The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) has appointed Zareen Zaidi, MD, PhD, as associate dean for faculty affairs and development.
“Dr. Zaidi comes to the role with a national reputation for developing faculty. She is an internationally recognized leader, scholar, and clinician-educator who brings more than 20 years of experience in medical education and research to this role,” said Andrew W. Artenstein, MD, MBA, interim vice president for health affairs and dean at GW SMHS, in a statement announcing Zaidi’s appointment.
“Her dedication to scholarship, faculty development and her commitment to equity position her for success in leading SMHS Faculty Affairs into its next chapter,” he added.
Effective immediately, Zaidi will lead the Office of Faculty Affairs and Development, overseeing faculty development across the career arc, from onboarding and mentoring to promotion and advancement. She will guide institutional policy for appointments, promotion, tenure, compensation, and leave, while leading the office’s staff, budget, program assessment, and accreditation compliance. Working with department chairs and other institutional leaders, she will help align these efforts with the school’s overall strategic priorities.
“Whether you lead a research program, see patients, teach in the health and allied health professions, or work in population health, this office exists to help you build a career you can sustain,” said Zaidi, who also serves as professor of medicine at SMHS.
Before joining GW, Zaidi held several leadership roles at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, including director of scholarship and director of longitudinal portfolios. As founding chair of the AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Mentorship Program, she helped build a national mentoring program for junior faculty, supporting mentees as they pursued publications, grants, fellowships, and other career milestones. She has also mentored faculty and trainees on research and grant-funded projects and has received GW’s Luminary Mentor Award, Outstanding Mentor of Faculty Award, and the SMHS Pillars of Excellence Award.
Zaidi’s research focuses on how faculty and learners develop, how institutions recognize academic contributions, and how mentorship, assessment, and faculty development can make advancement more transparent. In 2025, she was named a KIPRIME Fellow by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, an international program for medical education researchers. She has published more than 75 peer-reviewed articles, served in leadership roles within the AAMC, and held editorial positions with several medical education journals.
Zaidi earned her medical degree from Aga Khan University in Pakistan and completed her internal medicine training at New York Medical College. She later completed a fellowship at the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Institute in Philadelphia and earned a PhD in medical education from Maastricht University School of Health Professions Education in the Netherlands.
