In terms of Yale student health, the Yale community will soon welcome a new Office of Campus Health to develop and maintain Yale’s public health infrastructure.
Caitlin Polly
Special correspondent
yale daily
As the University continues to grapple with the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale Health is expanding its infrastructure to a new Office of Campus Health.
Stephanie Spangler, associate provost for health affairs and academic integrity, made the announcement in a Jan. 19 email to the broader Yale community. The office Spangler writes is part of a larger plan to “promote the health of our campus community” that will continue to evolve in the coming months.The announcement comes amid growing concerns Mental Health support in ongoing litigation and Students receive care at the Yale Student Health Center.
“Over the past three years, in the face of an unprecedented public health emergency, many of us have come together in new ways to create processes and resources to combat and prevent COVID-19 infection,” Spangler wrote. “As we developed our initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also identified opportunities to improve the programs and systems we use to address more routine student and employee health issues… Our experience during the pandemic has also reinforced for future health emergencies.”
The new office, led by Madeline Wilson, Yale Health’s chief quality officer, will oversee day-to-day health documentation and requests for community members. This includes vaccination registration and insurance issues. The office will also, along with university administrators, be responsible for developing public health policies and communicating those policies to the entire Yale community.
Student response to the initiative has been positive so far. Jack Cloherty ’26 noted that he hopes the opening of the new office will help alleviate some of the issues he has had with Yale health insurance since arriving at Yale this fall.
“I called ahead to make sure my health insurance was valid for my medication,” he told the news, “and when I went to pick it up at the pharmacy, my insurance was denied despite being told it was accepted on an earlier phone call.” …I hope the new health office on campus will be more organized and cohesive in terms of insurance and serving the student body.”
However, Josh Donovan, 26, expressed some concerns about setting up the new office.
Donovan’s issues with Yale Student Health relate to issues of routine appointment creation and communication, not the organization’s administrative structure. He gave the example of waiting more than four hours in a Yale emergency room to be seen despite few other patients in the waiting room. He told the News he hopes the resources will go toward helping students receive care on a day-to-day basis while larger infrastructure improvements are underway.
Wilson said the new office will not have a major impact on students’ day-to-day affairs.
“We do not anticipate a major impact on how students navigate Yale Health or obtain appointments for day-to-day health needs or mental health issues,” Wilson wrote in an email to the news. “This will continue through student health and mental health and Consult to manage.”
However, as time goes on, Wilson noted that the office will continue to evolve. This includes collaboration with the Office of the Provost, Emergency Management, Environmental Health and Safety, and Yale IT Support.
The new Campus Health Office will be located at the Yale Health Center at 55 Rock Street.
