Chair, Department of Surgery

Chair, Department Of Surgery

West Virginia University (WVU) School of Medicine and West Virginia University Hospitals/University Health Associates seeks a new Chair of the Department of Surgery. This is an exceptional leadership opportunity for a physician with an unwavering commitment to excellence in clinical care, education, and research.

The Chair of the Department of Surgery is responsible for overseeing the strategy, clinical operations, and academic mission, including undergraduate and graduate medical education in conjunction with a strong commitment to interdisciplinary health sciences education. This includes ensuring the delivery of the highest quality of evidence-based care and service, consistency in the quality standards of practice, and maintaining excellence across the academic spectrum enabling scholarly advances in the field. The Chair facilitates an interdisciplinary approach to achieve excellence in clinical care, education, and research in an environment in which collaboration is highly valued. This position shall report to the Chancellor and Executive Dean of WVU Health Sciences. Allocation of time is forty percent clinical, and sixty percent administrative, educational and research.

Core duties and responsibilities include:

• Works collaboratively with the Chancellor & Executive Dean, Associate Deans, other Department Chairs, Program Directors, and faculty on curriculum for the medical school.
• Teaches medical students, residents, and allied health professionals.
• Supports the Residency Program Director and complies with the standards of the Office of Graduate Medical Education.
• Maintains accreditation of all educational programs.
• Promotes the recruitment, retention, and mentoring of academic faculty within the Department.
• Assures continuing faculty development activities in education.
• Provides annual summative evaluation and oversight of all faculty within the department, particularly with regards to the promotion and tenure cycle, as well as ongoing formative evaluation and feedback.
• Maintains a clinical practice.
• Determines the qualifications and assesses the competency of all members of the department and coordinates and provides oversight of all medical staff as it relates to credentialing, re-credentialing, and privileging.
• Collaborates with clinical services to support a multidisciplinary approach to patient care.
• Ensures that patient care delivery and clinical standards for the department are consistent with current professional guidelines, accreditation standards, and the mission, vision, and values of WVU Medicine.
• Monitors clinician, patient, referral, and employee satisfaction in accordance with organizational goals and guidelines, while maintaining clinical excellence.
• Ensures the practice of evidence-based medicine, as well as optimal patient care by clinicians.
• Collaborates with the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer to develop and monitor continuous performance improvement.
• Participates in scholarly activities.
• Enables faculty to develop and enhance academic and professional development.
• Provides appropriate mentoring for academic, scholarly, and professional growth.
• Encourages and rewards grant funding in education and training, basic, translational, and clinical research.
• Seeks interdisciplinary collaboration in research and scholarly activities.
• Supervises and mentors faculty research focused on practice changing contributions and scientific importance with a focus on high impact journals and national/international presentation.
• Mentors faculty and promotes development in voluntary national academic organizations.
• Oversees departmental finances with regards to the clinical practice and educational mission.
• Creates and executes an appropriate departmental budget, with the assistance of Departmental and Hospital Administrators, and other key personnel.
• Provides recommendations regarding equitable compensation for faculty, and staff working in Surgery and updates them regularly.
• Makes recommendations for annual capital improvements and monitors future fiscal needs of the department.
• Oversee clinical operations, capital purchases and compliance.
• Contributes to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of clinical services.
• Works with leadership to monitor physician productivity, quality, access, and clinician/patient/staff satisfaction.
• Serves as spokesperson for the department, advises leadership, and acts as an agent for implementing the policies and procedures of the hospital.
• Coordinates with Departmental Administration, Chairs, and Medical Directors to optimize access and the delivery of care to patients.
• Ensures that clinical care is consistent with current professional standards, as well as with the mission, vision, and values of WVU Medicine.
• Collaborates with quality and compliance officers in performance improvement projects, turnaround time, sentinel event reports, key performance indicators and established metrics and dashboards.
• Participates in medical staff affairs.
• Seeks collaborative relationships with clinicians and administrators at system hospitals.
• Maintains active professional relationships with former graduates practicing in the state and region.
• Participates in local and regional leadership forums and societies or delegates these responsibilities.
• Remains active in local, state, regional and national professional societies.
• Participates in active and ongoing strategic planning for the department, which is congruent with that of the School of Medicine, the Health Sciences Center, the University, and WVU Medicine.
• Assists in setting of personal and departmental goals with measurable outcomes.
• Participates in the Council of Chairs and Executive Council of the School of Medicine.
• Serves on committees and councils as assigned by the Dean, CMO, hospital CEO, other ranking officials, or as peer elected.
• Promotes and participates in endeavors of philanthropy on behalf of the Department, School of Medicine, and University.
• Serves in other duties as assigned.

Skills required include:

• Extensive knowledge of clinical operations and management.
• Credibility, problem solving, teamwork, consensus building, conflict resolution, and developing innovative solutions.
• Ability to handle unusual, demanding, and unrelated tasks.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and an effective, active listener.
• Ability to give constructive feedback and mentoring.
• Ability to work and function in a matrix organization.
• Ability to seize new opportunities and generate new ideas in a spirit of innovation.
• Viewed by his/her colleagues as an exemplar of professionalism and is passionate regarding the provision of superb clinical care.
• A management philosophy that exemplifies accountability, integrity, self-awareness, respect for others, collaboration, willingness to share and teach, customer service orientation, and commitment to excellence in all endeavors.

Minimum Education, Certification, Licensure, and Experience:

• Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy from an accredited medical school.
• Certified by the American Board of Surgery and participation in its continuing certification program.
• Hold or able to obtain medical licensure in the State of West Virginia by start date.
• Current medical school appointment at the Associate or Full Professor level.
• At least ten (10) years of clinical practice experience and currently clinically active.
• At least three (3) years' administrative experience in an academic medical center preferred.
• Familiarity with clinical program administration and graduate medical education required.

About Us:

As a land-grant institution, the faculty, staff, and students at WVU commit to creating a diverse and inclusive culture that advances education, healthcare, and prosperity for all by providing access and opportunity; by advancing high-impact research; and by leading transformation in West Virginia and the world through local, state, and global engagement. WVU is proud to hold R1 research classification, the highest research activity as described by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

The West Virginia University Health System is West Virginia's largest health system and the state's largest employer with more than 3,400 licensed beds, 4,600 providers, 35,000 employees, and $7 billion in total operating revenues. The Health System is comprised of 25 hospitals including J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, an 880-bed academic medical center, and the 150-bed WVU Medicine Childrens Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia and five institutes.

Morgantown, WV is the quintessential college town, with Division I Big 12 sports, diverse cultural and arts activities, world-famous outdoor recreation, excellent schools, and stunning geography. Located a short 1-hour drive south of Pittsburgh and 3-hours from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD, Morgantown is consistently rated as one of the best small metropolitan