Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 18, 2005|Volume 33, Number 22

Dr. David Leffell

David Leffell is appointed
deputy dean for clinical affairs

Dr. David Leffell, director of the Yale Medical Group (YMG) and professor of dermatology and surgery at the School of Medicine, has been appointed deputy dean for clinical affairs at the medical school.

"In his new role as deputy dean, Dr. Leffell will fill a vital role in our senior leadership team at Yale School of Medicine," said Medical School Dean Dr. Robert J. Alpern. "He will be responsible for the critically important growth and development of the school's clinical practice. The strategic vision for the clinical practice is to provide exceptional care that is nationally recognized and to continually improve the level of care provided by translating research findings into clinical practice."

"Dr. Leffell has been invaluable in the Dean's Office in his role as senior associate dean for clinical affairs," Alpern continued. "I am confident that as he assumes his expanded responsibilities as deputy dean, the entire faculty and staff will benefit from his keen intelligence, his clarity of mind and purpose, and his sense of humor. I look forward to working with him in the years to come."

Alpern said Leffell will work closely with department chairs, faculty and hospital leadership to oversee the development of clinical centers of excellence and multidisciplinary programs. He also is charged with forging a close, collaborative relationship with Yale-New Haven Hospital and will be responsible for clinical space development.

"We are at a critical juncture," Leffell said. "We now have a unique opportunity to make clinical medicine at Yale nationally recognized for its excellence in patient care." He will continue as director of the YMG which, under his leadership, has made substantial progress in negotiating contracts, marketing its services, and planning strategically in a changing health care environment.

A graduate of Yale College and the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Leffell completed his residency training in internal medicine at Cornell Cooperating Hospitals and then in dermatology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He did a clinical research fellowship in dermatology at Yale followed by a clinical fellowship in dermatologic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

Author of the popular book "Total Skin," Leffell is an expert clinician, specializing in skin cancer diagnosis and surgical treatment using the Mohs micrographic technique. The Cutaneous Oncology Unit that he founded in 1988 now performs specialized surgical treatment on more than 2,500 patients annually. His major clinical interest is the management of skin cancer, including basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer and melanoma. Leffell will continue his active clinical practice in addition to his new administrative responsibilities.

In 1996 Leffell was a member of the research group that discovered the skin cancer gene known as PTCH. In addition, he has conducted collaborative research clarifying the role of ultraviolet radiation in skin cancer and skin aging. Author of more than 100 publications, Leffell has also done research on epidemiologic aspects of skin cancer and wound healing.

In addition to his clinical practice, Leffell directs a fellowship in dermatologic surgery. He has been a board member of the American College of Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology and has served on a variety of committees of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. He is on the editorial board of the Archives of Dermatology and is an editor of Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. Leffell is also the author of the text "Manual of Dermatologic Surgery."

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Campus-wide survey begins on March 21

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School of Drama will present Ibsen's tragedy 'Hedda Gabler'

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Noted child psychiatrist will deliver inaugural Albert J. Solnit Lecture

Celebrated poet and renowned novelist are next Schlesinger Visiting Writers

In Memoriam: Jacques Guicharnaud, French theater scholar . . .

Nelson to head playwriting department

Yale editor Nayan Chanda earns Shorenstein Award for Journalism

Kiger will join artistic staff at Yale Rep

Library conference will explore preservation of global collections

Dr. James Comer to discuss future of public education

Bookbags and 'Schooliosis'