Mentor of the Year Award

The Medical Faculty Council (MFC) established the Mentor of the Year Award in 2008 to:

• Recognize and celebrate the importance of mentorship within the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine academic community
• Encourage all departments and divisions to actively support and promote mentoring among their members
• Acknowledge established faculty members who foster the professional growth of junior, less experienced faculty to help them achieve their full potential

Each year, the MFC recognizes up to two faculty members with our award. These two annual Mentor of the Year award recipients will typically represent two different areas of mentorship at Feinberg (e.g., clinical care, basic science, clinical or social research). Recipients are announced on Feinberg's annual Lewis Landsberg Research Day and are recognized with an award of $1,000 and their names and the date are engraved on a plaque located in the Dean's office. In addition, the awardees will have the opportunity to share their mentoring tips and stories at a mentoring workshop.

Past Recipients

See below for news stories and more information about our award's past recipients.

• 2024 Mentors of the Year: G.R. Scott Budinger, MD and Alan R. Hauser, MD, PhD
• 2023 Mentors of the Year: Judith Moskowitz, PhD, MPH and Daniela Ladner, MD, MPH
• 2022 Mentors of the Year: Katherine L. Wisner, MD, MS and Harris R. Perlman, PhD
• 2021 Mentors of the Year: Rod S. Passman, MD and Robert L. Murphy, MD
• 2020 Mentors of the Year: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS and Melissa Simon, MD, MPH
• 2019 Mentors of the Year: Tamara Isakova, MD, MMSc and John Varga, MD
• 2018 Mentors of the Year: Mercedes Carnethon, PhD, Erin Hsu, PhD, and Wellington Hsu, MD
• 2017 Mentors of the Year: Rowland Chang, MD, MPH and Claus-Peter Richter, MD, PhD
• 2016 Mentors of the Year: Diane B. Wayne, MD and Kenzie Cameron, PhD
• 2015 Mentors of the Year: Jonathan Licht, MD and David Engman, MD, PhD
• 2014 Mentors of the Year: D. Mark Courtney, MD and Ram Yogev, MD
• 2013 Mentors of the Year: Stephen D. Miller, PhD and John Kessler, MD
• 2011 Mentors of the Year: H. Steven Seifert, PhD and A. Todd Davis, MD
• 2010 Mentors of the Year: Kiang Liu, PhD and Stanford T. Shulman, MD
• 2009 Mentor of the Year: Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD
• 2008 Mentor of the Year: William Pearce, MD

Nominate a Great Mentor

Nominations for the Mentor of the Year are currently being accepted through Friday, January 17, 2025. Please review the information below prior to completing the nomination form.

Eligibility

The nominee must meet the following qualifications:

• Is a member of the Feinberg faculty with a minimum of five years
• Is not a previous recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award
• Demonstrates a commitment to fostering the intellectual, behavioral, creative, scholarly and professional growth of mentees, facilitating the mentee’s ability to function effectively and with measurable success
• Demonstrates valued behaviors, attitudes and/or skills that aid the mentee(s) in achieving competence, confidence and a clear professional identity, including:
  • Being accessible
  • Providing excellent guidance of individual research and/or creative projects
  • Showing a willingness to assist and actively guide development of teaching, research and professional skills
  • Articulating clear expectations
  • Holding mentees to high standards, encouraging and helping the establishment of their own records of scholarly activity or performance, including participation in events and projects (e.g., meetings, conferences, committees, speaking engagements, completion of grants, publications, promotional goals)
  • Involving their mentees in networking activities with other professionals and faculty

Nominations may be initiated by:

• Current or former mentees of the nominee
• Current or former Feinberg faculty member or fellow (additional support for nominations may be submitted by faculty members, fellows and resident mentees)
• Senior faculty who wish to recognize a colleague who embodies both the letter and spirit of mentoring (members of the MFC may not nominate a candidate)

The lead nominator is responsible for submitting the nomination form, which includes statements regarding the nominee based on the following criteria. They should also submit a completed nomination narrative.

• A testimonial of what the mentor has meant to mentees (yourself or others)
• Descriptions of the mentor’s specific professional behaviors and their significance
• Specific examples of mentoring interactions
• Descriptions of what mentees (yourself or others) have accomplished that can be directly credited to the nominated mentor
• A statement providing a simple explanation of how mentees’ work was directly or indirectly influenced by the mentorship, dating from either during or following the mentorship relationship
• Letters of support for the mentor (from other faculty members, including deans, chair, director, colleagues and/or additional mentees past or present) that highlight the nominees mentoring efforts, including fostering independence; having interest in mentees’ professional development; sharing professional knowledge and experience; and helping with publications, grant applications and work/life balance.

You must submit the nominee and lead nominator information in the nomination form and upload a completed nomination narrative. Before submitting the form, please review the description of the Mentor of the Year award and the criteria used here.