Yale Medical Group Appoints First Chief Medical Officer

Ronald J. Vender, M.D., a nationally recognized gastroenterologist, has been named chief medical officer (CMO) of the Yale Medical Group (YMG), the physician practice of Yale University faculty. He has also been named associate dean for clinical affairs at the School of Medicine. Both appointments are effective June 1.

Vender, who graduated from the Yale School of Medicine and completed his internship, residency and fellowships at Yale-New Haven Hospital, has held leadership roles at several New Haven-area hospitals. His appointment follows an exhaustive national search.

As CMO, Vender will report to David J. Leffell, M.D., chief executive officer of the YMG and deputy dean for clinical affairs. In this newly created position Vender will assume operational responsibilities and will work to continue to advance the clinical practice of the School of Medicine.

“Ron is a superb physician and an experienced and accomplished administrator. His knowledge of the local and regional medical community and market will be a major asset in helping to lead the practice at a time of major transformation and opportunity,” Leffell said. “We are delighted that Ron is joining us in this new role.”

Since Leffell became director of the YMG a decade ago, he has also served as CMO. Vender’s appointment will allow Leffell to devote additional time to strategic planning for the practice at a time of great change.

Vender will play a critical role in the continuing development of the YMG into a seamlessly integrated group practice with a broad range of efficient, centralized functions. Vender’s responsibilities will include working with school and hospital leadership on strategic planning; achieving high satisfaction from patients and referring physicians; ensuring patient safety and high-quality, cost-effective patient care; and establishing and monitoring measures to ensure excellence in clinical care. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Vender will be involved in resident and medical student teaching in the Section of Digestive Diseases.

“I am delighted and honored to join the Yale School of Medicine in this new position,” Vender said. “The doctors and leadership of the Yale Medical Group are superb, and are already recognized as among the best in the country. Our challenge, and our commitment, is to become even better.”

Vender graduated from Harvard College in 1973 and received his medical degree from Yale in 1977. He was an intern, resident and fellow at Yale and in 1982 became an attending physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Hospital of St. Raphael and Milford Hospital. He has been chief of gastroenterology at Milford Hospital, medical director of the Digestive Disease Center at the Hospital of St. Raphael, and a consultant in gastroenterology at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven. In 1997 he founded, with two colleagues, the Gastroenterology Center of Connecticut, a private practice with offices in Hamden, Milford and Guilford.
Since 1993 he has served as section chief of gastroenterology at the Hospital of St. Raphael and is site director for the Yale GI Fellowship program there, and since 2000 he has been a clinical professor of medicine at the School of Medicine. He has been an investigator on a wide range of clinical trials.

Vender has been named one of the Best Doctors in America. In May 2008 he will receive the Distinguished Clinician Award from the American Gastroenterological Association. He has twice received the Vincent DeLuca Award from the School of Medicine, as Outstanding Teacher of Gastroenterology

Other awards and honors include the William D. Carey Award from the American College of Gastroenterology, and the Hospital of St. Raphael Medical Staff Award.