Lynn Fiellin, MD, is an internal medicine specialist who specializes in addiction medicine. She cares for patients at Yale New Haven Hospital.
“I chose this specialty because I think Internal Medicine is fascinating,” Dr. Fiellin says. “We get to practice both the art and science of medicine, and with new discoveries, we are constantly learning and changing the way we impact our patients' lives.”
Dr. Fiellin likes to reassure hospital patients, telling them the goal is to make them feel cared for using the best possible treatments. “I feel strongly that making our patients’ feel ‘cared for’ is critical. While I am excited about and deeply in engaged in the science of medicine, for me, the art, and what I am passionate about is providing the best care possible, so that the patient experience is the best it can be,” she says. “I tell them that they are part of the team. In fact, they are really in charge of the team—we are there to work with them and to listen to them.”
Dr. Fiellin is a professor in both internal medicine and the Yale Child Study Center, and firm chief of the Fitkin Firm, one of the inpatient internal medicine services at YNHH. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice, she develops and tests novel videogame interventions to promote health and reduce risk in youth and young adults. Funding from the National Institutes of Health and other sources has allowed Dr. Fiellin and her team of researchers, game developers, and community partners to create and evaluate interactive evidence-based games addressing such issues as HIV prevention and risk reduction, HIV testing and counseling, tobacco and marijuana smoking, e-cigarette use and vaping prevention, and most recently opioid misuse prevention in adolescents.
