Debra Leizman, MD, MACP, Director of Medical Student Education and Beloved Primary Care Physician Retires, Leaves a Lasting Legacy

UH Research & Education Update | May 2025

Debra Leizman, MD, MACP

After an illustrious 35-year career as an internist and medical educator, Debra Leizman, MD, MACP, Director of Medical Student Education (UME) for the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Department of Medicine, is closing her practice and retiring from her medical student teaching and most of her residency training responsibilities, effective June 1, 2025.

She intends to complete her administrative roles within the University Hospitals Department of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) by June 8, 2025.

Throughout her expansive career, Dr. Leizman taught and mentored learners at multiple levels, continually refining and improving clinical and academic programs for CWRU students, medical residents, and peers, all the while maintaining her own clinical practice. She was driven by a desire to help people and provide the best state-of-the-art care to patients, teaching countless students and trainees the importance of patient-centered care.

An Expansive Career

Born and raised in Cleveland. Dr. Leizman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University in 1982. She went on to earn her medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1987. Thereafter, she was an intern and resident in internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati and completed her internal medicine residency training at Temple University Hospital. Dr. Leizman joined University Hospitals in 1997 where she has stayed ever since.

At UH, Dr. Leizman has trailblazed an inspiring path as a clinician and medical educator, bridging classroom and hands-on clinical learning. She was named Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and at the School of Medicine in 2016, after serving as Assistant Professor of Medicine at CWRU School of Medicine for 19 years.

During her nearly 28 years at UH, Dr. Leizman oversaw medical student clinical training , in addition to assuming the role of Director of the Internal Medicine Core Clerkship for UH in 2004, a position she loved, in which she mentored more than 1000 students, providing them with exceptional clinical exposure and outstanding academics. She also served as Clinical Director of the CWRU Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) from 2007 until 2021, organizing and directing MD-PhD clinical training while MSTP students completed their research work.

She has received numerous awards from students and residents for her mentoring, teaching, and training efforts, including the Kaiser Permanente Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2007, inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha society by her students 2014, ambulatory faculty teacher of the year award 2013, 2017 ,  GME residency mentorship award in 2016 and inducted by her students into the Gold Humanism society in 2019. She received the Master Educator Award from the Ohio Chapter for the American College of Physicians in 2017.

She has been recognized as a Cleveland Magazine Best Doctor every year since 2004, as a Castle Connelly Best Doctor every year since 2015, and as a Castle Connelly Exceptional Woman in Medicine from 2018 to the present. She received a UH physician patient satisfaction award in 2017, having earned perfect patient satisfaction scores from every patient she saw that year, and several subsequent high patient satisfaction awards.

The Joy of Teaching

Looking back at her career, Dr. Leizman is proud of her accomplishments and the joy and privilege she experienced teaching and training new generations of physicians, helping them gain skills, grow confidence, and fight “imposter syndrome.” She says she often encouraged women to advocate and stand up for themselves in a profession in which they were not well represented, particularly at the onset of her own career.

Intuitively, Dr. Leizman has modeled the skills that enabled her to succeed as a clinician and an educator, including being a good listener, having a flexible mindset, being kind and respectful, having a strong moral compass, and doing the right thing to help patients and students thrive. Over the years, she has relished her role as a trusted advisor, who was respectful and approachable to her trainees.

A Medical Career Inspired by Family and Mentors

Dr. Leizman was first inspired to pursue a career in medicine by her father, who became a pharmacist to pay for his way through dental school. Throughout her life, she admired her dad’s passion for learning, and how well he treated and connected with others, particularly his patients.

Incidentally, in sixth grade she interviewed Miriam “Mim” Rosenthal, MD, the late women’s health and psychiatry pioneer at the CWRU School of Medicine and UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital. The interview impressed Dr. Leizman with the realization that she too could be doctor, mother, a champion of women, and a wonderful person.

As she reflects on her career, Dr. Leizman notes the positive impact of family, mentors, and colleagues in shaping medical careers, and how students and educators learn from one another.

In a fast-changing healthcare environment, Dr. Leizman sees how physicians juggle administrative and clinical responsibilities, and how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly changing the practice of medicine. “We need to figure out how to incorporate AI in our world effectively, so we can make it work best for,” clinical practice, says Dr. Leizman.

In addition to teaching medical students’science and humanity, she believes it is equally important to teach them how to “game the system,” because “if you can’t help your patients find medicine, pay for medicine, or get access to care, you’re putting them at a disadvantage.”

As she retires, Dr. Leizman readily shares words of wisdom with students and faculty she leaves behind. 1) Great patient care should always be your North Star, 2) Find joy in the journey, 3) Maintain family first, and 4) Remember, kindness counts.

Looking ahead, Dr. Leizman is excited to spend more time with her husband, three daughters, and granddaughter. Two of her daughters are following in her footsteps as physicians, the third as a nurse practitioner.