Dr. Edwards named chief wellness officer at Bridgeport Hospital

BRIDGEPORT, CT (July 7, 2020) – Kristin Edwards, MD, of New Canaan has been named Bridgeport Hospital’s inaugural chief wellness officer. 

Dr. Edwards joined Bridgeport Hospital in 2014 as medical director of Palliative Care. She took on the additional role of medical director of Physician Wellness in 2019. Also last year, she was named an Emerging Leader in Hospice and Palliative Medicine by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine for career accomplishments, mentoring of residents and students, and participation in charitable work.

Dr. Edwards has played a key role in the hospital’s efforts to improve clinician wellbeing for years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has advocated for inclusion of wellbeing in the hospital incident command system. She is also an organizational sponsor of staff wellbeing check-ins, a new initiative to support the health and resiliency of hospital staff. Recently, Dr. Edwards launched an outpatient clinic for patients with cancer at the Smilow Cancer Center at Park Avenue Medical Center in Trumbull. 

In her new role, she reports to Michael Ivy, MD, deputy chief medical officer, Yale New Haven Health, and continues to report to Vivian Argento, MD, executive director, Geriatrics and Palliative Care service line, for palliative care-related issues. 

A native of Palos Verdes Estates, CA, Dr. Edwards received her medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed a residency in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She also completed a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in New York and served as medical director of an independent physician group in California. She is board certified in internal medicine and hospice/palliative medicine.

Bridgeport Hospital, part of Yale New Haven Health, is a non-profit 501-bed acute care hospital with two campuses (plus 42 beds licensed to Yale New Haven Children's Hospital). Its Bridgeport and Milford Campuses serve patients from across the region. The hospital admits more than 23,000 patients and provides nearly 350,000 outpatient treatments annually. The Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital is the only burn center in the state and one of only 64 verified burn centers in the United States. Bridgeport Hospital is committed to providing safe, compassionate and cost efficient care to its patients and the community. www.bridgeporthospital.org