Alumni Association Rolls Out New Awards

L to r: Faculty members Judith Saide, PhD & Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, PhD, Assistant Dean of Alumni Affairs, Heather Miselis, MD’00’04, MPH’00, 2023 award recipient, Reshma Kewalramani, MD’98, and 2023 Alumni Board President Heidi Abdelhady, MD’98.

 

After a year of planning, the Alumni Association has launched an exciting expansion of its alumni awards, broadening award qualifications and diversifying the type of awards to better represent the varied careers of alumni.

At the June 2023 meeting of the Alumni Board, Assistant Dean of Alumni Affairs Heather Miselis, MD’00’04, MPH’00 initiated discussion around improving diversity in the Alumni Award selection and awarding process. Previously, two awards were given to alumni: the Distinguished Alumni Award which is presented to a graduate in recognition of outstanding and widely established achievement; and the Humanitarian Award which recognizes a graduate of the school who has provided unique, compassionate care to patients.

At the June meeting, Miselis proposed expanding the number of awards while also reconfiguring the award selection process with an eye to making it consistent, fair, inclusive and more diversified.

L to r: Three 2022 award recipients, Daniel Rotrosen, MD’78, Drew Weissman, MD’87, PhD (and 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner) and Gail D’Onofrio, MD’87.

“Are our alumni awards capturing the diversity of our alumni population’s backgrounds, areas of study, and scope of careers?” Miselis asked the board.

The motion from Miselis was met with support from the Alumni Board, who were eager to move forward. “I think this is an exciting initiative;” said Board member Michael Choo, MD’87.

Over this year, the Alumni Association met with the Alumni Board in working groups to design new awards to be presented in the year 2025. The board, composed of medical school alumni and led by board President Demetrios Vavvas , MD’99,  plays a large part in the direction of institution-wide alumni relations.

As a result of their discussion, the number of alumni awards expanded from two to five including:

  • Advocacy, Equity, Social Justice in Medicine Award
  • Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Distinguished Alumni Award
  • Emerging Leader Award
  • Humanitarian Award

For more information on the criteria for each listed award, please click the link here.

The Alumni Association and board voted to establish a 10-person selection committee to oversee the awarding process, composed of five board members, one second-year medical student, one fourth-year medical student, and a representative from the Diversity and Inclusion Office. Additionally, there will be a representative from the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences and a general faculty representative with the goal of including the various roles of everyone on campus.
“We established our selection committee with representation at the forefront,” said Miselis, “By involving shareholders across the University, we involve the entirety of the institution in our award nomination process.”

The new selection process will include the input of Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Angelique Harris PhD, MA.

2019 award recipient, the late Ralph L. Sacco, MD’83.

“We really want to be able to highlight when our students go out, practice and help to advance medicine or research, but from that more inclusive, more socially just, innovative lens,” said Harris.

Alumni serve five years on the selection committee, faculty members serve two years at minimum with the ability to stay on after, and student representatives serve during the span of their education.

“By establishing new awards that celebrate early career leadership, profound lifelong achievements and steadfast commitment to advancing social justice and health equity we honor alumni who embody our school’s values,” said Miselis, “These are alumni who make impactful contributions to their communities and drive transformative changes in healthcare and systems.”

Award nominations are open until October 20. The award winners will be bestowed in September of 2025 for the first-ever award ceremony under the new system.