Research & Faculty Mentoring Awards Research Awards Faculty Mentoring Awards UC Irvine School of Medicine Faculty Mentoring Awards The School of Medicine Faculty Mentoring Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in faculty mentoring. Home About About > Faculty Mentoring Awards Celebrating Faculty Mentoring Excellence The School of Medicine Office of Academic Affairs annually recognizes excellence and innovation in mentoring at UC Irvine School of Medicine, specifically in the domain of faculty mentoring other faculty, in four categories. Each awardee receives $1,500 and an individual recognition plaque. Winners' names are also added to an enduring plaque on display in Irvine Hall. Call for 2026 Nominations The School of Medicine Office of Academic Affairs is pleased to announce our 2026 call for nominations for our sixth annual Faculty Mentoring Awards, which will be given in the four categories named below. Awardees will be considered for ongoing excellence in mentoring over the past several years, not necessarily restricted to the past 12 months. Submissions from individual mentees or small groups are encouraged. Departments may nominate up to two individuals per category. Nominations from individual mentees/small groups are not counted against the department limits. Department chair and/or mentee nominations for each award category are due by Monday, March 23, 2026, to Senior Associate Dean Brian Cummings, PhD, at cummings@hs.uci.edu and Katherine Perez at katheap4@hs.uci.edu. Nominations must include an up to one-page letter addressed to Cummings specifying which of the four awards the candidate is being nominated for and highlighting the nominee’s mentoring efforts over the past several years. Optional submission: The nominee’s CV, AP-10 or other supporting material. The Academic Affairs Senior Associate Deans will review the recommendations, and the awards will be announced in May ahead of an awards ceremony planned for June 4, 2026. We look forward to receiving your nominations. Award Categories Innovation in Mentoring Award Recognizes an individual who exemplifies the most current and innovative approaches to mentoring other faculty. Universal Faculty Mentoring Award Recognizes an individual who applies excellence in mentoring universally to benefit a broad range of faculty. Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards an individual who excels in providing mentorship to basic science faculty. Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards an individual who excels in providing mentorship to faculty who are clinicians or clinician-scientists. Past Awardees 2025 Innovation in Mentoring Award Winner: Gelareh Sadigh, MD, Department of Radiological Sciences Honorable Mention: Akhil Das, MD, Department of Urology Universal Faculty Mentoring Award Winner: Lisa Flanagan, PhD, Department of Neurology Honorable Mention: Elena Rhoads, MD, PhD, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Bert Semler, PhD, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics Honorable Mention: Yi Xi (Michael) Wu, PhD, Department of Urology Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Arash Rezazadeh Kalebasty, MD, Department of Medicine Honorable Mention: Jaime Landman, MD, Department of Urology 2024 Innovation in Mentoring Award Winner: Jeffrey T. Nahmias, MD, Department of Surgery Honorable Mention: Donny W. Suh, MD, MBA, Department of Ophthalmology Equity and Diversity in Mentoring Award Winner: Mona Sazgar, MD, Department of Neurology Honorable Mention: Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil, Department of Neurology Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Elizabeth Head, PhD, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Honorable Mention: Bert L. Semler, PhD, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Shermeen B. Vakharia, MD, MBA, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care Honorable Mentions: Gelareh Sadigh, MD, Department of Radiological Sciences & Muhammad Aslam, MD, Department of Pediatrics 2023 Innovation in Mentoring Award Winner: Mark Fisher, MD, Department of Neurology Honorable Mention: Emilie Chow, MD, Department of Medicine Equity and Diversity in Mentoring Award Winner: Munjal Acharya, PhD, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology Honorable Mention: Magi Senthil, MD, Department of Surgery Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Peter Kaiser, PhD, Department of Biological Chemistry Honorable Mention: Marian Waterman, PhD, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Tahseen Mozaffar, MD, Department of Neurology Honorable Mentions: Michael Oh, MD, Department of Neurology & James G. Jakowatz, MD, Department of Surgery 2022 Innovation in Mentoring Award Winner: Tan Nguyen, MD, Department of Family Medicine Equity and Diversity in Mentoring Award Winner: Maria Peralta, MD, Department of Medicine Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Todd Holmes, PhD, Department of Physiology & Biophysics Honorable Mentions: Peter Kaiser, PhD, Department of Biological Chemistry, Hamid Said, PhD, PharmD, Departments of Medicine and Physiology & Biophysics & Charles Limoli, PhD, Department of Radiation Oncology Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Behnoosh Afghani, MD, Department of Pediatrics Honorable Mentions: Anand Ganesan, PhD, MD, Departments of Dermatology, Surgery and Biological Chemistry & Tahseen Mozaffar, MD, Department of Neurology 2021 Innovation in Mentoring Award Winners: Sam Lai, MD, Department of Medicine & Bindu Swaroop, MD, Department of Medicine Equity and Diversity in Mentoring Award Winner: Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, PhD, Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology & Biophysics Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Peter Donovan, PhD, Department of Biological Chemistry Clinical Faculty Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Brian Wong, MD, PhD, Department of Otolaryngology