Stanford Surgery Wins a 2026 AAMC GIA Award for Excellence
January 22, 2026
Stanford University’s Department of Surgery received national recognition for their work from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Institutional Advancement (GIA). "Cubes" won a Silver Award for Excellence in the Shoestring category. Shoestring awards are awarded to projects of special merit with a significantly reduced, limited, or “shoestring” budget.
The GIA Awards for Excellence is an annual, peer-reviewed competition that recognizes outstanding work by members of the GIA and their colleagues. The awards honor the most creative and effective approaches used to promote academic medicine through alumni relations, communications, community relations, development, and marketing programs and projects.
Stanford Surgery Cubes is an ongoing video series inspired by the 90s show MTV Cribs. Each episode takes viewers inside the cubicle of someone in the Department of Surgery at Stanford Medicine. “It's the only place where you can get a tour of your favorite colleague’s desk and be jealous of everything they have! Take a look at their tricked-out keyboards, mini-fridges, and crocheted human organs,” the trailer professes.
“I learned so much about AI producing this series,” said Rachel Baker, director of communications for Stanford Surgery. “I use AI to create transcripts of every episode, and then I ask an LLM to use those transcripts to write a first draft of the accompanying article. I also used AI to help storyboard my first episode and even do the voiceover for the trailer.”
This year, volunteer judges from AAMC member institutions selected 38 exemplary entries for honorable mention, bronze, silver, and gold recognition. Winners are chosen for overall quality, innovation, comprehensive strategy, goal achievement, use of resources, and the impact on the institution and/or its communities. Additional details about the 2026 GIA Awards for Excellence recipients can be found here
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About Stanford Surgery
The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:
• pioneering cutting-edge research,
• developing the next generation of leaders, and
• healing through incomparable surgical skills and compassion.
To learn more, please visit surgery.stanford.edu
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