Crafting a Personal
statement
Andrea Cedfeldt, MD and Leah Reznick, MD
Remember Your
Audience
• OHSU P&T Committee is
composed of School of Medicine
Faculty from all departments.
• The audience will not necessarily
know the unique aspects of your
niche and so explain things in clear
and basic terms.
Structure
• Introduction paragraph
• 3 body paragraphs – put “strongest” domain
first
• Teaching
• Service
• Scholarship
• Conclusion
Introduction
• One paragraph
• Components
• Brief background about education, positions, and
length of time in current rank
• Describe level of accomplish in the the three areas
and rank that you are applying for
• Teaching (satisfactory, substantial, outstanding)
• Service (satisfactory, substantial, outstanding)
• Scholarship (satisfactory, substantial,
outstanding)
• Example
• Dear OHSU P&T Committee:
• I respectfully request consideration for
promotion to Associate Professor of Medicine.
I believe my contributions to teaching are
substantial, service is satisfactory, and
scholarship are satisfactory. I have been in my
current rank of Assistant Professor for 7 years.
Body of
Letter
• Structure should include 3 sections based on
P&T categories.
• Strongest category should go first
• Length guideline: 1- 1 ½ pages for the strongest
category
• +/- ½ page for the other P&T categories
• Provide structure to each P&T category with
section headers of scholarship, teaching, and
service
Appendix B- your BFF during P&T
Appendix B- your BFF during P&T
Use the P&T
language in
Personal
Statement
• Select which bullets from Appendix B your
work meets
• Identify what you have done that fulfills this
criteria for promotion
• Can use bullet in personal statement
• Provide a narrative and describe your impact
that meets the Appendix B bullet
• Remember audience
• Explain things that might not be universally
known (research terms, definition of scope of a
national committee, etc.)
• Define your abbreviations
Teaching- Outstanding (example)
• Teaching (Substantial- 3 points )
• In review of the OHSU Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure, I believe that I have met or exceeded the
following representative outstanding contributions to teaching;
• Consistently excellent learner, course director, peer evaluations (Appendix B language)
As is evident by my attached Educators Portfolio, I continue to receive high evaluative scores from student, resident, and peer
learners for my high volume of clinical and didactic teaching activities. Student, intern and resident evaluations have included
superlative comments attesting to my teaching skills. I have similarly received consistently high evaluative scores from participants
in the many regional and national workshop presentations I have delivered. I have been invited by the Stanford Faculty
Development Program in Clinical Teaching course directors to be visiting faculty every year since I completed this training as a
trainee in 2005. Course directors and trainees routinely give me verbal and written feedback on my effectiveness at teaching the
feedback session of this course, my success evident by return invitations to Palo Alto x 7 years. Last year, I was invited by faculty
at the Cleveland Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess medical centers to join the faculty of a national leadership development course,
and received excellent evaluations. A return invitation to be faculty for the course in 2019 is a testament to my success as
perceived by the course directors.
Conclusion
Paragraph
• Summarize your statement and re-affirm your
assessment
• Example:
• In summary, based on the above noted
contributions to teaching (Substantial), service
(Satisfactory), and Scholarship (Satisfactory), I
respectfully submit my application for
consideration of promotion to Associate
Professor of Medicine .
Length
• Total length guidelines:
• Assistant Associate Professor,
3 pages
• AssociateProfesssor, 3-5
pages
• Remember reviewers are BUSY
“Just the Facts”
Stylistic Recommendations
• Explain unusual aspects of your job not evident in your CV or Educator’s Portfolio
• Demonstrate the impact of your work locally, regionally, or nationally with examples
• Scholarship – explain impact thoroughly and particularly when not in traditional peer
reviewed journals
• Use the language of the OHSU Appendix B guidelines to promote understanding for
committee
• Each section should justify your assessment and sell the reader on why you meet the
criteria
Things to Avoid
• Do not reiterate your CV (instead tell your story by giving highlights and
explaining the importance of your work)
• Avoid rambling and regurgitation – can use bullet points instead of story if
easier to convey your ideas
• Do not double dip (use the same work in 2 categories such as teaching and
service)
• Avoid bitterness and politics of the institution and department
• Do not assume that the reader knows abbreviations or highly technical terms
• Do not be modest but do not oversell your work
• Do not submit without a mentor or colleague (someone at the same or higher
faculty rank to that which you are pursuing) reviewing your statement
