The American College of Physicians Selects a Physician/Educator at the Baltimore VA Medical Center as Outstanding Educator

The American College of Physicians (ACP), a national organization of internists, selected Dr. Janaki Deepak, a physician educator and director of the Lung Mass Clinic and Lung Cancer Screening at the Baltimore VA Medical Center and associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, for its 2022 Herbert S. Waxman Award for Outstanding Medical Student Educator.

            “We are thrilled that one of our physicians/researchers has been awarded this prestigious recognition as an educator,” said Jonathan R. Eckman, P.E., director of the VA Maryland Health Care System. “We take pride in fostering a learning environment throughout our health care system, which contributes to excellent patient care and helping to educate the next generation of health care providers. We also value our longtime collaboration with the University of Maryland Baltimore and the medical students who rotate through our health care facilities.”

Deepak advises students, residents and fellows in quality improvement initiatives. She also acts as a career advisor in her position as a clinician educator.

Deepak graduated with honors from Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Mumbai, India, completed her radiology residency from King Edward Memorial Hospital also in Mumbai, and practiced as a radiologist. Upon her arrival to the U.S., she completed an internal medicine residency at Medstar Harbor Hospital and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Deepak is director of Lung Cancer Screening and Tobacco Health & Treatment at the School of Medicine. She is also director of the University of Maryland Tobacco Health Practice and lung screening program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. In her role as a clinician educator, she serves as career mentor and delivers numerous lectures, and serves a co-investigator on several funded research projects. Her articles have been cited in several journals and publications.

Aside from the 2022 Herbert Waxman Award, she also is the recipient of numerous honors and prizes, including the Joan Stine Award for Leadership in Tobacco Prevention and Control presented by the Maryland Department of Health and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law; the Maryland Chapter’s C. Lockard Conley Award for Contributions to Resident Teaching, Education, and Research; and the Governor’s Service Award.

Established in 2003, the Herbert S. Waxman Award recognizes an ACP member who is an internal medicine interest group leader, clinical clerkship director, program director or faculty member (no higher than the level of an associate professor of medicine) who spends a significant amount of time teaching medical students.