Department of Psychiatry

Welcome Dr. Eric Brueckner to Our Faculty
Profile
Dr. Eric Brueckner received his Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology and in Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He received his medical degree from the Western University of Health Sciences/College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific and completed his Adult Psychiatry Residency at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he served as chief resident of the Outpatient Division. Following residency, Dr. Brueckner joined the Yale faculty. His time as outpatient chief at MUSC solidified his interest in treatment-refractory depression. As MUSC is known for ECT and TMS, Dr. Brueckner developed expertise in these modalities in addition to pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches to treat mood disorders. Dr. Bruckner ‘s Resident Quality Improvement Project involved improving and templating a suicide risk assessment within the EPIC electronic health record.

Dr. Brueckner will be playing key clinical roles expanding care for patients with refractory depression in the Mood and Anxiety Clinic and on the ECT service. He will also supervise residents and teach medical students at 10 Talcott Notch Road.
Welcome Dr. Michael Rayel to Our Faculty
Profile
Dr. Michael Rayel received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of the Philippines, and his medical degree from the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute College of Medicine in the Philippines. Dr. Rayel completed his Adult Psychiatry Residency at New York Medical College in Valhalla, where he also received advanced training in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the NYMC Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Rayel completed a Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at NYU and a fellowship in Forensic and Correctional Psychiatry at Harvard. He also secured subspecialty certification in Psychosomatic Medicine. For nearly twenty years, Dr. Rayel served as a staff psychiatrist at the Dr. G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital in Clarenville, Newfoundland, Canada. There, in addition to seeing general psychiatry patients, he practiced as a geriatric psychiatrist at the Neuropsychiatry and Dementia Clinic.

Dr. Rayel will be a major asset here providing care for patients in the Mood and Anxiety Clinic and serving as medical director at Hartford Behavioral Health. He will also supervise residents and teach medical students in the Emergency Department and at the 10 Talcott Outpatient Clinic.
Welcome Dr. David FitzGerald to Our Faculty
Profile
Dr. David FitzGerald received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. He stayed at Notre Dame to complete his Master's degree in Psychology and a Ph.D. in an APA-accredited combined program of Counseling and Developmental Psychology. Dr. FitzGerald completed a Clinical Child/Pediatric Internship at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his training, Dr. FitzGerald joined the faculty as a clinical associate in medical psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. During that time, he directed several assessment and treatment services, supervised independent evaluators across multi-site NIH studies, and served as director of research Operations at the Duke ADHD Program. He also held several secondary appointments in the Psychology Department, teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses. Dr. FitzGerald left Duke in 2010 to start his own private consulting practice in Apex, NC.

Dr. FitzGerald will join our child and adolescent psychiatry program expanding psychotherapy services in our Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic.
Welcome Dr. Phelan Maruca-Sullivan to Our Faculty
Profile
Dr. Phelan Maruca-Sullivan received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Classics cum laude from Georgetown University. She received her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed a Psychiatry Residency at Yale, where she served as the program-wide chief resident, the chief resident for education, and the chief resident for the VA inpatient unit. In June 2018, Dr. Maruca-Sullivan completed a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at Yale. Besides her chief resident roles, Dr. Maruca-Sullivan has received other honors. In medical school, she received the Malamud Award, recognizing a graduating medical student "who best grasps the science of psychiatry and demonstrates a caring attitude toward patients." At Yale, she received the Ira Levine Award, recognizing a PGY2 psychiatry resident who best embodies qualities of clinical excellence, breadth of learning, and devotion to the care of patients with severe psychiatric illness.

Dr. Maruca-Sullivan will be will be playing key clinical and educational roles on our Inpatient Service. She will also see patients in our Mood and Anxiety Clinic treating chronically mentally ill patients, older patients, and veterans on the Inpatient Service.