Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Awards
2026 Awards
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Nominations are due Thursday, June 11, by 11:59 pm.
These peer-nominated awards highlight outstanding front-line teachers of learners, mentors of learners, and faculty at all UCSF teaching sites who might otherwise go unrecognized for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Our new peer-nominated mentoring award is intended to highlight outstanding education mentors at UCSF and all teaching sites who also might otherwise go unrecognized.
Recipients will be celebrated at the Celebration of New Members on Tuesday, September 29, 3 - 5 pm
Nomination Information
(1) Academy of Medical Educators Excellence in Teaching Award (AME)
- These front-line teachers are ‘unsung heroes’ who demonstrate their daily dedication to education and teach in a manner that creates an encouraging and intellectually stimulating environment that promotes critical thinking and learning.
(2) Academy of Medical Educators/Program for Interprofessional Practice and Education (PIPE) Excellence in Interprofessional Teaching Award for UCSF Teaching Faculty
- Front-line interprofessional teachers who work with learners from two or more professions and create an environment that enables learners to learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and optimize patient outcomes.
(3) Academy of Medical Educators Excellence in Mentoring Award for UCSF Teaching Faculty
- Mentoring is comprised of a variety of relationships that include role modeling, advocating, advising, and coaching. Educational mentorship is a longitudinal relationship in which a mentor supports a mentee in their creative activities and their professional development.
- Recognizing mentoring as a valuable contribution to the University of California, San Francisco, we want to honor individuals who have shown commitment and dedication to mentoring, advising, and supporting others. These peer-nominated Excellence in Mentorship Awards are intended to highlight outstanding accomplishments in mentorship among UCSF faculty who support and empower their colleagues and trainees in advancing their careers and achieving their professional goals.
- UCSF does not use race, gender, sex, or other protected categories or proxies for protected categories in the selection process.
Who is eligible?
All faculty who teach UCSF trainees and students
- Any UCSF faculty who teach UCSF trainees and students
- All UCSF Schools
- Includes UCSF Volunteer Clinical Professors
- From any UCSF teaching sites and affiliated sites including, Community sites, East Bay sites, Kaiser, Mission Bay, Mount Zion, Parnassus, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals (Oakland and San Francisco), UCSF Fresno, SFVAMC, and ZSFG.
NOTE: for the Excellence in Interprofessional Teaching award, Interprofessional teachers work with learners from two or more professions and create an environment that enables learners to learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and optimize patient outcomes.
NOTE: for Mentoring Award - Faculty mentors who work with other faculty and learners in medical education, career advancement, or educational research. If you are a learner and would like to find a faculty co-nominator, please get in touch with Stephanie Rennke at [email protected].
Ineligible Nominees
- Each nomination requires two faculty nominators; submitted via an online form:
- Includes joint award letter (3500-character max)
- Provide supporting data for your nominee: e.g., approximate duration of teaching and numbers of learners, teaching hours, objective evaluation data, learner quotes, faculty/colleague and/or leadership quotes, and MedHub evaluations
- Faculty nominators can submit up to two nominations per award type (one as a primary nominator and one as a secondary nominator).
To be considered for the Excellence in Teaching Award
- Demonstrate the nominee's daily dedication to education
- Describe how the nominee demonstrates a growth mindset
- Demonstrate how the nominee teaches in a manner that creates and fosters an intellectually stimulating environment that promotes critical thinking and learning.
To be considered for the Excellence in Interprofessional Teaching Award
- Demonstrate how the nominee teaches in a manner that:
- Creates a learning environment that enables learners to learn with, from, and about each other to improve collaboration and patient care.
- Teaches interprofessional competencies:
- Use the knowledge of one’s own role and the roles of other health professionals to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of the patients and populations served.
- Communicate with other health professionals in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a collaborative approach to maintaining health and treating disease in individual patients and populations.
- Work with other health professionals to establish and maintain a climate of mutual respect, dignity, diversity, ethical integrity, and trust.
To be considered for the Excellence in Mentorship Award for UCSF Teaching Faculty
- Demonstrate the nominee’s dedication and excellence in mentorship through the following: accessibility, motivation, communication, feedback, building networks, and support of creative activities
- Include evidence of a commitment to mentoring relationships that result in career growth and/or personal development of mentees
- Describe specific mentorship accomplishments and specify mentor’s role (coach, scholarly/project
Nominations are reviewed by:
- Academy Excellence in Teaching Awards Committee
- Academy Mentorship Committee
- PIPE Professional Development Committee
Notification and Recognition Information
- Recipients and Nominators are notified in August
Recipients receive a digital certificate, an appreciation letter, and
notification to their department or division chair
- Recipients recognized at the Academy's Celebration of New Members, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 3-5 pm, and following reception.
- Open to the UCSF Community - please join us to support UCSF Teachers and UCSF Mentors!
- Questions? Please contact Karen Brent at [email protected] for AME Teaching and Mentoring Awards, and Wendy Brown, [email protected] for PIPE IPE Award.
Nomination Forms: Submit online by Thursday, June 11, 11:59 pm
