Dr. Misbah Keen Named
2022 Family Medicine Educator of the Year

Misbah Keen, MD, MBI, MPH, FAAFP, professor at the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine, is the 2022 WAFP Family Medicine Educator of the Year. This award supplements his already lengthy list of accomplishments, with numerous teaching awards and recognition from the University of Washington, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. He currently serves as director of UW’s family medicine clerkship, section head of medical student education within the UW Department of Family Medicine, executive vice chair of family medicine, and a leadership role in UWSOM-wide curriculum development.

Letters of support focus on two facets of Keen’s work: his compassionate support of both students and colleagues as well as innovative programs developed under his watch, which have helped position UW as a national leader in family medicine.

“He has been a tremendous asset to the state and the discipline of family medicine, and I have benefitted firsthand from his teaching, mentorship, and guidance. His ability to educate transcends ordinary teaching and is characterized by inspiring, supporting, communicating, and developing his learners. I can think of no better person for this award,” wrote Irfan Asif, MD, a graduate of the UW Family Medicine Residency Program and currently chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for primary care and rural health at the University of Alabama Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine.

“Our medical education needs to affect positive change to meet the needs of our diverse population, and we need a curriculum that will expose our students to these critical areas. Dr. Keen has been at the forefront of many curricular innovations, which are highly successful and effective, and have been disseminated to academic conferences nationally as educational change models,” wrote Jennifer Trieu, MD, assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and medical director of the Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center.

Among those innovations are the Patient Centered Observation Form and the Improving Communications Assessment Training Program, which Keen co-created. Both are now in wide use nationally. Multiple letters cited his participation in classes for improv and stand-up comedy, which provided a foundation for lessons on communications to UW medical students.

Previous Winners

  • 2021: Amanda Kost, MD, M.Ed
  • 2020: Katheryn Norris, DO
  • 2019: Paul Gianutsos, MD, MPH
  • 2018: Sharon Dobie, MD, MCP
  • 2017: Carl Morris, MD, MPH
  • 2016: Raye Maestas, MD
  • 2015: Nancy Gray Stephens, MD, MPH
  • 2014: H. Thomas Greer, MD, MPH
  • 2014: Walter Hollow, MD
  • 2013: Judith Pauwels, MD
  • 2012: Kevin F. Murray, MD
  • 2011: Russell G. Maier, MD
  • 2010: Samuel W. Cullison, MD
  • 2009 Jane H. Huntington, MD
  • 2008: Roger A. Rosenblatt, MD