AAMC GDI Exemplary Leadership Award

Mission

The GDI serves as a national forum and recognized resource to support the efforts of AAMC-member institutions and academic medicine at the local, regional, and national levels to cultivate an environment that values the experiences and backgrounds of all people in medicine and biomedical sciences.

Exemplary Leadership Award

To increase recognition of leaders and teams within this field, the GDI Steering Committee established the GDI Exemplary Leadership Award. This award recognizes innovative leadership and impact from an individual or team responsible for developing and implementing an outstanding and highly effective program that demonstrates evidenced-based best practices for enhancing the work of the GDI in academic medicine and biomedical sciences.

Eligibility

To qualify for this award, the program must have been established for at least five years. All GDI Representatives and other AAMC affinity group representatives at medical schools, teaching hospitals, or academic societies are eligible for nomination as part of a program’s leader or leadership team. Nominations may be submitted by any representative from an AAMC member community, which includes councils, groups, and organizations. Nominations must be submitted for a specific program or initiative, recognizing the leader(s) who played a key role in its development and success. Self-nominations will not be accepted. However, we encourage nominators to work closely with the program’s leader or leadership team to gather all required materials for the submission process.

Nomination and Submission

Completed nomination materials must be uploaded by the nominator to the AAMC online application Cadmium and include the following, submitted as separate files:

1. Nomination Letter:
   • Must be submitted on institution letterhead.
   • Should state the rationale and justification for the nominated program leader(s), clearly outlining their contributions and impact.
   • Format: double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, not exceeding two pages.
2. Program Goals and Outcomes:
   • Provide a short statement of up to three key program goals and their outcomes, which demonstrate alignment with enhancing excellence in academic medicine, academic health systems, and the biomedical sciences.
   • Format: double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, not exceeding two pages.
3. Appendix:
   Summarize the evidence for the program’s key outcomes related to the stated goals (not exceeding six pages).
   • Include:
     • Innovation:
       • Evidence that distinguishes the program (e.g., using SMART goals methodology or a logic model).
       • Key program innovations.
     • Impact:
       • Metrics used to evaluate the program.
       • Outcomes and impacts using quantitative and/or qualitative data.
     • Format: double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, not exceeding six pages.
4. Short Bio:
   • Include a 125-word bio for each leader(s) (for programs with multiple leaders).
5. Headshot:
   • Submit a color headshot for each leader(s) (for programs with multiple leaders).

Award Selection

The GDI Steering Committee will review, discuss, and select leader or leadership team. This award will be given at the discretion of the GDI Steering Committee and may not be bestowed every year. The committee will not review additional materials. Late nominations will not be accepted.

Award Recognition

Award recipient(s) will be recognized at Learn Serve Lead 2025: The AAMC Annual Meeting, to be held Nov. 1-5 in San Antonio. Recipient(s) will be expected to give brief remarks during the award recognition ceremony. An award and $2,500 will be presented. The GDI Steering Committee will also invite recipient(s) to present at the 2026 GDI Professional Development Conference.