Charlene M. Dewey, MD, MEd, MACP, is a Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is the past Chair of the Vanderbilt University Faculty Senate and was the first African American to hold that position.
She received her MD from the Morehouse School of Medicine where she also received the Ciba Geigy Award for Academic and Community Leadership and the Department of Medicine and Psychiatry Achievement awards. Dr. Dewey completed training and Chief Residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the residency program in social internal medicine and was awarded the Daniel Leitch Excellence in Social Medicine Award. Dr. Dewey received her master's in medical education (emphasis on curriculum design and instruction) from the University of Houston College of Education in 2004.
Dr. Dewey spent 15 years on faculty at the Baylor College of Medicine, serving the underserved and uninsured population of Houston as the Assistant Director for the Division of General Internal Medicine. While there, she received numerous teaching awards and recognitions, including three Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. faculty excellence awards, runner-up for physician of the year, the inaugural Chair of the Academy of Distinguished Educators, and the Dean of Medical Education Service Award.
Dr. Dewey joined the faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 2007 with joint appointments in the Department of Medical Education and Administration Division of the Office of Teaching and Learning in Medicine (now Office for Health Sciences Education) and the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health. She was appointed to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Academy of Teaching Excellence in 2008.
Dr. Dewey serves on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic – Education and Training Working Group and was an invited participant in the ACGME opioid education program in 2021. She served on the American College of Physicians’ Physician Well-Being Taskforce and the ACP Education Committee. She was elected to the ACP Board of Regents in 2023.
Dr. Dewey is a member of the YWCA Academy for Women of Achievement (2015) and winner of the 2013 Athena International Award. Dr. Dewey was honored by Bradley University with the Distinguished Alumni Award and the Bradley University Orville Nohdurft Lifetime Achievement Award and was named the Vanderbilt University Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., Distinguished Leadership Professor for 2018-19. She has two named scholarships in her honor and is a three-time recipient of the Vanderbilt 5-Star Award for 100% Patient Satisfaction. She has been a member of The Links, Incorporated, Nashville Chapter since 2008.