John H. Coverdale, MBChB, MD, Baylor College of Medicine
John H. Coverdale, MBChB, MD, is one of the most decorated teachers and a prolific scholar at the Baylor College of Medicine.
As professor of psychiatry, behavioral sciences, and medical ethics, Dr. Coverdale’s primary teaching occurs at the bedside in Houston’s public hospital, where he routinely hosts residents and medical students. Learners witness firsthand how he models patience, humility, and respect for severely ill psychiatric patients. In addition to delivering clinical instruction, he has codirected the evidence-based medicine course for second-year medical students since 2001.
He mentors many students, residents, and junior faculty and serves as a mentor to trainees and faculty through the Texas Regional Psychiatry Minority Mentor Network. As an adjunct professor at Rice University, he assists in evaluating the university’s medical professionalism curriculum.
Dr. Coverdale is among Baylor College’s most active scholars, authoring more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, of which more than half address medical and psychiatric education.
Other main topics include ethics in obstetrics-gynecology, professionalism, and media depictions of mental illness.
Dr. Coverdale coauthors many of these articles with medical students or residents. In addition, Dr. Coverdale has served as deputy editor of Academic Psychiatry for the past 15 years.
For his efforts and talents, Dr. Coverdale has won more than 25 educational awards at the college. Medical student– bestowed honors include six Outstanding Faculty Awards, three John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Awards, and selection as Investing Marshall for graduation three times. Honors bestowed by his peers include three Fulbright & Jaworski LLP Faculty Excellence Awards and the Master Clinician Award. In 2014, Dr. Coverdale was inducted into Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Hall of Fame, and in 2016, he received the college’s most prestigious education award: the Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson Jr. Presidential Award for Excellence in Education.
His contributions to medical education and its related scholarship have earned Dr. Coverdale national recognition. In 2016, the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association honored him with its Vestermark Psychiatry Educator Award, which recognizes excellence, leadership, and creativity in the development of future psychiatrists.
Dr. Coverdale earned his bachelor of science degree and MBChB from the University of Otago in his native New Zealand. He completed a residency and fellowships at Baylor College of Medicine. After academic appointments in New Zealand, he returned to Baylor in 2000. In 2004, he earned an MD from the University of Otago for independently conducted research and a master’s degree in education from the University of Houston.