HUBBARD AWARD

The John P. Hubbard Award celebrates a lifetime of achievement in the field of medical education assessment.  

Overview

Established in 1983, the Hubbard Award recognizes individuals who pioneered and made broad-based and sustainable contributions to the field of medical education assessment. The award is named in honor of John P. Hubbard, MD, who led NBME into an era of evaluation that resulted in the adoption of objective testing methods, including the use of multiple-choice questions.

How to Nominate

The submission window for the 2025 Hubbard Award cycle is now closed.

Eligibility

To receive consideration for the award, a successful candidate will have demonstrated outstanding achievement in all of the following areas:

  • A substantial record of fostering the development of evaluation methods and/or measurement techniques
  • Personal contributions to basic or applied research in the creation or improvement of assessment methodology
  • Accomplishment in improving the quality of evaluation at an organizational level
  • Contributions through the education or mentoring of students, colleagues, fellows, or graduate students, to further progress in evaluation.

(Recognition of contributions to medicine in curricular development, instructional methodology or medical training methods is not the primary purpose of the award.)

Make a Nomination

To nominate an outstanding individual for their excellence in the field of assessment in medical education a letter of nomination is to be submitted from a primary sponsor specifically addressing the nominee's achievements in relation to the eligibility criteria and is to be accompanied by the nominee's current curriculum vitae.

The Award Committee will select finalists. Nominators of finalists may be asked to submit additional information.

Direct all inquiries to:

Email: HubbardAward@nbme.org

*Please note that individuals currently employed as NBME staff members are not eligible for nomination, and contributions to the field of medical evaluation during employment by the NBME will not be included in consideration for the Hubbard Award.”

Submit Your Nomination

One nomination letter is to be submitted from a primary sponsor specifically addressing the nominee's achievements relative to the eligibility criteria. The primary sponsor must also submit the nominee's current curriculum vitae with the nomination letter.  However, we welcome nomination letters for candidates nominated by a primary sponsor and co-sponsor(s). In that case, we request that the primary sponsor, as the main point of contact, combine all nomination letters into one file for upload. All documents to be uploaded must be in PDF format. 

If you have not previously used Submittable, please create a profile by clicking here: https://nbme.submittable.com/signup. Once you have completed this step, complete the application form and follow the instructions for uploading your information and application document.

If you have previously used the Submittable platform for other grant or review work for NBME, your submissions will be connected to the user email address on file. Your submissions will appear on your dashboard labeled with the title of your submission and the associated submission ID number. To nominate through your Submittable account, please access the platform here: https://nbme.submittable.com/submit/300294/2025-hubbard-award-call-for-nominations.

View Recipients

Since its founding, 41 recipients have been honored with the Hubbard Award. View past recipients

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A photograph of Dr. Karen Hauer

2024 Hubbard Award Recipient

Dr. Karen Hauer was selected as the recipient of NBME’s 2024 Hubbard Award. Dr. Hauer is the Vice Dean for Education and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She is an active researcher in health professions education with a focus on competency-based medical education, workplace-based assessment, equity and coaching.