next headshot session on May 15.
• Maintain and update your faculty profile using the Beatrix online tool.
• YSM Communications can also provide support with distributing your information on YSM websites, lab sites, news articles, events, and more. Contact the team at ysm.editor@yale.edu.

To get to know each other, better, our newsletter features one of our exemplary faculty members who we’ve asked to reflect on their “why"–or what inspires them. Today, Linda Broyde Haramati, MD, MS, professor and chief mentoring officer, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, shares her passions, professional aspirations, and other inspirations.

What drew you to your area of expertise (clinical or research)?

I was drawn to radiology because of its key role in solving complex diagnostic puzzles and its need for integrating knowledge from many disciplines of science and medicine to achieve true clinical outcomes. My subspecialty, cardiothoracic radiology, plays a critical role in collaborating across multiple facets of patient care.

The joys of mentoring appealed to me as a junior faculty member, and I love working with trainees and colleagues to develop projects and shape career trajectories. It’s gratifying to work together to align their unique skills, talents, and passions with their aspirations.

Tell us about a mentor that has been an influence in your career? What’s one piece of advice from your mentor you would like to share with medical students or incoming faculty members?

John H.M. Austin, MD, my fellowship director in thoracic imaging at Columbia University Medical Center, was a key professional mentor. I learned from him the crucial importance of establishing both a mechanism and habit that sustains lifelong learning as a physician. He exemplified the essential role of radiologists as integral members of clinical care teams, shaping my approach to collaboration and patient-centered radiology.

Why did you choose Yale for your clinical/research career aspirations?

I joined the faculty at YSM because of its exceptional commitment to mentoring, a passion of mine and the focus of my non-clinical professional contributions. As chief mentoring officer for the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, I have the privilege of fostering a culture of mentorship on a broader scale. Our initiatives include developing structured faculty mentoring programs, facilitating personalized mentee-mentor matches, and hosting mentoring mingles to build meaningful connections.

If given the chance to have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would you choose and why?

I would have dinner with Moses the prophet, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marie Curie, providing an opportunity to learn and be enthralled by a group of multi-millennial, multi-talented and fascinating dining companions.

• Moses: despite his unparalleled leadership and accomplishments, was uniquely known for his humility, a rare quality in this social media age. I believe this trait is at the core of being a life-long learner and mentor.

• Leonardo da Vinci: a true polymath - extraordinary artist, anatomist, scientist, and inventor. I can only begin to imagine what I would learn!

• Marie Curie: known for her research in radioactivity and Nobel Prizes in Physics in 1903 and Chemistry in 1911, also played a key role in health care. She served as director of radiology services with the during World War I, where she developed mobile X-ray vans, improving care for the wounded. Her anecdotes during dinner would be enlightening and inspirational. We can all do so much more than we think we can.

What’s your passion outside the classroom/hospital setting?

Spending time in nature brings me immense joy, whether on an adventure or simply in my own neighborhood or garden. Being outdoors isn’t just a passion, I believe it’s essential. Nature provides the space to pause, reflect, and think deeply, elements so important in both medicine and life. It has allowed me to foster creativity in both my academic research and all areas of my life.

Taking moments to step away helps clear the mind, and in our technologically advanced world, is more important than ever. We all need time to think, and nature offers the perfect setting.