Areas of Excellence
Guidelines for Selecting an Area of Excellence
The area of excellence should represent the candidate's major area of achievement and impact, including a consideration of the quantity as well as quality of contribution. The area of excellence should form the basis of the candidate's reputation and should be consistent with the type and focus of the candidate's scholarship. The area of excellence should also represent recent activities to which the faculty member has devoted a substantial proportion of time and academic effort. The choice may also be influenced by how the candidate views his/her career path. The determination of the area of excellence is made by the Department Head (or his/her designee) in consultation with the candidate.
In most cases, an individual will maintain a consistent academic focus over time, although the activities of a faculty member may occasionally change. If a substantive change in activities occurs, the area of excellence and significant supporting activities selected for subsequent promotions may change as well. The candidate will be expected to meet the usual standards for the new area of excellence.
Almost all candidates will be evaluated in a single area of excellence. Only rarely, when both the quality and quantity of contribution are comparable in two areas of excellence and each independently would meet the standard for promotion to the next rank, should two areas of excellence be proposed. These exceptions must be discussed in advance with the Office for Faculty Affairs.
It is expected that faculty with their primary academic appointment in quadrangle-based HMS departments will have Investigation as their area of excellence.
The metrics provided for each area of excellence in the following sections are not comprehensive but are meant to serve as examples of common achievements for a given rank. Candidates may report achievements not specified in the metrics.
Teaching and Educational Leadership 
This area of excellence is appropriate for candidates who spend a high proportion of their time on educational activities and who view education as their primary academic focus. Evaluations will be for teaching contributions at Harvard and its affiliates or, for initial faculty appointments at HMS/HSDM, at the institution where a candidate for appointment previously held a faculty position. Teaching of HMS/HSDM medical, dental, and graduate students will be particularly noted.
Educational activities are broadly defined as including: didactic teaching of students, residents, clinical fellows, research fellows and peers; research training and mentorship; clinical teaching and mentorship; and, administrative teaching leadership roles. The candidate will be evaluated on both the quantity and quality of their teaching activities, recognition for their roles as educators, and on their scholarship. The candidate must demonstrate scholarship, which may include: publication of original research, reviews, and chapters; educational material in print or other media such as syllabi, curricula, web-based training modules and courses; and/or, educational methods, policy statements, and assessment tools developed.
At the Assistant Professor level, the candidate must have evidence of a strong local reputation as an active and highly effective teacher with increasing involvement and responsibility over time. The candidate must demonstrate scholarship, which will often include first author publications and may also include educational materials in print or other media that have been developed by the candidate and have been adopted locally.
For promotion to Associate Professor, the candidate must have a strong regional, and most often national, reputation as an independent leader in education. He/she must have developed innovative teaching methods, curricula, educational policy or educational assessment tools, or have performed influential research related to education. The candidate's expertise must be demonstrated through scholarship which may take the form of influential first and senior author publications related to education, or educational materials developed by the candidate and adopted for use regionally or nationally.
For promotion to Professor, the candidate must demonstrate a sustained national, and in some cases international, reputation as an educational leader and innovator, and must be considered to be among the best in the country in the development of educational methods, curricula, policy and/or assessment tools, or in the conduct of educational research. The candidateâ€̀W expertise must be demonstrated through high impact scholarship that influences the field nationally, and in some cases, internationally.
Clinical Expertise and Innovation 
This area of excellence is appropriate when a specific area of clinical expertise provides the unifying theme for the candidate's academic activities and achievements. The individual is considered a leader in a clinical field. The candidate may have a reputation as an innovator in approaches to diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease, applications of technology to clinical care and/or in developing models of care delivery. The candidate must demonstrate scholarship, which may include chapters and reviews in the area of clinical expertise, guidelines/protocols for patient care, publications evaluating the impact of a clinical innovation and/or other research publications. There should be a strong educational component in the clinical field (reported in Teaching and Education) and the individual may participate in clinical, translational, or basic scientific research related to the clinical field (if research activities are substantial, investigation should be designated as a supporting activity).
At the Assistant Professor level, the candidate must have evidence of a strong local reputation as an expert in a clinical field with a leadership role and/or a key role in activities that influence practice, such as approaches to diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease, applications of technology to clinical care and/or development or local adoption of innovative models of care delivery. The candidate must have first author scholarship related to the clinical field and should be teaching in the clinical field.
For promotion to Associate Professor, the candidate must have a strong regional, and most often national, reputation as an independent expert who has influenced the clinical field. He/she may have demonstrated innovation in approaches to diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease, the development/application of technology for clinical care and/or the development of novel models of care delivery that influence care at a regional, and often national, level. The candidate must have an active teaching role and have influential first and senior author scholarship in the area of clinical expertise.
For promotion to Professor, the candidate must have a sustained national, and in many cases international, reputation as a leader and innovator in a clinical field. The candidate's expertise must be demonstrated through high impact scholarship. The candidate must have a significant influence on practice in the clinical field nationally, and often internationally, as a result of his/her teaching, scholarship and innovation.
Investigation 
This area of excellence is appropriate for individuals who spend the majority of their time performing research. Investigation is broadly defined to include basic, translational and clinical research, including epidemiology, outcomes and health services research, and biostatistics as well as research in social sciences, ethics, bioinformatics and health economics, among others. Investigation also includes the development of innovative methods/technologies and/or novel applications of existing methods and technologies. This area of excellence may also be used to recognize the contributions of individuals with research training in diverse fields who bring a unique or critical expertise to the biomedical research team. It includes individuals participating in large collaborative and multicenter research, as well as those conducting research individually or in small groups. The candidate must demonstrate scholarship, which may include first or senior author publications of original research, and/or publications from large multidisciplinary studies on which the candidate was in another authorship position and to which the candidate made documented, significant intellectual contributions.
At the Assistant Professor level, the candidate must have evidence of a strong local reputation for contributions to research with an identified research focus or area of expertise. He/she must demonstrate scholarship which most often includes publications on which the candidate is first author; the candidate may also be in another authorship position on publications from collaborative research to which he/she has made documented, substantive intellectual contributions. The candidate generally has some funding to conduct research, though not necessarily as principal investigator, and most often has evidence of teaching and supervision of trainees.
For promotion to Associate Professor, the candidate must have a national reputation as an independent investigator and major contributor to the field. There must be a record of independent scholarship which most often will include first and senior authorship on high quality publications that have advanced the field; the candidate may also be in another authorship position on publications from collaborative research that significantly advance biomedical science to which he/she contributed critical ideas or innovations, having taken the role of first or senior author on some publications. The candidate should have a successful extramural funding record, and must have evidence of teaching and supervision of trainees.
For promotion to Professor, the candidate must have a sustained national, and in many cases international, reputation as one of the top researchers in the field. He/she must be the leader of an exceptional independent research program and/or have key leadership roles in collaborative studies. The candidate must have a longstanding record of exceptional scholarship which most often includes senior authorship on high impact publications of original research. The candidate may also have played a leadership role on, and made critical contributions to, publications of high impact collaborative research. The candidate should have a sustained record of extramural funding, which most often will include principal investigator funding, and must have evidence of effective teaching and supervision as demonstrated by the number and stature of his/her trainees.
