Names and titles

Academic Professionals

Academic professionals is the preferred umbrella term for the College of Medicine staff who hold salaried, non-faculty positions that are not part of the civil service system.

These positions may include such titles as:

• Assistant dean

• Director

• Assistant director

• Head

• Chair

Please note that this term doesn’t apply universally, as some of these titles have civil service equivalents.

Associate

Associate (dean, chancellor, professor) Do not hyphenate with any other word in a person’s title. Capitalize if using directly before a person’s name in running text, e.g., Our speaker today is Associate Chancellor for Public and Government Affairs Morgan Jones. Capitalize when the person’s complete name and title stand alone: Morgan Jones, Associate Chancellor for Public and Government Affairs. Lowercase and set off with commas when the title follows the person’s name in running text: Morgan Jones, associate chancellor for public affairs, is speaking today. Lowercase if using generically: Morgan Jones is an associate chancellor at UIC. At UIC, the title associate chancellor takes the preposition for, rather than of: associate chancellor for public affairs, not associate chancellor of public affairs.

Attending Physician

Attending physicians have completed their training and are in their own specialty practice, which may include teaching medical students, residents or fellows. We sometimes call these “faculty physicians” as well, or “the preceptor” if they are teaching students in a clerkship. “Attending physician” is the preferred term for patient audiences.

Chair

Academic departments of the College of Medicine have a chair. The gender-neutral term is preferred over chairman or chairperson. Like other titles, it is not capitalized in text, e.g., Dr. Deutsch is the chair of the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Myers was chair of the Department of Surgery and Surgical Specialties. When listed as a formal title, in a signature, on a business card, etc., it is capitalized. Chair of Pediatrics Dr. David Deutsch came to the meeting. When you are listing the chair with an academic title(s), the highest rank comes first, e.g., Sincerely, David Deutsch, MD, chair and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford.

Chancellor

Capitalize as a formal title before a name: Chancellor Michael Amiridis wrote the opening letter for the report. Otherwise, lowercase: The chancellor’s letter was the opening piece in the report. See also, capitalization of people’s titles.

Emeritus/Emerita

Select retired faculty are granted emeritus status, which allows them to keep their title as an honor. Not all retired faculty receive this and there is a process to nominate someone for the honor.

Capitalize and place Emeritus or Emerita after the formal title. For example:

Dean Emeritus John Doe.

Lowercase when it follows the name. For example:

The speaker was introduced by Jane Smith, dean emerita of the college.

Faculty titles

Please note that you should not change a list of titles to make them consistent because a “clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties” is not the same thing as an “assistant professor of clinical medicine.”

Check the latest faculty database in the dean’s office or HR for a faculty member’s most current appointment.

Fellow

Two different meanings are used in the medical field for this word: one is a physician receiving extra training and one is a physician who is recognized by a professional association as a distinguished member. After completing residency training in a specialty, a medical doctor may pursue an additional year or more of training in a subspecialty known as a fellowship, during which time the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows can act as an attending physician in the generalist field in which they completed a residency. For example, Dr. Dennie Rogers completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology and then went on to complete a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine.

Another way the term “fellow” is used is to indicate an esteemed category of membership in a professional association. Lucas Sanchez, MD, FAAFP, is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. According to the AAFP website, “The Degree of Fellow recognizes AAFP members who have distinguished themselves among their colleagues, as well as in their communities, by their service to family medicine, by their advancement of health care to the American people, and by their professional development through medical education and research.” These designations exist for the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other such organizations. It is the physician’s preference as to whether he or she uses the initials after their MD degree.

Foundation names

Use the full formal name spelled and punctuated as the foundation prefers. To ascertain preference, refer to the foundation’s website and look for use of the name in running text, as opposed to in the logo, which may use graphic elements not functional in running text. If the name begins with a lowercase letter, retain that spelling, capitalizing the first letter only when the name is the first word in a sentence.

Head

A department head has a higher rank than a department chair. This title is typically used for departments that have more complex structures.

Interim positions

Lowercase interim in running text, even preceding formal titles. For example:

The discussion’s moderator will be interim Director of Graduate Studies Corinne Smith.

Capitalize when the person’s complete name and title are standing alone, like this:

Corinne Smith, Interim Director of Graduate Studies.

Initials

When a name includes initials, use periods but not space to separate two or more consecutive initials. For example:

L.P. Johnson or George H.W. Bush

Jr., Sr.

Abbreviate as shown and use only with full names. Also, the notation of II, III, IV, etc., may be used if the subject prefers.Do not set off with a comma. For example:

John F. Kennedy Jr.

Titles for those with MD or PhD degrees

When writing the person's name and degree title for the first time on page, place the individual’s degree designation after the name, set off with commas. For example:

John Jones, DDS, attended the ceremony.

Any follow-up mentions of the person can be formatted like this:

Dr. Jones accepted his award.

For people who hold PhDs, both PhD and doctorate are appropriate. The optimal construction is something like this:

Jane Smith, who has a doctorate in immunology,...