Dr. Howard Blue named deputy director of mental health and counseling at Yale Health

Dr. Howard Blue, who has served for more than a decade as associate chief psychiatrist in Mental Health and Counseling (MHC) at Yale Health, will assume the newly created position of deputy director of MHC on Jan 1, Yale Health Director Dr. Paul Genecin has announced. In his new position, Blue will work closely with Dr. Lorraine Siggins, director of MHC, in overseeing departmental operations and developing new programs and initiatives.

Blue will have a prominent role in working with colleagues across the Yale campus to increase awareness of mental health issues and take part in shaping programs to address diversity and inclusion for all Yale students. He will continue to work with students on the MHC advisory committees and will also continue to see patients as a psychiatrist in MHC.

“Dr. Siggins and I are delighted that we will have the opportunity to work with Dr. Blue in his new role as we look ahead to extending our programs in mental health for our students and to increasing the presence of Mental Health and Counseling across the university,” said Genecin in announcing the new post.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina School Of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Blue came to Yale for his training in psychiatry. As a postdoctoral fellow he spent the 1988-1989 academic year working at Yale Health (then Yale University Health Services), where “his exceptional gifts as a clinician working with Yale students were immediately apparent,” Genecin said. He became a staff psychiatrist in MHC in 1989.

Since 1993 Blue has been associate chief psychiatrist in MHC as well as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. He is well known for his work in the field of racial and ethnic identity and has long experience in teaching trainees and clinical colleagues about the impact of culture and diversity in mental health. In addition, he is a widely respected expert in in the field of mental health in student populations.