The Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) and Department of Biomedical Data Science (BMDS) are pleased to welcome Lynn Fiellin, MD to our faculty November 1st!
Dr. Fiellin will also have faculty appointments within the Department of Medicine and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Dr. Fiellin is currently a Professor of Medicine, at the Child Study Center, and the School of Public Health at Yale. She is the founding director of the play2PREVENT Lab, established 14 years ago with NIH funding. Specifically, her work focuses on developing and testing novel videogame interventions to promote health and reduce risk in youth and young adults. She has received funding from the NIH, the FDA, and the CVS Health Foundation to conduct this work. She and her team of researchers, game developers, youth and community partners have created and evaluated interactive evidence-based digital games addressing mental health, opioid misuse, smoking/vaping, and sexual health and HIV/STI prevention.
Most recently, she was awarded a five-year UG3-UH3 from NIDA as part of their national Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative to develop/evaluate a digital health game targeting opioid misuse prevention and mental health promotion in older adolescents. Her digital health game interventions are designed and built with input from adolescents at every step of development. They are evaluated by adolescents using established scientific methods, demonstrating that these engaging and evidence-informed games work in impacting the most critical health outcomes in adolescents.
“CTBH and the Department of Biomedical Data Science are the perfect match, the perfect community for the work we are doing at the play2PREVENT Lab,” she says, “There is the expertise and genuine enthusiasm there for building evidence-based technology that can really make a difference in people’s health, well-being, and lives. I am thrilled to start this new chapter where we can build new collaborations and expand on a successful research program to have even greater reach and impact.”
Dr. Fiellin earned her M.D. degree from the Yale School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Yale/Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) and was recognized for her excellence by being chosen as one of the Internal Medicine Chief Residents. She was then awarded NIDA Physician Scientist K12 career award and a prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar Program Award, which helped to launch her successful 21-year career as a clinical researcher. Dr. Fiellin rose through the academic ranks at Yale, while holding critical positions as one of the YNHH Firm Chiefs as well as leadership roles within the YNHH medical staff.
She was named professor in 2020.
Dr. Fiellin has excelled in mentorship, particularly in mentorship of women. She has been a mentor to over 50 individuals, 90% of whom have been women, and in 2017, created the ForAGirl Summer Internship Program, an intensive summer program for community high school girls engaging them in hands-on research training and mentorship in the areas of STEM, medicine and research. She is a strong advocate for girls and women, was recognized as one of the Women of Innovation in the Research Innovation and Leadership Category by the Connecticut Technology Council, and just honored at the national Women in Medicine Summit with an IStandWithHer award in the category of SheforShe, an honor for women greater than 10 years from completion of training who have made significant contributions to fellow women in medicine.
Finally, Dr. Fiellin is an innovator and an entrepreneur. She is the founder of Playbl, Inc., a start-up company that focuses on the marketing and distribution of her portfolio of the 5 evidence-informed digital health games developed in her Lab with the goal of getting them into the hands of all adolescents in an effective and sustainable way.