The current Faculty of Medicine promotions guideline was approved in 2006. This guideline has undergone review over the past 6 months by a group of departmental promotions committee chairs and led by Dr. Heather Dean, Assistant Dean, Academic. The criteria for promotion at each rank have not changed; the guideline was edited for enhanced clarity. View here.

There are 4 levels of academic rank in the professorial stream: lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and professor. The language, the broad definition of scholarship (including teaching, research and leadership), and the policies in the 2006 document should be a source of great pride for the Faculty of Medicine and can be applied and adapted easily to basic science and clinical, part-time or full-time faculty.

Debate on how to increase the value of teaching and leadership in new areas of scholarly activity such as quality improvement, global health and interprofessional education in the promotions process are common at international meetings.

The promotion criteria can be translated into the practical 3-2-1 rule:
• promotion from lecturer to Assistant professor requires evidence of excellence in all 3 academic domains;
• promotion to Associate professor requires evidence of excellence and a national reputation for scholarship in at least 2 of the domains; and
• promotion to professor requires evidence of excellence and an international reputation for scholarship in 1 domain with evidence of continued excellence in the other 2 domains.

The year-long process requires each applicant to prepare an academic dossier, seek guidance from the departmental promotions committee and submit their dossier to the faculty promotions committee (comprised of the chair, 3 dept. members and a basic scientist and a full-time clinical faculty member.)

Since 2006, 20-25 faculty have applied for promotion each year with equal representation from basic science and clinical faculty. About 60 of our senior faculty members participate in the promotions process annually as well as countless external referees in institutions within and outside of Canada. The peer-review process in the Faculty of Medicine is robust and credible.