The Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) residency training program based in the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine is one of the oldest and most highly regarded occupational medicine residency training programs in the United States. The Yale OEM residency is an integrated two-year academic and practicum program leading to board eligibility for certification in Occupational Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine as well as a Masters of Public Health (MPH) Degree. The program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and is currently approved for a total of four positions, two per year. The goal of Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency training program is to train physicians to be proficient in all aspects of the practice of occupational and environmental medicine, including clinical, organizational and public health components, based on a sound fundamental knowledge of toxicology, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, biostatistics, human and organization behavior and clinical medicine. The primary objective is to train future leaders for the still-emerging discipline of occupational and environmental medicine, preparing graduates to teach both theory and practice, and expand the knowledge base for successful practice through rigorous scientific research. It is the explicit goal of the Yale program to further train a proportion of these physicians to develop skills as educators and scientific investigators, in preparation for academic careers. The Yale OEM residency program is one of only two residency training programs in New England and one of only nine programs in the Eastern United States. The Yale OEM residency program has been one of the most stable and productive residency programs in this region for nearly twenty-five years. Since 1988, particular areas of achievement include an excellent record of recruiting high-quality candidates into the field of occupational medicine and successful board certification in occupational medicine for the majority of our graduates. The Yale OEM residency program specifically targets under-represented candidates and has been successful in recruiting and retaining these candidates. Fifty-five physicians have completed the training program since its inception. Sixty percent of these graduates are female trainees and seventy percent are under-represented minorities. A third of our graduates have taken faculty positions, pursuing research and teaching in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The others occupy leadership positions in industry, governmental service and clinical practice. Virtually all of our program graduates have maintained academic ties consistent with the Yale paradigm of teaching and practice.
There is a critical shortage of physicians formally trained in occupational and environmental medicine because of the shrinking numbers of accredited Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) residency training programs nationally, and the growing need for OEM trained physicians in academic, industry and government settings. The great shortage of academic OEM physicians able to train the next generation of OEM clinicians and clinical investigators is particularly concerning. Many U.S. Medical Schools having no OEM-related clinical faculty. This proposal aims to provide information on the effectiveness of the Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency program over the past funding period in training highly qualified OEM physicians to meet the regional and national needs, and also describes our current OEM training program, which has evolved to meet changing needs.
| Pensa, Mellisa A; Galusha, Deron H; Cantley, Linda F (2018) Patterns of Opioid Prescribing and Predictors of Chronic Opioid Use in an Industrial Cohort, 2003 to 2013. J Occup Environ Med 60:457-461 |
| Perkison, William B; Kearney, Gregory D; Saberi, Pouné et al. (2018) Responsibilities of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Provider in the Treatment and Prevention of Climate Change-Related Health Problems. J Occup Environ Med 60:e76-e81 |
| Pensa, Mellisa A; Galusha, Deron H; Stowe, Meredith H et al. (2016) Patterns of Energy Drink Use and Associated Symptoms Among a Population of Connecticut Factory Workers. J Occup Environ Med 58:e188-90 |
