Dr. Latha Chandran Honored with Sushruta Charaka Award by the Association of Indians in America
Bestowed by the Association of Indians in America, the award recognizes Dr. Chandran’s decades-long work inspiring future physicians and scientists.
Good leaders guide and manage. Great leaders inspire, empower, and cultivate collaboration, igniting brilliance in those around them.
Latha Chandran, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., executive dean for education and policy and the Bernard J. Fogel Chair in Medical Education at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, exemplifies this higher standard of leadership. She has dedicated her distinguished career to shaping young physicians and scientists and championing excellence in medical education.
In recognition of her decades-long dedication, Dr. Chandran, also a professor of medical education and pediatrics at the Miller School, was recently honored with the Sushruta Charaka Award by the Association of Indians in America (AIA). The highest honor bestowed by the AIA’s Medical Council, the award celebrates extraordinary contributions to the field of medicine.
“Dr. Chandran’s impact on the Miller School has been truly transformative,” said Henri R. Ford, M.D., M.H.A., dean and chief academic officer of the Miller School. “With her leadership, our NextGenMD curriculum is shaping future physicians and scientists who will use their education to improve the health of humanity. She is foundational to our progress and will continue to lead us to new heights in educational scholarship.”
Innovative Medical Education
When she joined the Miller School in 2020, Dr. Chandran immediately started working closely with Dean Ford and other colleagues to orchestrate the transition to a new curriculum, NextGenMD.
NextGenMD increases students’ exposure to real-life clinical experiences early in their medical education. While many programs wait until students have completed two years of classroom training before they are allowed to work with patients, the Miller School accelerates that process, bringing students into the clinic after year one.
This revolutionary approach helps medical students learn by doing. It also gives them more opportunities to experience different medical specialties, volunteer in the community and conduct research.
“In medicine, direct exposure to patients is critical to not only clinical reasoning and judgment, but also to communication and empathy for patients and for working in teams,” said Dr. Chandran. “That’s part of being a physician.”
A Career Devoted to Learning
Dr. Chandran received her medical degree at Kerala University where, after medical school, she completed a residency training program in obstetrics and gynecology. She completed her residency and chief residency at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island. Two years after joining the Stony Brook faculty in 1992, she was appointed director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
At Stony Brook, Dr. Chandran became a tenured full professor, the interim chair for the Department of Pediatrics, the Miriam and David Donoho Distinguished Educator and vice dean for academic and faculty affairs. She joined the Miller School faculty in 2020.
Dr. Chandran has been president of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) as well as treasurer and vice chair of the National Board of Medical Examiners. She co-founded the APA’s Educational Scholars Program, which received the APA National Teaching Program Award for Excellence. The program has been in existence for two decades and has graduated more than 250 junior pediatric faculty across the nation.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award,” said Dr. Chandran. “I am grateful for the opportunity to make an impact in medical education with the support of wonderful faculty. This award really highlights the excellent work we have done at the Miller School to enhance medical education.”