UMB Names Kayingo First Leslie Robinson Endowed Professor
The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has named Gerald Kayingo, PhD, MMSC, PA-C, as the inaugural Leslie S. Robinson, MD Endowed Professor and Chair of Health Professions Education at the University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies (UMSGS), effective March 23, 2025.
Leslie S. Robinson, MD, and Gerald Kayingo, PhD, MMSC, PA-C
The professorship was established to support UMB’s commitment to excellence in health professions education and research. Named in honor of Leslie S. Robinson, MD, a respected internal medicine physician who taught at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the endowed professor will hold a research leadership role in UMSGS’ PhD and MS in Health Professions Education (HPE) programs.
The HPE programs address the assumption that clinical expertise automatically translates to the classroom. It essentially teaches clinicians how to teach. The programs, which include two certificates, a master’s, or a PhD track, aim to provide students with the tools necessary to develop interprofessional health profession course and curricular design, research, and assessment skills.
“There is a model that someone who is good at being a nurse, or good at being a physician, or good at being a physical therapist is by default a good teacher of that field,” said Kenneth Wong, PhD, dean of UMSGS and vice provost for graduate education at UMB. “That is not always the case.”
As the first academic department within UMSGS, the HPE program under Kayingo’s leadership is positioned to gain greater visibility in the field. His appointment will help build the program “to the next level of prominence,” Wong said.
Kayingo, who joined UMB in 2020, serves as assistant dean for research at UMSGS and executive director of the Physician Assistant Leadership and Learning Academy. He also practices at the University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at the Midtown campus of the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“I feel incredibly lucky and very honored,” Kayingo said. “This is an amazing trust and unprecedented opportunity to transform the research enterprise in health professions education at UMB. This endowed professorship will accelerate the HPE portfolio into a future cycle of growth, innovation, and expansion.”
Kayingo has extensive experience in scholarship, education, leadership, clinical practice, and global health. His research focuses on health professions education, health care delivery science, and the intersection of infectious diseases and substance use disorders. He has co-authored three books on health professions education and been published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.
“Dr. Kayingo has really distinguished himself in working with physician assistant scholarship and understanding at a very high level in the field,” Wong said. “He’s very well respected because he has been heavily involved in the education of physician assistants and how we take the principles of health professions education and apply that broadly.”
The selection process attracted 15 applicants and ran from August 2023 through March 2025. The committee, which included members from the schools of Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, and Graduate Studies, “was looking for a prolific scholar in health professions education based on their research, publications, teaching, mentorship, service, and grant funding record,” said co-chair Violet Kulo, EdD, PhD, associate professor and program director, PhD and Leadership Certificate in Health Professions Education, UMSGS.
The funding for the endowment comes from the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund, administered by the Maryland Department of Commerce, which offers a state match to private funds raised in support of endowed chairs at Maryland’s higher education institutions.
