Louis N. Pangaro is Professor of Medicine at the Hebert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). His medical degree is from Georgetown University (1973), where he was a resident in Internal Medicine and fellows in endocrinology. He was a research fellow in endocrinology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and developed a radioimmunoassay for 3,5 Diiodothyronine. He has been at USU in 1981 with positions as Director of 4th Year Programs, Clerkship Director and Vice-chair for Education. On retirement from the Army he was appointed Professor with tenure in 1998. He served as Department Chair from 2008 to 2018 and as Interim Dean of the medical school from August 2020 to May 2021.

Dr. Pangaro's scholarly work is for clinicians evaluating the competence of trainees and has been disseminated through articles, books, presentations and visits to many medical schools. Using the model of a radioimmunoassay he created "standardized examinees" to calibrate the validity of the prototype clinical skills exam of the US Medical Licensing Exam. He introduced the concept of "synthetic", developmental frameworks for defining observable expectations of learners, now reflected in milestones and EPAs. The RIME (reporter-interpreter-manager/educator) alternative to the traditional knowledge-skills-attitudes model is used in many American medical schools.

From 2009 to 2014 he was a faculty leader of curricular redesign for the USU School of Medicine. He has personally evaluated and given individual feedback to several thousand medical students, nearly all of them are still part of the military medical community. As a facilitator in the Stanford Faculty Development Program, he has worked with more than 1000 faculty on their teaching skills. In 2000, he created a six-day course for military GME program directors in assessing competence, and nearly 500 program directors have participated. He has published and spoken widely on faculty development and educational leadership. He co-directs the annual Harvard Macy International Program for a Systems Approach to Assessment in the Health Sciences Education. As Chair his department initiated an MHPE and PhD program in medical education.  

Dr. Pangaro has served as an at-large member of the National Board of Medical Examiners, and on the editorial boards of Academic Medicine and Teaching and Learning in Medicine and is past-chair of the Research in Medical Education Conference Committee of the GEA/AAMC. He has served as President of the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM), and of the Alliance for Clinical Education (ACE), the coordinating council for eight national organizations of American clerkship directors. He has been honored by the AAMC with the Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award (2005), by USU students with the Clements Awards for Excellence in Education (1990) and by the USU Faculty with the inaugural Carol Johns Teaching Medal (2001). He has been recognized by the NBME with its Edith J. Levittt Distinguished Service Award; by CDIM with all three of their awards: the inaugural award for Outstanding Program Development (1998, now named the “Louis Pangaro Award”), the Outstanding Educational Research Award (2000), and the Outstanding Service Award (2005); by the British Embassy Players for his production of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1990). He was recognized by the Army chapter of the American College of Physicians with its inaugural Master Teacher Award (1997, now named the “Louis Pangaro Master Teacher Award”) and by the Washington, DC ACP chapter with its Sol Katz Teaching Award (2005) and its Laureate Award (2012). In 2010, Dr. Pangaro was named a Master of the American College of Physicians (MACP), and in 2012, he received the Distinguished Medical Educator Award of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine. In 2018 he received the John P. Hubbard Award from the NBME for excellence in the field of evaluation in medical education. In 2022 ACE established the “Louis N. Pangaro Medical Educator Award” for recognition of national contributions to interdepartmental education.