Bean Award Criteria and Examples

The American Osler Society’s Bean Award Committee evaluates proposals and recommends awards to the Board of Governors, which makes the final decision on the number of awards the Society will grant. Committee members from the same institution as an applicant may not evaluate that applicant’s proposal. We score proposals via four criteria:

 Appropriateness – advances medical history or uses humanities to improve education or practice.

 Originality – explores new territory.

 Attainability – has clear and achievable goals.

 Scholarship – shows understanding of relevant work.

We are continually impressed by the thoughtfulness and quality of Bean Award applications. The following will give you an idea of the kinds of successful proposals we have seen in recent years, but we encourage you to bring us any creative proposal that addresses medical history or the use of literature and the arts to improve medical practice. You may note that some examples predate our current 1,500 word limit.

1. Graphic Medicine: Comics as a Therapeutic and Teaching Tool in Gynecologic Oncology Clinics
2. The Political Life of Dr. Morell Mackenzie
3. The Central Nervous System in the 18 Century Japanese Dissection Scrolls: Art of Observation and Dissection
4. The Chinese Apotheosis of Dr. Norman Bethune