Dean’s Awards

The Dean’s Awards were established by Dean Carolyn C. Meltzer in collaboration with the Keck School Faculty Council and the Office of Faculty Affairs.  These awards acknowledge, honor and celebrate the contributions, talent, and dedication of the Keck School faculty. They are awarded annually at the Keck School Faculty Awards and Recognition Ceremony held during the Fall.

These awards are bestowed for excellence in the following categories.  Click on the award name for a description of the award and the nomination criteria.                                                              

Excellence in Clinical Practice

This award recognizes excellence in the nominee’s clinical care during the period of their association with the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM). The nominee should have a substantial clinical practice and serve as a role model for peers, residents, and students in (i) the provision of quality clinical care and (ii) interaction with patients and all members of the health care team.

Review Criteria

  • Excellence
    Demonstrates career commitment and outstanding clinical practice in evaluations by team members.
  • Impact
    Demonstrates a positive influence in their clinical practice across team members and patients.
  • Scope
    Demonstrates impact on the external community (outside KSOM) and beyond.
  • Teamwork
    Successfully integrates colleagues from other professions and promotes interprofessional practice.
  • Innovation
    Demonstrates an effort to develop and utilize new procedures, new devices, or new partnerships in their clinical practice.

Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB)

This award recognizes excellence in contributions and commitment to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and cultural competency development among the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) community and/or communities that the KSOM serves.

Review Criteria

  • Excellence
    Demonstrates a career commitment to prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging (DEIB) in key areas such as teaching, service, scholarship, clinical practice, and/or mentoring.
  • Impact
    Leads initiatives that deliver outcomes of increased awareness, understanding or promoting DEIB in the workplace.
  • Translation
    Promotes DEIB in the external community (outside KSOM) and beyond.
  • Teamwork
    Creates partnerships between team members to support workplace DEIB.
  • Innovation
    Demonstrates creative problem solving and innovative solutions pertaining to DEIB.

Excellence in Mentoring

This award recognizes excellence in the nominee’s mentoring and advising contributions during the period of their association with the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM). The nominee must have demonstrated excellence in mentoring learners, faculty and/or staff in achieving their career objectives.

Review Criteria

  • Support, Goal Setting, & Guidance:
    • Assists mentees in defining their academic, professional, and/or personal goal.
    • Encourages growth and achievement by providing a supportive environment where challenges, successes, and failures can be openly shared and examined
    • Shares knowledge and experiences to guide mentees in reaching their academic, professional, and/or personal goals.
  • Feedback
    Makes themselves available to provide regular and constructive feedback on mentees’ work.
  • Professional Exposure & Networking
    • Involves mentees in publications, grants, presentations, expositions, or professional/leadership opportunities, and readily shares knowledge of other such opportunities with mentees
    • Provides valuable access and opportunities by facilitating academic, professional, and personal contacts.
  • Inclusion
    Works with mentees from underrepresented, first-generation, or historically marginalized groups within the discipline, with attention paid to developing skills and support networks for overcoming institutional barriers they may face in the field.
  •  Role Modeling:
    • Maintains high standards for excellence within their own field and as an engaged member of the Keck School.
    • Engages in respectful relationships with colleagues and learners.
    • Acknowledges power differentials in professional relationships and behaves with integrity, in line with the Keck School Code of Professional Conduct.
    • Encourages mentees to adopt similar principles of professional behavior.
  • Mentee Feedback
    Per the instructions outlined in the nomination form, feedback will be solicited from mentees.
    Please see nomination form for details.

Excellence in Scholarship

This award recognizes excellence in the nominee’s scholarly activity during the period of their association with the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM). The nominee’s scholarship should demonstrate importance and impact nationally and internationally. Examples of achievement can include grant funding, peer-reviewed publications, academic awards, and other forms of scholarly work. The nominee should demonstrate an ability to engage other colleagues in their scholarly pursuits.

Review Criteria

  • Excellence
    Demonstrates outstanding and sustained achievement in peer-reviewed scientific publications and/or grant funding. 
  • Impact
    Demonstrable influence of the nominee’s scholarly activity on advancing their respective field of research both nationally and internationally.
  • Translation
    Demonstrable broader impact of the nominee’s scholarly activity on society-at-large.
  • Teamwork
    Successfully integrates colleagues, including learners or faculty, into the scholarly activity.

Excellence in Service

This award recognizes excellence in the nominee’s service activities during the period of their association with the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM). The nominee must provide service that is consistent with the mission of the KSOM. Service activities should make demonstrable, substantial, and long-lasting contributions to the campus community, the community at large, and/or to the nominee’s discipline or profession.

Review Criteria

  • Excellence
    Service efforts are consistent with the KSOM mission.
  • Impact
    Demonstrates sustained effort in service activities within the KSOM.
  • Translation
    Service efforts have a broader impact in the external community (outside KSOM) and beyond.
  • Teamwork
    Service efforts empower the success of colleagues–either learners or peers.

Excellence in Teaching

This award recognizes excellence in the nominee’s educational contributions during the period of their association with the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM). The nominee must demonstrate the ability to effectively teach in diverse settings, which may or may not cover a variety of academic levels and learners.

Review Criteria

  • Excellence
    Demonstrates outstanding teaching performance.
  • Impact
    Teaching efforts foster the personal, intellectual, and professional development of learners.
  • Supportive
    Creates an open learning environment that promotes curiosity, critical thinking, problem solving, and expression of diverse opinions.
  • Innovation
    Demonstrates the ability to adapt different modes of teaching in different learning situations. This may include creating novel teaching methods or resources.
  • Curriculum Development
    Demonstrates leadership in devising and developing curricula, including fostering diversity and promoting inter-group/interprofessional education (IPE).

Eligibility Criteria for Nominees:

  • Must be in good standing according to the Keck School Faculty Code of Conduct.
  • Previous nominees can be nominated again. However, nominees must not have received a Dean’s Award within the past three years. See 2023 awardees listed below.
  • Only one nomination is permitted per faculty member per category, i.e., a faculty member cannot be nominated more than once in a specific category
  • Has held faculty appointment at the Keck School (part-time or full-time; any track) for at least three years by June 30, 2024.
  • Early Career Award: Within 10 years of first academic/faculty appointment (any track)
  • Mid-to-Senior Career Award: Beyond 10 years of first academic appointment at the Keck School (any track)

Nomination Process:

  • Nominations for a Dean’s Award may be submitted by any faculty member of the Keck School (part-time or full-time, any track). Self-nominations are not allowed.
  • To nominate a colleague: complete the appropriate online form (see links below), which includes uploading the nominee’s up to date CV.
  • A committee of faculty will review nominations and make recommendations to the Dean, who will make the final decisions about the award recipients.

Nominations must be submitted by Thursday, August 22, 2024

*Note that nominations for Mentoring Awards must be submitted by Monday, August 5, 2024.

Nomination Forms:

2023 Dean’s Awards for Excellence
Keck School of Medicine of USC

Awarded: October 24, 2023

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice
Laila Al-Marayati, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Joyce M. Richey, PhD
Associate Professor of Clinical Physiology & Neuroscience

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring
Yves A. DeClerck, MD
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship
Omid Akbari, PhD
Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology

Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Scholarship
Kimberly K. Gokoffski, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service
Josh Neman-Ebrahim, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Physiology & Neuroscience

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
Joseph G. Hacia, PhD
Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine

Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching
Jessica L. Barrington-Trimis, PhD
Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences