Create a Content-Rich Bio
For Faculty & Researchers
Crafting a bio is an art form. When you write, think about who you are writing to. What do these people want to accomplish? How can you help them do that?
Caveat—When writing for a more academically focused audience, you can write at higher reading levels. However, many highly educated professionals also prefer clear and plain language. Consider this in your writing.
Bio Length
Write a bio that is long enough but not too long. For academically oriented users, I recommend three to five paragraphs. You want to showcase your work and give a good summary of your expertise.
Consider adding subtitles in your bio if it's longer. Web readers scan information online to find exactly what they are looking for.
Be Clear & Conversational
Write like you are speaking to your reader. How would you talk to a colleague? Conversational language is valuable. Users search for queries on search engines related to how we talk as opposed to how we write.
Specialties/Foci
In the first two sentences, state your research or academic specialties first and academic title/what you do second. This will help Google (or an AI interface) easily scan the page and surface the most important/heavily weighted information.
You can (and should) add a list of specific research specialties in the structured data section in U-CV. We recommend having a brief conversation-like summary of these specialties. This is beneficial for search engines or AI to pull up in SERPS (search engine results pages).
Academic Titles, Training, & Accolades
Web readers scan long sentences and much of webpages, so front-load your sentences and paragraphs with the most important information.
It's impressive to have endowed chairs or other titles, responsibilities, and accolades; however, this does not help your reader if they want to know more about you. We recommend carefully considering how you structure this information.
Consider a list form if it makes the information easier for your readers to digest.
Teaching/Lab Work Passions
As academically driven experts, each of us has a passion for what we do. Reflect that passion in your bio. It's what connects other people online to you.
NOTE—There is a separate field for a Research Statement in the U-CV system. This field shows the statement under your main bio. Eventually we will be able to display just the research statement portion of U-CV information on targeted webpages.
Recent Work
Include your most recent work/volunteer projects/collaboration, probably in the third/fourth paragraphs.
Publications
Consider posting a paragraph about publications that are most representative of your work or highlights. This allows the reader to find a summary of your work rather than reading through your full list of publications below. (Though, of course, including your publications is incredibly valuable for your online profile.)
Below is an example outline written for an educated academic audience and structured for SEO.
Bio Template
First/second paragraph
A national expert in [specialties—two at least but no more than four], [name] regularly teaches and researches these areas. They received their fellowship training at [institution] and now pursue a career in [topic/research].
As a [title/job role], [name] oversees responsibilities for [institution/program]. These duties/responsibilities have given them an intense appreciation for [qualities/personnel/topics]. This is reflected in the accolades they have been awarded by multiple institutions and peers.
- Accolade
- Accolade
- Accolade
- Award
- Peer recognition
Third/fourth paragraph
As a researcher, [name] has published in multiple journals. Their research builds on [topics]. This research directly benefits [who] by [how].
Alternate—[Name] pursues their research in the [name] lab. As experts on [topic], [name] is part of a national network of expert researchers in this area. Research/Lab studies are an integral part of the research process allowing us to build on data-based scientific solutions.
Alternate—Enter this information into the Research Statement section in U-CV.
Recently, [name] has [traveled/presented/published/seen]. [Add sentence about impact]. This is just one aspect of [name]'s commitment to [specialty].
NOTE— Users enter queries into search engines (called keywords/phrases) to search for information. You can include these keywords/phrases in your bio in order to target what online users are searching for dependent on the industry niche you are in.
If you would like some data around how many people search for a particular combination of words or related keywords and phrases, please send a request through hscwebmaster@hsc.utah.edu and we will pull some data for you.
Notes on Standards
You must review AI-written text. You are responsible to make sure the text is as accurate as you can make it. If you use an AI interface (such as ChatGPT) to generate the text, please review it for accuracy before posting it.
Example Bios
A well-crafted profile can define the first exposure a potential student, resident, fellow, colleague, or staff member could have of you. It's wise to spend a little time on your bio to manage your online reputation.
Clinical Vs. Academic Bios
Clinicians who are faculty members have profiles with two tabs:
- Clinical bio
- Academic bio
Faculty members who do not see patients only have one tab on their profile.
This is a strategic decision to put the user/audience first. If your audience is searching for a provider to give them treatment, their needs are different from a potential fellow or resident reviewing your scholarly work.
This way, all bio information still lives in one place but can be viewed in context. At this time, the same bio is shown on both clinical and academic profiles. Our queue includes a feature request to have two separate bio fields so that we can closely target our ideal audiences.
Profiles for patients (or profiles in the clinical template) show on healthcare.utah.edu but are accessible from the academic subdomains (and open to the academic profile if accessed from the academic subdomains).