Sammy Zakaria, MD, MPH

Dr. Sammy Zakaria is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM). He is a critical care cardiologist whose clinical work is centered in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (JHBMC) and the Cardiac Care Unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH). He also serves as the Director of the JHBMC CICU. 

His practice encompasses most of cardiology. Many of his patients present with life-threatening conditions such as shock, end-stage heart failure, or multi-organ system failure. Dr. Zakaria also has a special interest in the care of pregnant women with cardiovascular disease, including those with severe preeclampsia. His clinical research focuses on cardio-obstetrics, particularly the cardiovascular effects of preeclampsia, as well as critical care cardiology, contributing to multiple multicenter studies. In addition, he studies innovations within graduate medical education.

A dedicated medical educator, Dr. Zakaria is the Program Director for the JHBMC Internal Medicine Residency Program, a role that builds on more than a decade of prior service as Associate Program Director. He has helped elevate the residency program’s nationally recognized reputation for excellence by championing curricular innovations, resident scholarly work, and resident academic career development. He has also held several other educational leadership roles, including service as Co-Director of the Department of Medicine Global Health Pathway, Core Faculty for the JHH Osler Internal Medicine residency program and the Johns Hopkins Cardiovascular Disease fellowship, and Colleges Advisor at the JHUSOM. His extensive involvement in the education of students, residents, fellows, and staff has been recognized with multiple teaching honors, including the Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Award from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Excellence in Education. His leadership in education and in organized medicine is national in scope: he currently serves as Governor of the Maryland Chapter of the American College of Cardiology and has held multiple roles within the Society of Critical Care Medicine, where he currently chairs the Multiprofessional Critical Care Review (MCCR) Course.

Dr. Zakaria earned his undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University, his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College, and his master of public health degree from the University of Maryland. He completed his internal medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he also served on the faculty, followed by a cardiovascular disease fellowship at the University of Maryland and a critical care medicine fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2008.