1. Organizing & Preparing Your Curriculum Vitae
Christine A. Gleason, M.D.

2. Curriculum Vitae from the Latin: “Curriculum” (course)
“Vitae” (of life)

3. Purposes of your CV
Inform prospective employers of your qualifications and experience for a position
Demonstrate your academic achievements for:
Division Head/Chair Annual Reviews
Appointments and Promotions committees
Funding agencies
Award committees

4. Inside/Outside CV? “Inside” CV: “Outside” CV: Promotions committees
Institutional awards/recognition
“Outside” CV:
Job searches
Application/nomination for national positions/awards

5. CV: Basic Tips Keep it simple, readable, succinct
Content and presentation are both important
Don’t embellish! Don’t pad! Don’t repeat!
Consider eliminating CV “relics”
Marital status; name of spouse; children/birthdates
Hobbies & Other Interests

6. CV: Basic Tips For internal CV: Use UWSOM Format!!
Use consistent style, formatting
Chronological order? Reverse chronological?
Include a header with your name and page number on each page
Times Roman; 11 or 12 point font; 1 inch margins
Bold your name (?1-2 font sizes bigger than rest)

7. CV: Basic Tips
For external CV, don’t use acronyms; spell out institutional words (e.g. UWMC; SCH; RRF)
Print a copy regularly & check for irregularities
e.g., avoid new headings at bottom of page
Keep it up-to-date
Include date last revised on front page
Add new events/items as they happen

8. CV: Basic Tips Use available resources
UW Center for Career Services
AAMC [
Chronicle of Higher Education [
Colleagues’ CVs
Get feedback from colleagues, mentors, career advisors on both content and presentation

9. CV: Basic Tips Avoid big blocks of wordy, descriptive text
Split any long lists into subcategories
e.g., Teaching activities
Students; Residents; Fellows; Community/CME
When sending paper CV, do not print on both sides of the paper (backside might be overlooked when copied for distribution)

10. Personal Data No Social Security number!
Consider eliminating CV relics (marital status; spouse’s name; names and birth dates of kids)
Contact information
Be concise (no embellishments) & be accurate
Consider including address

11. Education Time to leave high school behind
Spell out full name of degree and university and note year of graduation
If currently working on a degree, put the word “candidate” after name of degree and note expected year of graduation

12. Postgraduate Training
OK to put internship together with your residency training, if done in the same institution
If there’s a gap, consider adding an explanatory phrase:
: Pediatric Residency (PL-1,2) Case Western
** : Solo swim across the Atlantic Ocean
: Pediatric Residency (PL-3). Case Western

13. Faculty Positions Held
Place and Date
These include:
Acting/Instructor positions
Assistant, Associate, Full Professor
May include academic “track” (e.g. clinician-educator)
Division or Department administrative roles, including training program direction

14. Hospital Positions Held
Places and Dates
Medical staff positions
Clinical Program direction goes here
Committee membership can go under Special Local Responsibilities
Do not duplicate Postgraduate Training

15. Honors/Awards Leave high school behind
Include non-academic honors/awards, if appropriate:
1980: Photographer of the Year, Life Magazine
1990: Olympic gold medal, US Bobsled team

16. Board Certification/Licensure
Spell out certifying Board(s) and be accurate!
American Board of Pediatrics, General Pediatrics
Include date of certificate and recertification (or “engaged in maintenance of certification”)
Provide accurate information regarding all medical licenses (including inactive ones)
Remember that all Certification and Licensure information is in the public domain!

17. Professional Organizations
Note if membership is elected :
1990 Member (elected) Society of Great Doctors
Include offices held:
1990-present Member, American Medical Association (President, )
Can include non-academic organizations here too, if appropriate
2005-present. Member, Board of Directors, Gates Foundation

18. Special National Responsibilities
Purpose: Highlight your national recognition
Physician-scientists/Scientists
Study sections; advisory councils
Research society leadership roles
Clinician-educators
Educational or clinical task forces; program director organizations; legislative/policy work
Leadership in clinical organizations (e.g. AAP, AHA)

19. Special Local Responsibilities
University and Hospital Committees (but do not duplicate teaching committees listed under Teaching Responsibilities)
Consider separate grouping of University and Hospital activities if you do too much!
Community Service work (or can be listed under “Other” at end)

20. Teaching Responsibilities
Limit descriptive text here (Appendix?)
List courses taught or lecture series organized (not your own lectures—that comes later)
List any teaching committees (& your role)
Usually list any training program direction here
List regional/national teaching roles here
List your trainees here (and current institution)

21. Editorial Responsibilities
Generally reserved for journal Editorial Board memberships but…
OK to list journal article reviewer:
Ad Hoc Journal Article Reviewer for:
New England Journal of Medical
Journal of the American Medical Association
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
The Lancet

22. Research Funding Be comprehensive and use consistent format:
Title; project number; your role (PI, co-investigator); source; dates; annual direct costs
Include ALL funding, internal and external
Active
Inactive
Pending

23. Bibliography Divide into designated sections
Manuscripts in Refereed Journals (include “in press” and list name of journal)
Book Chapters
Published books, videos, software
Other publications
Manuscripts submitted (do NOT list “in preparation”)

24. Bibliography Number each work within each section
Use consistent format throughout
Bold your name and consider higher font
Check for duplications, redundancies, typos

25. Abstracts Purpose(s): Consider limiting the number of abstracts
Tells about current work in progress (but not published yet)
Illustrates your participation at national meetings
Can illustrate whether and how you presented the abstract (poster; platform, etc.)
Consider limiting the number of abstracts
“Recent Abstracts Presented (2005 to present)”

26. Invited Lectures Use consistent format
Title; Venue (Conference title; location); Year
Do not list every talk ever given to housestaff, medical students, etc.
Do list local Grand Rounds, regional outreach education talks, national/international lectures
Note if you were Visiting Professor

27. Other Languages (and proficiency level) Community Service
Other (serious) employment history
Hobbies; special interests (not generally recommended)
For job searches (“outside CV”), provide separate page of References (3), including contact information and relationship to you