Faculty Awards for Excellence in Patient Care

Established by President, CEO and Executive Dean Paul Klotman, M.D., in 2013, the annual Faculty Awards for Excellence in Patient Care honor outstanding contributions by Baylor faculty members to the College’s clinical mission. Beginning in 2017, three categories of awards are now available to recognize excellence from up and coming (Early Career), mid-career (Star) and senior (Master Clinician) faculty members. The Early Career and Star Awards replace the Rising Star category, which was awarded in 2014–2016.

Faculty members involved in the direct care of patients, and in clinical areas such as clinical or translational research, patient safety and quality, clinical diagnostics and healthcare leadership are eligible for nomination. Applications are initiated by nomination and reviewed by a Selection Committee chaired by Dr. Biykem Bozkurt, professor of medicine and medical care line executive at the DeBakey VA Medical Center.

Do not include any patient letters (current or historical letters, notes, cards or documents from patients or patients’ family members) regardless of redaction of personal information. It is, however, acceptable to include historical letters or documents from nurses, trainees, employee/staff that have been received in the past. Make certain that such support letters do not contain references to patient information or identifiers. Also redact information related to personal information of peers or colleagues. 

Deadlines for applications are - Early Career Nov. 7, 2022, Star Award Jan. 9, 2023, Master Clinician Feb. 13, 2023. Awards will be presented at Baylor’s Annual Awards Day in May 2023.

Starting in November 2022 the application process will be conducted through Survey Monkey Apply, an online application management system.

To be eligible you must be a full-time instructor or assistant professor engaged in patient care for at least 50 percent of the time or a part-time instructor or assistant professor engaged in patient care for at least 75 percent of his or her allocated part-time.

You must be in support of our clinical mission (refer to the FAQs) with at least two years and not more than six years of clinical service as a Baylor College of Medicine faculty member. If administrative, educational, quality and scholarship activities are based on clinical patient care and clinical excellence, the effort can be included in patient care activities. * (View below specifications.)

Candidates may self-nominate. However, all nominations must be approved and submitted to the selection committee by the faculty member's section chief, chair, medical director or center director.

*Please Note:

1. Years before completion of a fellowship or other advanced training should not be counted as part of the total number of years as a faculty member, even when the individual had a co-appointment as a fellow and an instructor or assistant professor during that time period.
2. If prior clinical faculty experience outside Baylor combined with faculty experience at Baylor (total faculty time at all institutions) equals or exceeds six or more years on the date of the portfolio due date, the faculty should be nominated for the STAR award not the Early Career Faculty Award.

Application reviews are based on demonstrated clinical excellence and expertise, consistently high quality of patient care, professionalism and communication, leadership potential, ability to work effectively with faculty, staff, students and administrators, and continuous service to the Baylor community.

Begin your application online.

Review a brief guide with login instructions.

The deadline to complete your application is Nov. 7, 2022 by 5 p.m.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following documents will need to be submitted to the online management system in pdf format:

• Nomination letter from section chief, chair, medical director or center director (Download Example)
• Curriculum Vitae (BCM format).
• Personal statement of clinical expertise (maximum one page, single spaced, one-inch margins on all sides, minimum 11-point font size).
• Up to five letters of recommendation from providers, institutional leaders, consultants, administrators, and/or community leaders. Letters should reflect diverse viewpoints and describe clinical excellence from a variety of perspectives.
• Note: Do not include any patient or family letters regardless of redaction of patient identifiers.
• Faculty Awards for Excellence in Patient Care portfolio (download here).
• Example of a completed Early Career Patient Care portfolio
• Up to 10 pages of supporting material that provides documentation of activities described in portfolio. Note that the portfolio will need to be completed to reflect candidate's excellence in patient care, without deferring to CV.
• Note: Do not leave the portfolio sections blank using statements like "please refer to CV". Portfolios will be used for rating and should be able to stand alone.

To be eligible for the Star Award for Excellence in Patient Care, you must be a full-time instructor*, assistant professor, associate professor or professor engaged in the patient care mission for at least 50 percent of your time (FTE) or part-time assistant professor, associate professor or professor engaged for at least 75 percent of your allocated part-time in support of clinical mission (refer to FAQs) with at least six years of clinical service as a Baylor faculty member. Faculty members who have transferred from other institutions and have comparable years of service are eligible for the award after three years as Baylor faculty members. Note, patient care contributions do not need to be restricted to direct patient care. Activities that count toward the FTE requirement may include clinical leadership/administrative roles, quality improvement efforts, scholarship and knowledge dissemination (publications, lectures) in clinical care, clinical innovation and development activities.

*Note that instructors do not include an instructor role as a trainee (i.e. as a fellow and/or chief resident). The instructor must be a faculty designation in which you provide (or have provided) clinical care. Examples include advanced practice providers, clinical geneticists and clinical psychologists.

Candidates may self-nominate. However, all nominations must be approved and submitted to the selection committee by the faculty member’s section chief, chair, medical director or center director.

An individual may receive the Star Award more than once. A new nomination may be submitted any time after five years since the previous Star Award. Recipients of the Rising Star Award (2014-2016) may be nominated for the Star Award beginning three years after they received the Rising Star. Applicants must wait at least five years after receiving the Early Career Award to apply for the Star Award.

Application reviews are based on demonstrated clinical excellence and expertise, including local, regional or national reputation, consistently high quality of patient care, professionalism and communication, leadership, ability to work effectively with faculty, staff, students and administrators, clinical innovation, and continuous service to the Baylor community.

Submit the following application materials, in the order listed, by email as a single PDF file by 8 a.m. Jan. 9 2023 to the Office of Faculty Development at faced@bcm.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Transmittal form for nomination materials (download here).
2. Nomination letter from section chief, chair, medical director or center director (Download example)
3. Completed Faculty Awards for Excellence in Patient Care portfolio (download here).
4. Note: Do not leave the portfolio sections blank using statements like “please refer to CV”). Portfolios will be used for rating and should be able to stand alone.
5. Personal statement of clinical expertise (maximum one page, single spaced, one-inch margins on all sides, minimum 11-point font size). This statement should be separate from the general purpose personal statement that is part of the Baylor CV format.
6. Up to 10 pages of supporting material that provides documentation of activities described in portfolio. Note that the portfolio will need to be completed to reflect candidate’s excellence in patient care, without deferring to CV.
7. Up to five letters of recommendation from providers, institutional leaders, consultants, administrators, and/or community leaders. Letters should reflect diverse viewpoints and describe clinical excellence from a variety of perspectives.
8. Note: Do not include any patient or family letters regardless of redaction of patient identifiers. Letters from current students and trainees also are not allowable. Comments from patients that are reported by Press Ganey are allowed.
9. Curriculum Vitae (BCM format).
10. Example of a completed Patient Care portfolio

Starting in January 2022 the application process will be conducted through Survey Monkey Apply, an online application management system. 

The Master Clinician Award is Baylor's highest institution-wide honor for faculty contributions to patient care. Active faculty members who have made stellar and enduring contributions over the course of their careers to the clinical mission of the College may be considered for nomination.

To be eligible you must be an active full-time, part-time or voluntary associate professor with more than 20 years or more of clinical service or a professor who has 15 or more years of clinical service as a Baylor faculty member. Candidates must be nominated by their section chief, chair, medical director or center director.

Begin your application online.

Review a brief guide with login instructions.

The deadline to complete your application is Feb. 13, 2023 by 5 p.m.

Frequently Asked Questions.

The following documents will need to be submitted to the online management system in pdf format:

• Nomination letter from section chief, chair, medical director or center director
• Curriculum Vitae (BCM format).
• Up to five letters of recommendation from providers, institutional leaders, consultants, administrators, and/or community leaders. Letters should reflect diverse viewpoints and describe clinical excellence from a variety of perspectives. Note: Do not include any patient of family letters regardless of redaction of patient identifiers.

Example of Master Clinician Scoring Sheet.