Kirsten Bechtel, MD

Photograph of Kirsten Bechtel

Professor of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine; Attending physician in the Pediatric Emergency Department of Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital; Medical director of the Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program, Injury Free Coalition for Kids of New Haven

Kirsten Bechtel MD is a Professor of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, an attending physician in the Pediatric Emergency Department of Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and medical director of the Pediatric Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) Program. She was appointed by Governor Rowland in 2001 to serve as the pediatrician for the state’s Child Fatality Review Panel. She was appointed by then Provost Peter Salvoes to be the chairperson of Yale University’s Traffic Safety Committee in 2011 and is also a member of the University Safety Committee.

Her research interests include the medical and forensic evaluation of children and adolescents who have been sexually assaulted, the medical evaluation of infants and children who have died unexpectedly, the prevention and evaluation of accidental and abusive head trauma, the prevention of interpersonal violence among adolescents and the prevention of sleep-related deaths among infants. Her legislative advocacy efforts include the development of safer roads for all users through her work as a member of the Executive Committee of BikeWalkCT and the CT Livable Streets Coalition; the development of an Infant Safe Sleep Plan throughout the YNHH system and the state of Connecticut.

Contact Information

Email Address:
kirsten.bechtel@yale.edu