WAM award categories

The Women in Academic Medicine Committee seeks to recognize individuals who support the success of women in academic medicine. We also work to create culture change in the area of recognition of the important roles of women at OHSU. Often women are the backbone of the institutional successes yet recognition may be minimal. To recognize such individuals, the committee has created a total of five awards.

Eligibility: We welcome the nomination of exemplary individuals employed at OHSU. The Mentoring, Discovery Award, Clinical Excellence, and Emerging Leader awards are open to faculty from all schools within OHSU who are current OHSU employees. The Professional In-Training award is open to students, postdocs, residents, and fellows.

Nominations should consist of a letter of nomination, at least one additional letter of support from colleagues, and the nominee's curriculum vitae as well as any other requested documentation. The nomination letter should specifically address how the individual's accomplishments relate to the purpose of the award.

Award Categories

Mentorship Award

Eligibility:

  1. OHSU faculty of any gender within OHSU's School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, and College of Pharmacy
  2. Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor

Requirements:

  1. CV
  2. One letter of nomination
  3. One letter of support: The letter of support may one or more authors. At least one of the authors must have been a mentee of the candidate, and must comment on how the candidate's mentorship benefited them
  4. Mentee list: The mentorship portion of the School of Medicine's Educator's Portfolio may be submitted. If an individual doesn't have an Educator's Portfolio, a mentee list should be submitted that includes the: name of the mentee, professional level of the mentee (e.g. pharmacy student, medicine resident), purpose of the relationship (e.g. mentorship of X research project, educational initiative, etc), duration of the mentorship, current status of the mentee, and outcome of the mentorship.

The mentorship award recognizes the outstanding record of mentorship of an individual faculty member at OHSU. The Mentorship Award will be awarded to an OHSU faculty member of any gender who goes above and beyond their duties, and exemplifies a deep commitment to fostering the professional and personal development of women students, residents, fellows, post-docs, and faculty. Successful candidates will have contributed to the success of women by mentoring and promoting them in any domain at OHSU, including: clinical, education, research, and administration.

  • Letters of nomination and support should speak to the candidate's excellence in one or more of those domains, and should discuss how the candidate's excellence in mentorship extends beyond the routine duties of their job.
  • Letters should also speak to the mentor's impact in supporting the retention of women and women of color across the spectrum of training.
  • Strong letters will speak to a candidate's ability to support (for example): the promotion of women into faculty positions or positions of leadership; grant-writing success; success at obtaining laboratory space and materials; publishing; the development of a mentee's clinical, research, policy, or quality improvement programs and initiatives; the networking advancement of mentees (such as positioning mentees to serve on professional committees or serve as speakers); retention; and personal satisfaction and growth. 
  • Strong letters will speak to the candidate's ability to mentor women across multiple phases of training (for example: mentorship of students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty) or deeply within one phase of training (for example: mentoring the growth of residents as educators, researchers, and clinicians).
 

Discovery Award for Women in Science

Eligibility:

  1. OHSU faculty who identify as women within OHSU's School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, and College of Pharmacy
  2. Assistant or Associate Professor

Requirements:

  1. CV
  2. One letter of nomination
  3. One letter of support: The letter of support may have one or more authors, possibly including comments from an individual at another institution who is familiar with the nominee's work, but is unbiased (i.e. has not been a past colleague, collaborator or mentor).

The aim of this award is to highlight the major contributions being made by junior or mid-career (up to Associate Professor or equivalent rank) women scientists at OHSU. This award is open to women who perform research in all Schools at OHSU (including but not limited to basic, clinical, translational, public health, or quality improvement research). The Excellence in Scientific Research award will be awarded to a faculty member who not only demonstrates outstanding achievements in research early in her career, but also presents a model to inspire future generations of women in science through her work.

  • The letter of nomination should summarize the nominee's academic achievements. Strong letters will also describe evidence of community engagement in science either locally, nationally and/or internationally.
  • The letter of support should include evidence of her scientific impact in her field of research, possibly by an individual at another institution who is unbiased (i.e. has not been a past colleague, collaborator or mentor).

Emerging Leader

Eligibility:

  1. OHSU faculty members who identify as women within OHSU's School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, and College of Pharmacy
  2.  Assistant or Associate Professor

Requirements:

1.    CV

2.    One letter of nomination

3.    One letter of support: The letter of support may be written by one or more authors. Letters should address the nominee's leadership across domains; including within OHSU, locally, regionally, nationally, and/or internationally.

The Emerging Leader Award recognizes a woman who early in her career demonstrates talent and capacity for driving change. She is running significant initiatives and is fast becoming a prominent and visible leader of the future.

The letters of nomination and support for this award should speak of the individual's potential as a leader and include examples of recent initiatives. Successful candidates may have evidence of multidisciplinary initiatives, including collaborations with community partners and across traditional barriers. Strong candidates may have media coverage of their achievements and/or recognition of her efforts beyond OHSU (e.g. with her professional society).

 

Clinical Excellence

Eligibility:

  1. OHSU faculty members who identify as women within OHSU's School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, and College of Pharmacy
  2.  Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor

 Requirements:

1.    CV

2.    One letter of nomination

3.    One letter of support: The letter of support may be written by one or more authors.

The Clinical Excellence award is given to a woman faculty clinician who has dedicated her career to excellence in patient care. The recipient will have advanced the quality of care for OHSU through education and quality improvement and is recognized as an outstanding clinician by her peers.

The letters of nomination and support for this award should showcase how the individual's contributions to education and quality improvement have positively influenced patient experiences at OHSU, as well as speak to her recognition as a leader in clinical excellence. Examples of contributions including recipient of Rose Awards, development of clinical innovations, creation of new clinical services lines, or QI initiatives (e.g., patient safety)

 

Professional In-training Award

Eligibility:

  1. Students, residents, fellows, or doctoral candidates who identify as women within any of OHSU's Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, or Dentistry, or within the College of Pharmacy.

Requirements:

  1. One letter of nomination
  2. One letter of support. The letter of support may have one or more authors
  3. CV

The Health Professional In-training Award recognizes a woman who has made significant contributions in research, clinical care, education, service, or policy while she is in training. The period of training may be as a student, resident, fellow, doctoral candidate, or post-doc. The letters of nomination and support should speak to the significant accomplishment the individual has made- such as developing a new clinical or educational program;efforts to impact policy at the institutional, local, regional, or national level;or significant research accomplishments. The work should be above and beyond that required for their training program. They may impact OHSU, our local or regional community, or have national visibility.