Distinguished Community Service and Advocacy

The objective of this award is to recognize faculty members who have enhanced the quality of life in the community by contributing their personal time, effort, resources, and expertise and/or by leveraging institutional resources and collaborations for the betterment of the community. The award can recognize either service to the local community and/or to other communities. Each faculty may nominate one junior and one senior faculty member in this category.

Nominations for the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Awards cycle are now closed.

Awardees

    • One Junior Faculty Award: Instructors, Assistant Professors, early Associate Professors (4 years or less)
    • One Senior Faculty Award: Late Associate (more than 4 years) or Full Professors

Previous Award Winners

2024

Daniel Johnson, MD Professor of Pediatrics

Nital Karnik Lee, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology

2023

Marion Henry, MD Professor of Surgery

Aniruddha Hazra, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine

2022

Dana Suskind, MD, Professor of Surgery

Sonya Dinizulu, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience

2021

Elizabeth Tung, MD, Medicine (General IM)

Katherine Thompson, MD, Medicine (Geriatrics)

Tanya Zakrison, MD, Surgery (Trauma)

Eligibility

    • Candidate must be a current member of the employed (non-voluntary) faculty at the University of Chicago and hold their primary appointment in a BSD department.
    • The work for which the candidate is being nominated must have occurred while a faculty member at the University of Chicago.
    • The candidate’s work must be acknowledged within the community that has benefited from it.
    • Deans and current elected members of the Faculty Advisory Committee are ineligible; see list of members here.

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Nomination Requirements

Nominee’s CV

Highlighted with activities and achievements that are relevant to this award.

Two Nomination Letters (250-500 words) describing the basis for the nomination:

One Nomination Letter from a faculty member describing the candidate’s contribution(s) and impact on community as well as details about the nature, extent, duration and impact of community service.

One Nomination Letter from a member of the community describing the candidate’s contribution(s) with details about the nature, extent (number of people served), duration, and impact on the community.

Note: It is the responsibility of the nominator to collect and submit the letter from the community member supporting the nomination.

Nomination Submission Process

The nomination process has now concluded; we appreciate everyone’s participation.

All current BSD faculty (except Deans and current Faculty Advisory Committee members) are eligible to nominate and to be nominated for each of these awards.