Sample:
Candidate biographical narrative1
The process of writing a narrative about your accomplishments is a unique and selfeducating experience. Since I was 3 years old, I have always had the goal of being the
“best” physician possible. The process of education, training and practice gives little time
for self-evaluation. Although my desire to be a physician was ingrained in me as a young
child, the desire to dedicate my career to __________ happened at a later stage in my
life. My mother suffered from three separate primary ______________________s of
which she ultimately lost her battle. At that point I decided that ________ was my
chosen career. In addition to that decision, I realized that I needed to be part of the
process to help cure ______. I have dedicated my career to deliver absolutely the best
______ care possible and at the same time help train other physicians to do the same
and to do research to improve ___________________ care.
EDUCATION
I graduated high school with honors in 1982 and then attended the University of
_________________. I graduated from college in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science with
distinction in Honors Biology and received a number of other graduation honors
including the Bronze Tablet – the highest academic award offered by the University of
Illinois. I received my medical degree from ____________ University where I graduated
with distinction in 1990. In both college and medical school I received a number of
honors and scholarships. One accomplishment that goes unsaid in my Curriculum Vitae
is that I put myself through school. This necessitated near full time working during
medical school. It gave me an appreciation of hard work and the desire to make a real
impact in my career. I also received my post-graduate education at ____________ were
I completed a year of _________________ in 1991 and subsequently completed my
__________________ Residency in1994.
CLINICAL CARE
This is a difficult section to write, as there is no way of adequately quantifying
accomplishments in clinical care. Although I have published my treatment outcome
results in prospective and retrospective clinical trials, the value of a clinician is difficult to
measure. I have always believed, and have always taught, that unless you deliver the
absolute best __________________ care possible all that follows is lost. Possibly
related to my past experiences, I have always felt that it is truly a privilege and unique
responsibility when a patient allows you to be involved in their ______________ care.
We as ______________________ physicians and researchers must provide the
absolute best care possible to every patient.
TEACHING
Throughout my career I have been actively involved in education including prep school
students, college students, medical students, residents, colleagues, patients and the
general public. While in medical school, I actively participated in preparing college
students for medical school including teaching review courses. As a resident, I continued
what I was pursuing in medical school and in addition was actively involved in the
proctoring of medical students, junior residents, medical _________________ fellows
and others that rotated through our department. I taught a course for
___________________ students involving the basics of _________ and
________________. I also taught a course on Physical Examination for the
__________________. In addition, I delivered numerous formal topic review
presentations in and out of the ____________________ department.
As an attending, I have continued to be active in teaching. I continue to be acutely
involved in the day-to-day teaching of residents, fellows and medical students. In
addition, I have given innumerable formal lectures and courses locally, nationally and
internationally. I have had a number of prep school students; college students and
medical students spend formal time with me during the summer months on various
research projects.
In addition to the above, I have been particularly proud of my efforts to supervise and
mentor residents and medical students in conducting high quality research. This
research has led to numerous presentations and publications. In particular, this year a
resident that I mentored will deliver an oral presentation at the annual American Society
of Therapeutic _________________ and _________________ (ASTRO) meeting. This
is a prestigious accomplishment, and in my memory, the first resident since I have been
an Attending to deliver an oral presentation.
ADMINISTRATION
I have been involved in administrative roles for my entire medical career. During medical
school I was responsible for the hiring, training and supervising of medical students
involved in the Adolescent Psychiatry program of Northwestern University. In this
program, medical students received class credits and pay for working as mental health
workers. This was a unique experience and provided a base for further supervisory
roles.
During residency, I was appointed Chief Resident during my final year. In this capacity, I
was responsible for scheduling, consult distribution, and various other supervisory roles
for junior residents, medical students and rotating fellows. As a chief resident, I instituted
a number of policies to help promote patient care, education and research.
As an attending, the first experience I had with administration was as Program Director
for the Chicago Radiological Society. I was appointed to that position in 1996 and
continue in that position today. I am responsible for all the educational activities,
including coordinating speakers, obtaining funding and scheduling.
From 1995 – 2002, I chaired the quality improvement committee for the Department of
______________________. In that position, I was chiefly responsible for all ongoing
quality initiatives including the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation preparation
and survey.
I have served as Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s ______________________
Committee Chair since 2002. This committee is responsible for all aspects of
______________________ care in the hospital. We are responsible for all
______________________ care at Northwestern including but not limited to all the
quality programs associated with the ______________________ program, all tumor
board conferences, the tumor registry and the production of the annual report. In 2006,
Northwestern Memorial Hospital embarked on a long term ______________ Planning
Process for which I have been named chair of the Quality Committee.
COMMITTTEE ACTIVIES
In addition to my role as the ______________________ Committee Chair and
______________________ Quality Chair, I have served on a number of hospital
committees. These have included the Hospital Research Committee, the
_______________ Safety Committee, the Medical Staff Quality Management
Committee, Nominating Committee, and Search Committee for the
__________________________ Center Director. I have been very active in the service
of University functions. I have served on the Institutional Review Board and the Honors
Program in Medical Education Committee. I have also spent a considerable amount of
time in the service of the ______________________ Center of Northwestern University
including serving on the Research Review Committee, and the Data and Safety
Monitoring Committee. From a national perspective, I have served on the Steering
Committee of the ________________________ where I also serve as the co-chairmen. I
am a member of the Gynecological ______________________ Intergroup and the
__________________ committees of the National Comprehensive
______________________ Network. I am also a member of many co-operative groups
including the __________________, ________________________, and
__________________________. I serve as a reviewer for the NCI and have recently
been appointed to the _______________ Steering Committee of the NCI.
SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
I believe that active participation in physician societies is an important aspect of an
academic physician. I am a member of numerous societies including: American
Association of ______________________ Researchers, American College of
______________________, American College of _______________, American Medical
Association, American Society of Therapeutic _________________ and
_________________, Chicago Medical Society, Illinois State Medical Society, American
Society of Clinical _________________ and the American Brachytherapy Society.
PROFESIONAL SERVICE
Supporting the specialty of ______________________ and _________________ in
general is an important aspect of an active academic leader. I have written oral board
question for the specialty of ______________________ and participated in “Angoff”
sessions to review and score board questions. In addition to the written board exam, I
was also honored to serve as an oral board examiner on multiple occasions. I am an
active editor of ______________________ News and The American Journal
Hematology/_________________. I have been a reviewer for a number of peerreviewed journals including, The American Journal of Clinical _________________, The
British Journal of ______________________, The ______________________ Journal,
International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Expert Review of
Anti______________________ Therapy, Brachytherapy, Consultant, JAMA,
International Journal of ______________________, Biology and Physics, Gynecologic
_________________, ______________________ Chemotherapy and Pharmacology,
and the World Journal of Surgical _________________. In addition to peer-reviewed
journals I have served as a Gynecologic Abstract reviewer for the annual meeting of The
American Society for Therapeutic _________________ and _________________
(ASTRO) – of which I also served as the chairmen of the Gynecological Section and was
responsible for final decisions regarding abstract presentations, moderators and the
program.
ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY/GRANTS
My decision to proceed with an academic career has allowed me to pursue interests that
have allowed investigation into new therapies with both direct and indirect impact on
_________________ patients throughout the world. My first formal experience with
research was a laboratory project I pursued in College. These experiments involved
using enzyme arrays to phylogentically classify mistletoe plants. The ultimate goal was
to investigate how mistletoe alter their genetics to mutate with the host plants. This
project led to a manuscript that allowed me to graduate from the University of Illinois with
distinction. Subsequent to that, my advisor published the work.
As a medical student and resident, I solidified my desire to pursue research as a major
focus of my career. During medical school, I evaluated the role of ______________ in
______________________. This led to two first author publications and an oral
presentation at an international meeting. The publication discussing the management of
_____________________ was felt to be important enough to be incorporated in the
Yearbook of _________________. During residency, I also pursued laboratory
research. I worked in Dr. _______________’s lab, which was pursuing the use of the
drug _________ as an agent to protect against pulmonary damage from radiotherapy.
During this research, we found that ________l had a cytostatic property and pursued
this by evaluating ______________________ cell lines. Not only did we find a cytostatic
property to the ________ on ______________________ cells, we also noted an
alteration of the ___________________ receptors. This work led to a number of
publications, presentation and media coverage. I also received a
_____________________ Education & Development travel grant award for this research
from the American Society of Therapeutic _________________ and
_________________.
As an attending, I have become very active in translational and clinical research. I have
been the principle author or co-author in approximately 50 articles, 36 abstracts, and 6
book chapters. I have edited a textbook on _________________ and recently signed a
contract for a second textbook evaluating the combination of ___________ and targeted
biological agents. My main research interests have included normal tissue toxicity and
the treatment of ______________________________. I have been instrumental in
initiating a national protocol for an advance ______________ technique called
____________________. I served as the co-chair of the committee that opened the first
national trial utilizing ____ in patients and chaired an international working group that
developed an atlas to accompany the protocol. The ability to ameliorate the normal
tissue toxicity of ____________ would improve the quality of life for those
______________________ patients that receive _____________ as part of their
therapy. In addition, if toxicity could be managed, therapies can be delivered on time or
intensified leading to improved ______________________ control and cure. I have
developed, and am the principle investigator on a national clinical trial through the
_________________ Group directly translating Northwestern University laboratory work
on _________ to ___________________ patients. Other normal tissue toxicity work
includes the use of __________ to protect against _________ damage, which has lead
to a number of publications and national and international presentations. I am also the
principle investigator on a national RTOG trial utilizing Amifostine in the treatment of
patients with cervical ______________________. My interests in normal tissue toxicity
has also led to a textbook I edited with ______________ entitled: _________________:
A Practical Guide. My clinical research interests have also led to numerous retrospective
and prospective clinical trials. Many of these studies involved collaboration with multiple
_________________ disciplines. I am also the principle investigator on a funded trial
evaluating the role of ________________ growth factor receptor inhibitor) combined with
_______________ in ______________________ patients. This interest in combined
biological agents and ___________ has led to an approved proposal for a textbook I am
editing.
As an attending, I have been awarded a number of grants as principle or co-principle
investigator. These include one from Northwestern Memorial Foundation, one from the
Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and two from industry sponsored
investigator initiated trials. I have also been actively involved in National
______________________ Institute sponsored research. This involvement includes
being the principle investigator for our affiliate _________ membership that provides
both direct and in-direct funding on patients entered on clinical trials. I am also the
principle investigator for two national trials and am awarded salary support for this
academic pursuit. I am currently a co-investigator in two grants that are pending at the
National ______________________ Institute. I am also a co-investigator on a pending
Northwestern Memorial Foundation grant. I am very active in supporting the
___________________________________ Center Core grant. I am a member of the
Clinical Protocol Scientific Review and Monitoring Committee and the Data and Safety
Monitoring Committee. In addition, I am an active participant in the
______________________ Control portion of the grant and have served as a site
auditor.
FUTURE PLANS/CONCLUSIONS
I intend to continue and expand my current and past accomplishments in patient care,
administration, teaching and research. I hope to help maintain Northwestern as an
institution that combines state of the art clinical care with research that pushes the
boundaries of ______________________ therapy. There have been unprecedented
advances in targeted biological agents, radio protective agents and technology. I have
been at the international forefront of these endeavors and plan on continuing my efforts.