Yale Expertise in Pain, Trauma Techniques Help Ukrainian MDs During Month-Long Training

This October, 6 anesthesiologists and psychiatrists from Ukraine joined Yale School of Medicine (YSM) faculty at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) to learn advanced approaches to chronic pain and trauma care.

“Relieving pain is a fundamental duty of any physician. This is especially important now for Ukrainians with physical and mental trauma from the ongoing war,” says Andrey Zinchuk, MD, associate professor of medicine (section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) at YSM and vice president of DU4U. “We are partnering with Ukrainian physicians to advance evidence-based chronic pain treatment there and to learn from our Ukrainian colleagues about innovations forged during this war that may help people in other conflicts.”

The month-long obervership program, “Improving Pain Management and Mental Health Treatment in Conflict Territories: Ukraine ‘IMPACT-UA,’” was led by Doctors United for Ukraine (DU4U) in partnership with Nova Ukraine, and supported by Yale’s World Partnership Fund of the Yale Office of International Affairs.

“Our goal is to establish chronic pain treatment in Ukraine,” said Oksana Gologorska, the vice president of Medical Projects at Nova Ukraine. “Supporting our doctors in gaining international experience is absolutely critical.”

The Ukrainian physicians observed YSM faculty in clinical psychiatric, addiction medicine, Ob/Gyn, and anesthesiology settings while engaging in interactive seminars and case discussions on pharmacology, posttraumatic stress disorder, and trauma-informed care.

“As an anesthesiologist working with military patients, I see how chronic pain is never just physical, it reshapes mental health, families, and entire communities. At Yale, I want to learn new approaches while sharing personal experience in trauma care,” said Maksym Tkachuk, MD, an anesthesiologist from Chernivtsi.

Yale is a leader in leading edge pain management techniques as well as interventional psychiatry and high-risk pregnancy.

“The program that we have developed for our visiting psychiatrists aims to promote knowledge sharing in the practice and delivery of mental health services, including pain management and addiction care, which have become a mounting need within the civilian and veteran population since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” said Yevgeniy Mayr, DO, an assistant professor of psychiatry at YSM and a member of DU4U. “Likewise, our visiting colleagues have also shared their unique perspectives and provided us with lessons in resilience and adaptability through their own practices in helping their patients during wartime."