Paul Mulinski, MSW, PhD, a member of the Yale faculty for 41 years, has announced he will retire as associate chief of staff of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System effective October 3, 2014. Mulinski is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry in social work at Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Mulinski first came to Yale in 1971 as a social work intern from the Smith College School for Social Work. In 1973 he took a position at the Yale Psychiatric Institute (YPI) as a clinical social worker. In 1976 he joined the staff of the VA to direct an outpatient family program in the newly established VA alcohol treatment unit.
At the VA Connecticut Healthcare System he went on to become chief of social work and eventually associate chief of staff. During his time at the VA, he earned his PhD in clinical social work at New York University and he held clinical faculty appointments at a number of social work schools including Smith College and Columbia University. During his tenure at the VA, Mulinski has been an advocate and great supporter of the Yale Department of Psychiatry clinical and research programs housed on the VA campus.
Mulinski's clinical interests include the importance of understanding male alcoholics’ perceptions of their fathers in the recovery process, and the clinical implications of co-existing psychiatric disorders in the treatment of male alcoholics. For a number of years he was a journal reviewer for Families in Society.
As an educator, Mulinski trained several generations of psychiatric residents, as a family therapy supervisor and as a regular discussant in the case conference series for both psychiatry and psychology trainees in the VA outpatient Mental Hygiene Clinic.
He will be remembered for his tireless devotion to the VA mission, his understanding of complex systems issues, and for his practical advice and insight with patients, particularly in terms of family dynamics.
Although he retires from the VA, Mulinski plans to continue to teach residents and other trainees as a supervisor and case conference discussant.