Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA

Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA is the Founding Dean and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Makhija, a board-certified gynecologic oncologist, currently serves as Founding Dean, CEO and Professor, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. In her role, Dr. Makhija works with health systems and institutional partners to enhance medical education and prepare students for their future health care roles in the community and country.

An international expert on gynecologic cancer, Dr. Makhija previously served as the Department Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and the Chella and Moise Safra Endowed Chair at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System in New York. She has held faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Emory University, and the University of Louisville.

At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Makhija was named a Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Scholar. She continued as a WRHR Scholar at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she served as a tenured associate professor and received the Argus Teaching Award from the medical school.

At Emory University, Dr. Makhija was Division Chief of gynecologic oncology and the Leach Endowed Chair in obstetrics and gynecology. She was also named a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar. At the University of Louisville School of Medicine, she served as Department Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health; tenured professor of gynecologic oncology; Donald E. Baxter Endowed Chair in obstetrics and gynecology; and Chief Medical and Operations Officer for the Center for Women and Infants.

Dr. Makhija earned her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Cornell University and a medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Louisville Hospital and a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She received her executive MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

Dr. Makhija is a graduate of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program where she has served as an advisor and mentor for women. Recently, Dr. Makhija completed her term on the Clinical Leadership Committee of the American Hospital Association. She is presently a Board member of Every Mother Counts (EMC), a nonprofit founded by Christy Turlington Burns focused on improving maternal health care worldwide. She is the Chair of the Impact Committee for EMC and the Associate Editor-in-Chief of JAAPI, a peer-reviewed medical and health care journal of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.

Dr. Makhija has received numerous awards for her dedication to women’s health, including the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Spirit of Achievement. She’s also been named a Good Housekeeping Humanitarian Hero, a Crain’s NY Business Notable Health Care Leader, and an AAPI Health care Hero Honoree