Faculty Senate | UC Davis School of Medicine

The C. John Tupper Prize for Excellence in Teaching is the highest teaching award given by the School of Medicine. Created by the founding dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, this award is intended to recognize significant contributors to education. 

Nominations for AY23-24 closed January 28
Nominations are now being sought for the annual C. John Tupper Prize for Excellence in Teaching. The successful candidates will be characterized by a trajectory of sustained, substantial, and meritorious participation in medical education at UC Davis School of Medicine. Since one of the important factors in the selection is that the awardee is widely recognized as an outstanding educator, the Honors and Awards Committee welcomes nominations from multiple constituencies, such as faculty, alumni, students, and staff.

The criteria for a holistic evaluation of the nominees are:

• Quality of teaching and mentorship (include examples demonstrating an ability to stimulate thought and critical thinking)
• Sustained trajectory of excellence in teaching
• Contributions to curriculum development (including the development of curriculum for specific areas or for improving courses)
• Modeling the Way (demonstrated resilience and/or leadership and/or examples that describe the candidate as inspiring and/or visionary)
• Advancing Diversity Equity and Inclusion [including but not limited to: 1) inclusive teaching and mentorship practices, 2) promotes the success of underserved student populations, 3) recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, and 4) development of curriculum that facilitates diversity and inclusion]
• Supporting teaching efforts of others (helps others develop their own teaching, invisible labor, and anything that promotes education)

Candidates may come from either clinical or basic science, as well as administrative faculty within the School of Medicine.

Pre-nomination letters of no more than two pages are being solicited from the faculty, alumni, staff, and students. The pre-proposal should describe the nominee’s qualifications that set the candidate apart as a distinguished educator based on the outlined criteria, and their Curriculum Vitae.

After the review of pre-nomination applications, a full nomination packet will be requested for the top nominees, including teaching evaluations and other pertinent documents. The full nomination packet of top nominees will be requested by the Committee on Honors and Awards in February and will be due in March.

Please send your nominations to:
Lao Thao
Office of Medical Education School of Medicine
University of California, Davis 4610 X Street, Suite 2101D Sacramento, CA 95817
Tel. 916-734-3530
e-mail: lythao@ucdavis.edu

The recipient of the C. John Tupper Prize for Excellence in Teaching will receive a plaque and a monetary honorarium, with announcement and presentation at the School of Medicine’s annual Senior and Faculty Awards Dinner.

Previous Award Recipients

The School of Medicine annually recognizes the exceptional contributions to teaching and research with established awards. However, truly exceptional contributions are made to the School of Medicine’s mission by a variety of faculty, academic staff, and administrators that do not fall clearly into the categories of either teaching or research and, as such, go unheralded. To provide recognition of those who make such contributions, the School of Medicine has created the Hibbard Williams Award for Extraordinary Achievement.

The award is intended to recognize any of a broad range of contributions such as public service, academic achievements that bring distinction to the university, raising its profile at a national or international level, etc. These contributions may be either singular in nature, or they may represent a long-term achievement in a particular arena. Above all, the contribution(s) must be truly exceptional. As such, the award may not be given every year, or may, on occasion, be awarded to more than one individual in a single year. Recipients of this award should receive it only once.

This call requests a brief (1 to 2 page) pre-proposal nomination letter summarizing the candidate's accomplishments, trajectory, contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion, and their curriculum vitae.

Nominations for AY23-24 closed on January 28

 The Committee for Honors and Awards will consider all nominations. Those appearing to be of sufficient merit will trigger a request for more documentation from each of the nominators in February and will be due in March 1. Because the nature of the nominees’ contributions will vary, the exact nature of the documentation will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Nominations are sent to:

Lao Thao
Office of Medical Education School of Medicine
University of California, Davis 4610 X Street, Suite 2101D Sacramento, CA 95817
Tel. 916-734-3530
e-mail: lythao@ucdavis.edu

The recipient will be selected by the Committee on Honors and Awards with consultation from the Dean of the School of Medicine and announced at the School of Medicine’s annual Senior and Faculty Awards Dinner. This award is a plaque and monetary honorarium.

Previous Award Recipients

Since 1975, the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals have supported annual awards for excellence in teaching at the UC Davis School of Medicine and affiliated hospitals. Faculty recipients receive a plaque and a generous monetary award of $1,200 each. 

There are three awards presented annually at the Senior and Faculty Awards Banquet: 

• An award to a full-time faculty member in a basic science department.
• An award to a full-time faculty member in a clinical science department.
• An award to a member of the volunteer clinical professor (VCP) in a clinical science department.
• The VCP consists of physicians, usually in private practice, who has voluntarily donated their time and skills to assist in medical education at the UC Davis Medical Center, VA Hospital, and other affiliated hospitals. 

Undergraduate medical students, residents, and full-time faculty members are eligible to make nominations in one or more of the award categories.  

Characteristics to be considered in making nominations should include enthusiasm, sincere interest in and willingness to help students and residents, ability to motivate learning, quality of lectures and teaching aids, contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion, quality of clinical (bedside) teaching, and (where appropriate) the demonstrated ability to serve as a model clinician. 

These preliminary nominations are limited to all faculty members with a record of sustained excellence (>3 years) in all phases of teaching medical students. The top three nominees in each category will be placed on a ballot and resubmitted to the students. A faculty member who has received this award in the past four years is not eligible. The recipients for the last four years are listed as follows:

Recent Award Recipients

The generosity of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals permits us to recognize the teaching contributions of our faculty, please carefully consider responding to this request for nominees. Nominators may nominate one candidate in each of the three categories, but nominating an individual in every category is not required. If a nominee is listed in an incorrect category by mistake, their name will be moved to the correct category. 

Nominations for AY23-24 closed February 19.

The combined nominees received will be submitted to the student body for election of awardees in each category. 

Submit the complete form to: Committee on Honors and Awards (Attn. Lao Thao), email: lythao@ucdavis.edu 

All UC Davis School of Medicine Kaiser Award Recipients

The Joan Oettinger Memorial Award honors Joan Oettinger who was a UC Davis graduate student who died of lung cancer in July 1970. Her husband, Martin, was a senior lecturer in economics at UC Davis before his death in 1986. This award award recognizes outstanding research in lung or cancer disease and is presented annually during the UC Davis School of Medicine Spring General Faculty Meeting (4th Wednesday of May). The award includes a stipend of $1,200 and a certificate. Candidates will be evaluated by the Committee for Research Affairs.

Eligible Candidates and Nominators

1. Any member of the UC Davis School of Medicine may nominate faculty members of the Academic Senate, Academic Federation, students, or fellows whom they consider deserving of this award. Accomplishments will be evaluated relative to career stage.
2. A nominator may nominate more than one candidate.

Committee on Research Affairs Considerations

1. The Committee may award more than one person in a single year.
2. The Committee may refrain from making an award in any given year if no nominee’s research is considered deserving of the award.
3. The award may recognize either a single achievement or an accumulated career of excellence. However, no person may receive the award more than once.
4. The outstanding research must have occurred during the nominee’s tenure at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
5. Individuals not selected for the award may be nominated again in succeeding years.

Nomination Process
Nominations must be submitted as a single PDF packet and include the following:

1. Eligibility statement not exceeding 1 page listing the candidate's qualification for this award. Statements should address A) research achievements in cancer or lung disease, either a career of excellence or a single achievement. B) Significance and impact of the work (e.g., advancement of the field, impact on clinical care). C) Innovation of the work. D) If the nominee is a student or fellow, the extent of the nominee’s participation should be clearly stated. 
2. Statement presentation: 11-point Arial font must be used, the page must be single-spaced, and the margins cannot be smaller than 0.5”.
3. Proposals not conforming to formatting and 1-page limit will not be considered.
4. If the nominee is a student or fellow, an accompanying manuscript or abstract may be submitted for evaluation. Additional materials will not be considered.
5. If the nominee is a faculty member, please include the nominee's curriculum vitae.
6. No additional materials will be considered.

Nomination for 2024 closed April 5. Nominations for 2025 are expected to open in February 2025.

Previous Award Recipients

The School of Medicine Research Award is given to one Early Career (Senate or Federation member at the Assistant level) and one Established Investigator (Associate level or above) in the School of Medicine, recognizing outstanding contributions to science and medicine through research. Each awardee will receive a stipend of $1000 and $15,000 for research support.

Candidates will be evaluated by the Committee for Research Affairs. The award presented at the Spring General Faculty Meeting annually, the 4th Wednesday of May.

Nominations for 2024 closed April 5. Nominations for 2025 are expected to open in February 2025.

Eligible Candidates and Nominators

1. Any member of the UC Davis School of Medicine may nominate Academic Senate and Academic Federation members.
2. Nominations may be made by any member of the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Committee on Research Affairs Considerations

1. Research accomplishments will be evaluated relative to the faculty’s career stage.
2. The Committee may refrain from making an award in any given year if no nominee’s research is considered deserving of the award.
3. The award can recognize either a single achievement or an accumulated career of excellence. However, no person may receive the award more than once.
4. The outstanding research must have occurred during the nominee’s tenure at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
5. Individuals not selected for the award may be nominated again in succeeding years.

Nomination Process
Nominations must be submitted as a single PDF packet and include the following:

1. Eligibility statement not to exceed 1 page listing the candidate's qualifications for this award. Statements should address: A) Research achievements, either a career of excellence or a single achievement. B) Significance and impact of the work (e.g., advancement of the field, impact on clinical care). C) Innovation of the work. D) National or international recognition of the work or nominee.
2. Statement presentation: 11-point Arial font must be used, the page must be single-spaced, and margins cannot be smaller than 0.5” around.
3. Proposals not conforming to formatting and the 1-page limit will not be considered.
4. Nominee's curriculum vitae.
5. Optional: Up to three additional supporting statements (maximum of 1 page each) from distinguished researchers in the nominee’s area (UC Davis faculty members or outside researchers). 
6. No additional documents or statements will not be considered.

Nomination for 2024 closed April 5. Nomination for 2025 are expected to open in February 2025.

Previous Award Recipients

The I-EXPLORE Achievement Awards began with the completion of the first 2 years of the I-EXPLORE (Intergrated EXplorative Patient and Learner ORiented Education) in AY21-22. At that time each curricular phase (e.g., pre-clerkship, clerkship, and post-clerkship) had delivered one or two years of the I-EXPLORE approach.

All faculty who participate in I-EXPLORE are eligible for the Achievement Awards. Annually, in the Spring, the Achievement Award nomination form is sent to all I-EXPLORE funded faculty (e.g., Course Directors, Discipline Leaders, etc.) These Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) appointed educators and leadership team members submit nominees who are then selected by CEP. There are four faculty award categories and one staff award.

I-EXPLORE Achievement Award Recipients

Integration & Collaboration: Regularly seeks to mesh their expertise with that of other faculty collaborators in creating and delivering well integrated sessions. Actively solicits and welcomes multiple stakeholders in combined efforts.

• AY23-24: MK Orsulak, M.D.
• AY22-23: Colleen Sweeney, M.D.

Exploration & Innovation: Places significant effort in the development and/or utilization of new teaching pedagogies and approaches to student learning.

• AY23-24: Jennifer Karlin, M.D., Ph.D.
• AY22-23: Rachael Lucatorto, M.D.

Patient-Oriented Education: Prioritizes understanding human health and disease through the whole patient perspective; incorporates principles of health systems science and/or health equity in curricular content.

• AY23-24: Anthony Bhe, M.D.
• AY22-23: Timothy Muldoon, M.D.

Learner-Oriented Education: Creates efficient sessions that address student needs and preferences; regularly solicits and incorporates student feedback; minimizes extraneous cognitive load for students.

• AY23-24: Heike Wulff, Ph.D.
• AY22-23: Hana Anderson, Ph.D.

Collaboration and Innovation: (Staff Award, new in AY23-24) Regularly seeks to mesh their expertise and experience with staff and faculty stakeholders across units and departments for collaboration in curriculum delivery and student support, placing significant effort in the development and utilization of new or revised approaches to curriculum needs. 

• AY23-24: Dan Comins, MA. Ed.