Janet Jokela

Janet A. Jokela, MD, MPH, FIDSA, MACP, FRCP, is the Senior Associate Dean of Engagement at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign..

Dr. Jokela joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 2000, at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign. At the College of Medicine, she served in multiple roles, including Course Director for Introduction to Human Disease, Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Head Department of Medicine, and Acting Regional Dean. As Dean, she was responsible for sunsetting the regional campus at the direction of the Board of Trustees, to enable the establishment and growth of the new Carle Illinois College of Medicine in Urbana.  

The author of multiple peer-reviewed publications and numerous regional and national presentations, she is a respected scholar and sought-after speaker.  She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Laureate Award from the American College of Physician (ACP) Illinois Chapter Downstate Region, the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and Alpha Omega Alpha (faculty inductee). .

A 2015 Fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women, Dr. Jokela was one of 54 women in academic medicine from across the country selected to participate in this leadership training program.  She is also a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and an ACP Master, the ACP's most prestigious recognition of its members.  She has served as Governor of the ACP Downstate Region of the Illinois Chapter, ACP Regent, and asTreasurer of the ACP.

Dr. Jokela attended the University of Minnesota where she earned her bachelor degree (graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude) and her medical degree. She served as an intern and resident in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital in Boston, MA.  She completed her infectious disease training at the Harvard Medical School Longwood Area Program, at Beth Israel and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, and received a Masters in Public Health from Boston University.  After her fellowship training, she worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Revere HealthCare Center, and served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School precepting residents and students in the clinic and on the wards, as Unit Chief of Adult Medicine, and as Director of Public Health for the city of Revere.