L+M Names New Chair of Psychiatry

Dr. Peter Morgan has been named chair of psychiatry at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.

“This appointment represents another benefit of our recent affiliation with Yale New Haven Health,” said Bruce D. Cummings, president and chief executive officer of L+M Hospital. “It is a significant challenge for small hospitals to recruit top-flight talent. The affiliation was an integral factor in this appointment, filling a position we’ve had open for nearly two years.”

Dr. Morgan’s appointment follows the earlier announcement of the addition of two neurosurgeons to the L+M medical staff. 

Dr. Morgan, who spent the previous 12 years on the faculty at Yale School of Medicine, will split his time between patient care and administrative duties, a dual role he says will give him the opportunity to help shape the future of L+M’s behavioral and mental health services while also increasing the department’s direct care to patients.

“The doctors and staffs we have at L+M are doing great work,” Dr. Morgan said. “However, we need more clinical coverage. I will be providing some of that along with my administrative duties, and we will be looking at other staffing levels and services to see if there are more ways we can better serve our patient population.”

Since 2014, L+M has voluntarily reduced inpatient capacity to 12 to 14 patients. The arrival of Dr. Morgan will gradually expand that number to 18, which is capacity for the unit.

Dr. Morgan also said he wants to evaluate the possibilities of expanding L+M’s addiction services, noting that the need is great throughout the region.

“We’ll be looking at a variety of services that the hospital is currently not providing to see if things can be added to help the community,” he said. “I think we need to position ourselves to be able to do that – to expand services as necessary.”

Dr. Morgan earned his degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. His residency was at Yale School of Medicine, where he joined the faculty in 2004. He also has an extensive research background that he hopes to apply to care at L+M. He will retain his faculty position. 

“There are things we can do here to improve care,” he said. “I’d like to start some relatively simple research protocols, looking at how systems work, like length of stay for inpatients and whether cutting-edge interventions can influence treatment outcomes and length of stay. These would be things that allow us to provide better overall care for our patients.”

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org