West Haven, CT
West Haven, CT
VA Connecticut Healthcare System
The primary goal of this specialized, two-year Advanced Fellowship is to train future generations of VA leaders in addiction treatment and research and to prepare them to work within interprofessional health care settings.
Program Description
The VA Connecticut Healthcare System Advanced Fellowship program recruits one physician (MD or DO), one psychologist (PhD or PsyD), and one MDiv candidate for a 2-year training program. Other disciplines are welcome to apply.
The training program emphasizes:
- Clinical knowledge and skills in addiction treatment
- Interprofessional education skills for teaching junior trainees and the broader community about addictive behaviors
- Practice or policy guideline development
- Applied research and implementation skills
Fellows participate in several training components. These include: (1) clinical rotations under the preceptorship of the faculty at training sites. Clinical opportunities include outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment for addictions, outpatient detoxification, medication therapies for opioid addiction, psychosocial rehabilitation, and integrated primary care mental health services; (2) formal core curriculum that is interdisciplinary and comprehensive; and (3) individual mentorship in which each trainee has a primary mentor assigned to him/her who matches the interests of the trainee. Fellows spend 75% of their time in educational, scholarly work and/or clinical research in addiction treatment; 25% of effort is spent on clinical services.
Research and Clinical Opportunities in Addiction
This component of training is tailored to the individual fellow and includes conducting an independent research/education or quality improvement project under the mentorship of one of the affiliated faculty members. Research mentors are all faculty at Yale School of Medicine. Fellows also can collaborate with members of our extensive research teams involved in the New England Mental Illness Research and Education Coordinating Center (MIRECC) and the Pain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center. VA Connecticut Healthcare System has several competitive small funding opportunities via MIRECC, PRIME, and the Psychology Service to supplement pilot research work being conducted by fellows. In addition, the New England VISN continues to support a 2-year Career Development Award that is available for fellows’ application to extend their research training as early career scientists.
FOCAL AREAS
VA Connecticut Healthcare System and Yale School of Medicine are renowned for their work in behavioral pharmacology and medications development, psychotherapy treatment development, randomized clinical trials, conditions co-occurring with addiction (chronic pain, PTSD, serious mental illness), health services and implementation science.
APPLICATION PROCESS
- Please submit a letter of interest, CV, and three references (including one from a program director). The letter of interest should describe an applicant's interest in the program, a summary of educational, clinical, and research experience relevant to application, and a statement of career goals.
- Please contact David Pilkey, PhD or Ellen Edens, MD for further information about positions for psychologists and physicians, respectively.
Eligibility
Physician Fellows
- Completion of an ACGME accredited residency program
- A full and unrestricted license to practice in the U.S. or any of its territories
- Be board certified or eligible
- If a graduate of a foreign medical school, must have evidence of ECFMG certification that is valid indefinitely
Psychology Fellows
- Completion of an APA-accredited doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology (or meeting APA criteria for re-specialization training)
- APA-accredited psychology internship
- U.S. citizenship
Chaplains
- Completion of a Master of Divinity or equivalent from an accredited theological school
- A minimum of four units of CPE from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE)
- U.S. Citizenship
Meet the Team
David Pilkey, PhD
Dr. David Pilkey is a clinical psychologist and the Director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse sections of the Psychology Service, Deputy Director of the Substance Abuse Firm, and Director of the Substance Abuse Day Program. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. In 2000 Dr. Pilkey earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Syracuse University. He has research and clinical interests in the field of addictive behaviors, with a particular emphasis in addictions treatment, evaluation, and training.
(203) 508-7894
Ellen Edens, MD
Dr. Ellen Edens is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and serves as the Lead Consultant for Substance-Related and Other Addictive Disorders (SRAD) within the VA National Expert Consultation & Specialized Services (NEXCSS). In her role as Associate Director of Yale School of Medicine’s Addiction Psychiatry (AP) program, Dr. Edens oversees the development and coordination of curriculum for the Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine fellowships. This includes fostering interprofessional education across disciplines such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and chaplaincy.
Drawing on nearly a decade of teaching experience, Dr. Edens collaborated with the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale School of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health to create a massive open online course (MOOC) titled Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Professionals. Since its launch on Coursera in 2019, the course has been completed by over 10,000 participants.
In addition to her dedication to interprofessional addiction education, Dr. Edens has clinical expertise in managing chronic pain and substance use disorders (SUDs). She co-directs a weekly clinic that addresses the needs of patients referred from primary care, focusing on safe opioid prescribing practices.
(203) 985-9569
James Cooke, STM, BCC
Rev. James Cooke is the Director of Chaplain Fellows, ACPE Certified Educator and chaplain at VA Connecticut Healthcare System. He is a lecturer at the Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. He has been a certified educator in the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) for 15 years and a board certified chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains for 18 years and has served in those capacities in hospitals throughout Connecticut. He earned his Master of Sacred Theology from Yale Divinity School. He has conducted research in the areas of religion, spirituality, and spiritual care with a specific focus in the integration of chaplaincy in mental health care settings.
ABOUT WEST HAVEN
West Haven (and the greater New Haven area) is located on the northern shore of the Long Island Sound in New Haven County and is the home to Yale University.