Alison Clay Early Career Educator Award

Meet the 2026 Awardee: Rachel Quaney, MD, MaEd

Rachel Quaney, M.D., M.A.Ed., is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she also serves as Associate Program Director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship, core faculty and coach for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship, and Director of the PACCM Faculty Alliance of Medical Education. She completed her medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, her fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where she served as Chief Fellow, and a subsequent fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She holds a Master of Arts in Biomedical Education from The Ohio State University, where her thesis established an innovative Teaching Assessment Committee model for structured peer evaluation of clinical faculty.

Dr. Quaney's clinical work and teaching lie at the intersection of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Her scholarly interests include assessment, feedback, and programmatic evaluation as it pertains to clinical learning environments, trainee career preparation, faculty development, and sleep medicine education for diverse provider audiences. Her work has been recognized through a University of Colorado Program for Academic Clinician Educators Scholar grant and a Department of Medicine Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Pilot Grant for bite-sized faculty development.

An active member of the American Thoracic Society since 2017, Dr. Quaney has served the Section on Medical Education (SoME) as a member and then leader of Trainees Interested in Medical Education (TIME). She has served in various roles for the SoME Executive Committee since 2023. She has been active in teaching and leadership for the Resident Boot Camp since 2022, facilitating a variety of stations, working to track outcomes, and incorporating gamification into the programming. She serves on the editorial board of ATS Scholar. More recently, she joined the leadership of SCALe’s Evaluation & Outcomes Committee, where she aims to track all of the amazing things our educators are doing here at ATS!

Description

The Section on Medical Education is pleased to sponsor the Alison Clay Early Career Educator Award. Learn more about Alison Clay. This award will be awarded to an individual who has made significant contributions to education in pulmonary, critical care and/or sleep medicine and has demonstrated the potential for future success as an educator. We welcome nominations of physician-, nursing-, or basic science educators. Awardees will be presented with a framed certificate at the Section of Medical Education membership meeting at the ATS International Conference.

Eligibility

1. The nominee must be a member of the ATS and the Section on Medical Education.
2. They must be an Instructor or Assistant Professor (or equivalent rank) at the time of nomination.
3. Consideration will typically be limited to nominees who are ≤ 7 years from completion of fellowship training, except under extenuating circumstances that should be explained in the nominating or a separate letter.
4. The nominee must spend a significant portion of their time participating in peer and/or trainee education, be recognized by her/his learners and colleagues as an outstanding teacher and be in the midst of building a career as an educator.
5. Contributions to the Section on Medical Education in the form of Committee or Working Group Participation or leadership, and/or otherwise advancing the SoME’s mission will be viewed favorably.
6. Self-nominations will not be considered for this award.

Nomination Packet

1. A nomination letter from a member of the Section on Medical Education (3-page maximum) should address:
   1. Excellence in teaching
   2. Excellence in mentoring
   3. Scholarly contributions in medical education
   4. Educational innovation
   5. Educational Leadership
   6. Participation in the ATS and the Section of Medical Education
2. Curriculum Vitae for the nominee