The CHA Academic Council Award was established in 2013 to highlight the value placed on academic excellence and achievement by our institution. The award is meant to recognize members of our community who have made significant contributions to excellence in academic spheres including education, research, scholarship or mentorship. One or more individuals may be honored in any given year. This award for academic excellence is broadly construed to encompass any number of areas of distinction including:

  • Teaching of students, trainees or colleagues

  • Design and/or implementation of innovative curricula and/or assessment methodologies

  • Design and/or administration of excellent training programs

  • Supervision or mentorship

  • Research impact in any domain including clinical, basic science, healthcare systems or policy

  • Scholarly impact (i.e. publications/presentations)

Eligibility, Nomination and Review Process:

Anyone within the Cambridge Health Alliance community may nominate a candidate for the CHA Academic Council Award.

This award is intended for mid-career CHA faculty or staff who are employed at least half time;  those within 5 years of completing training or in the late phase of their career are not eligible. Academic impact must extend beyond CHA. Nominees with academic appointments at Harvard Medical School or Tufts University School of Medicine should show appropriate and timely engagement in medical school promotion/ advancement processes. Close consideration will be given to candidates whose academic work aligns with CHA’s strategic plan. Previous recipients (listed on right side of webpage) may not be nominated.

The selection committee is appointed by the Director of Professional and Academic Development. Each honoree will be celebrated at a reception with the CHA community. Recipients’ names will be inscribed on a plaque prominently displayed in the institution.

Please upload a nomination letter detailing the nominees’s academic accomplishments by completing the Google Form. The letter must be no more than 1000 words (single spaced, normal margins and font size) in length (excluding signatories). This letter can be signed by more than one person. Nominations sent after the deadline or not following submission criteria will not be considered.

Suggestions for Crafting a Successful Nomination Letter:

  1. Carefully read the call for nominations: make sure your nominee meets basic eligibility requirements and that your letter squarely focuses on the relevant domain(s). For example, an academic award may briefly mention the nominee's excellent care of patients, but should primarily focus on academic accomplishments.

  2. Seek input from a range of learners and colleagues who can speak to different facets of the nominee's exceptional record and inspirational impact. Include memorable quotes to bring alive each point you wish to emphasize. Multiple signatories are encouraged.

  3. Tell smaller stories that build into the larger story that you wish to convey about the nominee. Specific, moving stories are more compelling than a list of generic attributes. 

  4. Feel free to reach out to cpd@challiance.org for clarification on nomination criteria or for general suggestions on what makes for a strong letter (of course we cannot comment on specific strategies for specific candidates).

  5. Please find below successful example letters:

    1. Example Letter 1

    2. Example Letter 2

 

Congratulations 2024 CHA Academic
Council Award Recipients!

  • Arundhati Ghosh, MD, FACS - Department of Surgery

  • Jessica Santos, PhD - Leah Zallman Center for Immigrant Health Research

  • Bonni Stahl, MD - Department of Medicine

Previous recipients (listed below) may not be nominated:

  • 2022: Nicholas Carson, Ellie Grossman, Sharmila Mehta

  • 2021: Amber Frank, Adam Gaffney, Rachel Hathaway, Brittany Pierce, Margaret Weiss

  • 2020: Jessica Early, Hsiang Huang, Ranjani Paradise, David Porell, Bianca Shagrin, Linda Shipton

  • 2019: Gaurab Basu, Judy Fleishman, Yamini Saravanan, Tara Singh

  • 2018: Benjamin Cook, Abigail Love, Randi Sokol, Leah Zallman

  • 2017: Wes Boyd, Honor McNaughton, Priyank Jain

  • 2016: Zev Schuman-Olivier, Jamie Barrett, Rob Marlin, Andrea Gordon

  • 2015: Rebecca Drill, Mark McGovern, Sandra DeJong, Kathe Miller

  • 2014: Monica Demasi, Allen Shaughnessy, Danny McCormick, Diya Kallivayalil

  • 2013: David Hirsh, Lior Givon, Rachel Stark, Karen Hacker

The Academic Council Award Ceremony honoring our 2022 Awardees was held last June at the Cambridge Hospital Healy Building Atrium.

Click here to view the 2022 Academic Council Award Ceremony honoring our 2021 and 2020 awardees. The ceremony was held virtually on June 2, 2022.

Click here to view the 2020 Academic Council Award Ceremony which was held virtually on November 18, 2020.