Educational Mentor of the Year Award

The third "Apgar Academy Mentor of the Year Award in Education" Call for Applications will be presented to a faculty member on the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) campus in recognition of their outstanding guidance and support provided to students, fellows, and colleagues in their roles as educators. Mentoring is a fundamental determinant of success in medical education. These awards recognize outstanding mentors who have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to mentoring students, trainees, and/or junior faculty toward expertise as teachers and educators. Moreover, through their positive impact on the mentee's careers, they have advanced medical education and research for the benefit of the community at large.

Eligibility

  • Nominations may come from student, postdocs, and/or faculty members. Self-nominations will not be accepted.
  • Nominators must be a previous or current mentee(s) of the mentor or be a colleague of the nominee with personal knowledge of the nominee's mentoring qualities and excellence.
  • There must be a primary and secondary nominator providing written nominations and documentations.
  • Mentors must be affiliated with one of the schools on the CUIMC campus (Mailman School of Public Health, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, School of Nursing, or Graduate School of Arts and Sciences). 
  • Nominees should have a sustained outstanding record of mentoring over time.

Requirements

Mentor award nominations will be evaluated based on the positive educational and/or research experiences of the mentors' trainees, including the impact of mentorship on their subsequent professional and personal success. Nominating letters should summarize the nominee's impact on mentoring with clear examples of the positive outcomes on students, trainees, and/or junior faculty. If the nominator(s) is a mentee, a narrative of how the mentor influenced their career(s) and those of others should be included.

Key roles of a mentor include:

  • A wise and trusted advisor- Provide exemplary academic and professional preparation advisement for students.
  • Intellectual growth and development - Encourage student involvement in professional opportunities, such as including students in service projects or research activities, supporting student membership in professional organizations/meetings, or enabling student attendance at professional meetings.
  • Career and professional guidance- Serve as an outstanding role model of professionalism by modeling appropriate professional behavior and positive professional standards.

Submission

Nominations will be reviewed and scored by the Apgar Academy administration based on the award criteria outlined above. Nominations should be submitted to the Academy Administrator Renée Russas no later than April 1, 2024.  Previous nominees are eligible to be nominated again if they have not received the award before. 

Recipients of the Apgar Educational Mentor of the Year Award

2023 Elaine J. Abrams, MD

2022 Elisabeth B. Guthrie, MD