“Exemplary service” is defined as significant and sustained leadership, expertise, and/or creativity in addressing an issue or issues of importance to the GSA. Nominees for this award shall have demonstrated, in activities appropriate to membership in the GSA, an extraordinary record of accomplishment, collaborative leadership, resourcefulness, dedication, mentoring of GSA colleagues, and commitment to the mission of the GSA. This service can be as a medical school faculty or staff member; a GSA Institutional Representative or GSA Individual member; the chair or a member of a GSA national committee (Admissions, Student Affairs, Student Financial Assistance, Student Records, Student Diversity Affairs); a GSA representative to an AAMC advisory committee (AMCAS, ERAS, Medical Student Performance Evaluation, MCAT, Expanded Medical School Admissions, and so forth); or a GSA regional or national officer.
This award is presented annually at Learn Serve Lead: the AAMC Annual Meeting.
Previous GSA Exemplary Service Award Winners
2024
Hilit Mechaber, MD
Senior Associate Dean, Student Affairs
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
2023
Angela Mihalic, MD
Dean of Medical Students
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
2022
Charles A. Pohl, MD
Senior Vice Provost of Student Affairs
Thomas Jefferson University
Vice Dean of Student Affairs and Professor of Pediatrics
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
2021
Donna Elliott, MD, EdD
Vice Dean for Medical Education
Chair, Department of Medical Education
Keck School of Medicine of USC
2020
Teresa L. Cook, MEd
Director, Medical Education Administration, Registrar
Keck School of Medicine of USC
2019
Thomas Koenig, MD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2018
Gerald Yutrzenka, PhD
Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion
Sanford School of Medicine
University of South Dakota
2017
Lee D. Jones, MD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
2016
Wanda Dean Lipscomb, PhD
Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
2015
W. Scott Schroth, MD, MPH
Associate Dean for Administration
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
2014
Maureen J. Garrity, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology
Dean for Student Affairs
University of Colorado School of Medicine
2013
Molly L. Osborne, MD, PhD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine
2012
Michael G. Kavan, PhD
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Creighton University School of Medicine
2011
Cynthia E. Boyd, MD, MBA
Chief Compliance Officer & Associate Professor of Medicine
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
2010
Patricia J. Metting, PhD
Vice Provost and Associate Dean for Student Affairs,
University of Toledo College of Medicine
2009
Dwight Davis, MD
Assistant Dean, Admissions & Student Affairs
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
2008
Carol L. Elam, EdD
Associate Dean, Admissions & Institutional Advancement
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
2007
Bruce L. Ballard, MD
Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Equal Opportunity Programs at WCMC
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Weill Cornell Medicine
2006
Maria C. Savoia, MD
Dean for Medical Education
Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
2005
Jane Thomas, PhD
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
Wayne State University School of Medicine
2004
Hershel P. “Pat” Wall, MD
Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine
2003
Norma E. Wagoner, PhD
Dean of Students
Professor, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
Nomination Procedure
A call for nominations shall be announced annually at the GSA regional spring meetings or the GSA national spring meeting. Each region will submit a nomination to the Awards Committee. No self-nominations will be considered. Nominations will be submitted to the AAMC GSA Group Leader, by means of a standard nomination form downloadable from the GSA website by the first Friday in June. The nominee’s curriculum vitae must accompany the nomination form. Additionally, nominees not selected may be re-nominated in a future year.
Two semi-finalist nominees for this award shall be selected in late August by the Awards Committee (composed of the Immediate Past GSA Regional Chairs, the COSDA National Chair Elect, and the GSA National Vice Chair, who shall serve as chair). The Award Committee shall forward the names of the two semi-finalists to the GSA Steering Committee for consideration at the Steering Committee’s meeting. The GSA Steering Committee shall select the award recipient.
Approved September 2002, GSA Steering Committee
Approved July 2016, GSA Steering Committee