Peter Morgan, MD, PhD, is chair of psychiatry at Yale New Haven Health’s Bridgeport Hospital.
Dr. Morgan says he grew up interested in both physics and medicine.
“I like to understand how the world works, which is why I fell in love with physics,” he says. “As for psychiatry, people have always come to me to help fix things and I have enjoyed helping others.”
Dr. Morgan says the best part of his job is feeling like he can make a positive difference in patients’ lives. “Many of the patients we serve have run into issues of not having access to treatment, being rejected from treatment, or not being comfortable accepting treatment,” he says. “When that happens, we need to find ways to get them in or bring them back. Seeing their lives improve as a result is very rewarding.”
By framing every patient interaction as having the potential to be positive or negative from a psychotherapeutic perspective, Dr. Morgan says he is mindful that how patient care is delivered affects how patients respond to treatment. “You want to have a trusting relationship, and I like to be thoughtful about every interaction going toward promoting care and building that relationship,” he says.
Dr. Morgan’s research interests include the neurophysiology of substance dependence with a focus on sleep disturbances in the setting of chronic substance use and mental illnesses.
