Steven Bernstein wins $2 million grant for implementation science training

Dr. Steven L. Bernstein of the Yale School of Medicine has been awarded a K12 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to fund a five-year program to train young scholars in implementation science relevant to diseases of the heart, lung, and blood, or to sleep disorders.

Bernstein’s implementation science program aims “to develop scientists with the knowledge, skills, and ability to become independent investigators in implementation science; to build a cadre of knowledge translators who collaborate successfully with stakeholders, including community partners, to identify and address barriers to implementing evidence in practice and policy; and to enhance these trained scientists’ capacity to serve effectively in leadership roles on broadly inclusive multidisciplinary research teams.”

The program will train five scholars who hold degrees of M.D., Ph.D, or the equivalent, and who may be affiliated with the Yale Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, or Management. The scholars who complete this program will receive a Master’s in Health Science degree, and will be instructed in a curriculum developed for this particular program plus coursework that “has trained a generation of scholars in Yale's Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, the Investigative Medicine Program, and Schools of Public Health and Management.” 

Bernstein maintains an active clinical practice in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital. He also develops screening and treatment interventions for tobacco users in hospital settings. His current research focuses on the efficacy of a brief counseling intervention, along with nicotine replacement therapy, in helping adult smokers in the emergency department quit.