In connection with Yale Student Health, the Yale community will soon welcome a new Campus Health Office to develop and maintain the public health infrastructure at Yale.
Caitlin Bohle
Correspondent contribution
Yale Daily News
As the university continues to grapple with the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale Health is expanding its infrastructure to include a new health office on campus.
Stephanie Spangler, deputy dean for health and academic integrity, made the announcement in a Jan. 19 email to the broader Yale community. The desk, which Spangler wrote is part of a larger initiative to “promote the health of our campus community,” and will continue to be developed in the coming months. The announcement also comes at a time of heightened concerns about Psychological health Support amid an ongoing lawsuit and Students receiving care at Yale Student Health.
“Over the past three years, as we faced an unprecedented public health emergency, many of us came together in new ways to create the processes and resources needed to combat and prevent COVID-19 infection,” Spangler wrote. “As we have developed initiatives specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also identified opportunities to improve the programs and systems we use to address more routine health issues for students and staff… Our experience during the pandemic has also reinforced the importance of robust and proactive planning for future health emergencies.”
Led by Madeline Wilson, Chief Quality Officer at Yale Health, the new office will oversee documentation and routine health requirements for community members. This includes vaccination registration and insurance concerns. The office will also be, with respect to university officials, responsible for shaping public health policy and communicating those policies with the entire Yale community.
So far, student response to the initiative has been positive. Jack Cloherty ’26 has indicated that he hopes setting up the new office will help alleviate some of the issues he’s had with Yale health insurance since arriving at Yale this fall.
“I called ahead to make sure my health insurance was working for my medicine,” he told the newspaper, “When I went to pick it up at the pharmacy my insurance was refused despite me being told it was accepted earlier on the phone… I wish it was The new Campus Health Office is more organized and coherent in their approach to securing and serving the student body.”
Josh Donovan 26, however, expressed some apprehension about setting up this new office.
Donovan’s issues with Yale Student Health relate to issues of daily appointment creation and communication, rather than the management structure of the organization. He cited a case where he waited at Yale Acute Care for more than four hours before being seen, even though there were a few other patients in the waiting room. He told the newspaper that he wished resources would be allocated to help students receive care on a day-to-day basis, along with larger changes to infrastructure.
According to Wilson, the new desk will not have much impact on students’ daily interests.
“We don’t expect a significant impact on how students at Yale Health navigate or get appointments for routine health needs or mental health concerns,” Wilson wrote in an email to News. “This will continue to be managed through student health and mental health counseling.”
As time went on, Wilson noted that the office would continue to evolve. This includes collaboration efforts with the Provost’s Office, Emergency Management, Environmental Health and Safety, and Information Technology Support at Yale University.
The new health office will be located on campus at Yale Health, 55 Locke Street.