The Stanford Mentorship and Advancement in Research and Training for Hospital Medicine (SMART-HM) is intended for all new clinical assistant professors in the Division of Hospital Medicine. The program aims are to:

1. Provide a rich academic foundation that surveys the available opportunities needed to build a successful career at Stanford Medicine.
2. Aid faculty to build a network of academic resources, based on their areas of interest, across the university.
3. Leverage a continuous mentorship model that includes finding and nurturing an initial academic interest to succeed and grow as an established academic hospitalist.
4. Offering resources, professional development opportunities, and networking needed to sustain professional growth in academic hospital medicine
5. Based on the criteria for each area of academic interest, help ensure promotion for all faculty.

Our vision is to use SMART-HM to create the best division of hospital medicine in the country where faculty are thriving and have deep professional enrichment and opportunities for growth.

Years 1-2 (Transition to Academic Medicine)

As Stanford faculty, our clinical assistant professors are required to develop an academic interest that allows them to develop recognition for their contributions here at Stanford and externally. This requirement is a core criteria considered in annual faculty evaluations and in applications for promotion to Clinical Associate Professor or Clinical Professor. While we are able to recruit a cadre of superb clinicians to Stanford Hospital Medicine, we have found that most of these new faculty have limited exposure to the academic opportunities for their personal career development. The SMART-HM program is our effort to address this gap and enable our faculty to successfully develop their personal academic interests.

Clinical Assistant Professors within 1-2 years of their initial appointment will complete a program exposing them to a set of academic focus area.* In addition, faculty will receive mentorship to help them make the most of the opportunities available to them as new Stanford faculty members.

The initial SMART-HM Program includes:

• Core curriculum to develop academic interests (run through SMART-HM)
• Academic Niche Finding (via MODEL)
• Mentorship (via Mentorship Connection, MODEL, Academic Pathways Portals)
• Funding Opportunities and Guidance (Competitive Seed Grants for Starting Projects)
• Networking Events (SMART-HM + MODEL + MC)

By the end of year 2, faculty will declare an academic interest as part of the Core Pathways (see below)

Years 3-5+ (Developing an Academic Career)

​​By year 3, faculty will receive focused mentorship in their core pathway. Faculty will be required to complete the program requirements by year 5.

*Note: Existing clinical assistant professors ≥3 years from their initial faculty appointment can opt into this phase of the SMART-HM program. New hires with extensive academic backgrounds and less than 3 years from their appointment can transition to this phase of the SMART-HM Program.

Core Pathways

SMART-HM is designed to promote academic achievement in one of seven core pathways: