My Profile

Joanne DeSanto Iennaco, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN

Yale University School of Nursing

Contact Details

Yale University School of Nursing
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Yale University School of Nursing

Bio

I am a Professor of Nursing and Psychiatry at Yale University, and Director of the Post-MSN Clinical DNP Program at Yale School of Nursing.  I have been at Yale since finishing my doctoral research at Yale School of Public Health.  My research focuses on measurement of aggression and the effects of aggression exposure on workers in inpatient psychiatric and hospital settings.

I am currently involved in a study of Mindfulness Based Therapy for Insomnia, initial findings were that MBTI also significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Recently I was the Clinical Interventionist leading CBT for Insomnia groups for the Heart Sleep Study, a randomized controlled trial, one finding was that CBT-I not only improved sleep, it also led to physical health improvements!  I have worked with Yale's Occupational and Environmental Medicine research team studying the effect of psychosocial aspects of the workplace on health. My research interests include occupational mental health, aggression, anxiety, depression, suicide, violence and the interface between physical and mental health. Here's a link to my faculty page if you would like more information about my work! 

I am a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner dually certified as both a Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and an Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist. I work clinically at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven, CT, and previously at Fair Haven Community Health Center. 

Prior to working at Yale and getting my PhD, I worked in Maine at Saint Joseph's College where I taught both mental health nursing and community health nursing. I also worked with RN's who were completing their BSN degrees. In Maine I worked clinically in both inpatient and community based settings where I worked for Community Health Services in their Portland, Windham and Bridgton offices. Prior to my work in Maine, I worked at the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT and at UCONN Health Center in Farmington, CT in a variety of mental health settings including inpatient and partial hospital programs.

My current blog, Quieting Minds, offers mindfulness meditations -most of them are only a few minutes long, those meditations are also on my You Tube station, Jo Iennaco.  Previously I worked on 2 blogs, the first is "Mental Notes by Joanne" which I started to encourage further classroom and clinical discussion with my students. My other blog is called "Passing Thoughts" and relates to a variety of issues happening in the world that spark my interest. 

Expert Knowledge Areas

  • Chronic Mental Illness
  • Crisis/Trauma
  • Group Therapy
  • Medication Management
  • Mood Disorders
  • Neurobiology
  • Psychopharmacology/Medication
  • Psychotherapy
  • Sleep Disorders
  • Suicidology