Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s) and Emory University School of Medicine (Emory) are seeking a visionary and collaborative physician leader with a strong clinical and academic foundation to serve as Division Chief, Nephrology.
The Division Chief will serve as the primary physician leader for Nephrology for the Children’s health care network providing strategic leadership and oversight for quality, safety, and clinical operations. They will guide the design of care delivery advancing care consistency, efficiency, and a culture of excellence in Nephrology. This leader will be dedicated to the implementation of professional and clinical care standards, team-based care driven by evidence-based care guidelines and mutual accountability.
As the leader of the Division, the Chief will be responsible for clinical program development, faculty recruitment, workforce development, the growth and advancement of research, scholarly activity, and educational excellence of the trainees within the Division. This leader will continue to improve education/training and sustain a strong commitment to leading Division research efforts.
The successful candidate will be an outstanding clinical and academic leader with demonstrated ability to set a vision, position the team to execute, effectively inspire, manage, and mentor others. We are seeking an individual who has a passion for providing outstanding care, scholarly work, a desire to improve systems and processes to maximize efficiency. The Division Chief will be a leader that demonstrates the collaborative ability to work well with multiple partners and stakeholders. This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced physician leader to live and work in a desirable, advanced healthcare market, develop trainees in a complex care environment and lead a nationally recognized Nephrology into the future.
The Division Chief is responsible for the Nephrology delivery model design and clinical operations across the enterprise and will oversee the strategic leadership of the division with the development of faculty, fellows and trainees, academic excellence and increasing research and scholarly activity.
This leader will advance a culture of excellence, accountability, and care innovation. The Division Chief will be dedicated to performance measures by providing the highest quality patient care and clinical care standards driven by patient safety and regulatory requirements, clinical outcomes monitoring, and patient and family experience expectations.
The Division Chief will continue to raise the bar with contemporary training programs, mentorship platforms, clinical delivery, service, and a strong commitment to research efforts.
It is anticipated that the Division Chief will be a visible, inspiring leader with a clinical practice presence to foster credibility and to develop an appreciation for division operations and its providers. Furthermore, a clinical presence will allow this leader to identify potential solutions and see the impact of these initiatives. This position requires an individual who has a passion for providing outstanding care, a desire to improve systems to maximize efficiency, the leadership to engage physicians in team-based care and an enduring commitment to providing an environment conducive to maximizing education and scholarly work. The Division Chief will craft the long-term vision for Nephrology at Children’s and Emory while advancing the key mission areas to engage and inspire the faculty to reach these goals while holding the team accountable.
Reporting Relationships
Reports To:
- Pediatrician-in-Chief/Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Key Relationships:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Director, Physician Practice Operations
- Practice Manager, Physician Practice Operations
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Clinical
- Oversees the delivery of clinical services in the Division’s areas of practice and develop resources (including personnel and programs) related to these services in conjunction with the respective clinical directors or hospital administrators.
- Assures appropriate and continuous coverage of inpatient, outpatient, and consultative services at all relevant clinical sites.
- Assures participation of Division personnel in quality improvement, safety, and patient satisfaction initiatives.
- Builds a high quality, well-developed network of cohesive physician providers. Foster positive relationships with other clinicians including community and referring providers.
- Assures compliance with all relevant Department, clinic, and hospital policies and procedures. Assures compliance with all medical records documentation requirements and appropriate billing procedures.
- Ensures that the Division is responsive to the needs of those it serves clinically (patients, families, referring physicians, other divisions/ departments, etc.).
- Assumes responsibility for faculty members achieving their productivity targets.
Administrative
- Fosters a collegial environment that supports the successful recruitment, retention, and development of outstanding faculty and staff.
- Defines and communicates expectations for faculty members, provides the faculty needed support to achieve goals, and reviews performance in individual meetings at least annually using the Career Development Conference Report. Understands the University promotion and tenure process and its requirements and mentor faculty members—or arrange mentoring—accordingly.
- Assigns clinical, administrative, educational, service, and research roles to the faculty in ways that promote the division and department while bearing responsibility for Divisional productivity and academic performance.
- Fosters excellent communication, teamwork, and cooperation in carrying out the scholarly, educational, and clinical missions of the Division and the Department.
- Provides adequate Divisional infrastructure for faculty and staff to carry out their responsibilities.
- Demonstrates accountability for financial performance and stewardship of resources. Develops case for support to achieve fundraising targets and collaborates with business partners to drive optimum financial performance and viability.
- Develops and manage the Divisional budget effectively, productively, equitably, and efficiently to support the missions of the Division and the Department.
- Identifies initiatives and priorities and allocates resources to advance these initiatives.
- Supports faculty in attracting, leveraging, and retaining sponsored research and grant dollars.
- Manages the Division’s capital assets, including both current assets and plans for replacement and renewal.
Research
- Encourages, guides, and supports a comprehensive vision for research activities across the enterprise. Develops the goals and the structure necessary to reach the vision.
- Ensures responsible and compliant conduct of research.
- Seeks to optimize both the research synergies between Divisional faculty and the research activities elsewhere within Emory.
- Fosters cooperative and interdisciplinary research activities with other divisions, departments, and schools and with community physicians.
- Supports faculty in attracting, leveraging, and retaining sponsored research and grant dollars.
- Supports and promotes a research environment that involves trainees (including students, residents, fellows, advanced practice providers) and attendings.
- Assist the organization in ensuring mechanisms are implemented to meet external regulations regarding research program compliance.
- Oversees and manages the research funds, equipment, facilities, and personnel assigned to the Division or its investigators. The effectiveness of the Division’s research programs would be demonstrated by regular publications in top peer review journals, by presentations in notable scientific meetings, and by substantial and growing extramural funding.
- Grows philanthropy to support the generation of research dollars.
Teaching/Education
- Ensures the Department of Pediatrics maintains the highest standard in training medical students, residents, and fellows.
- Creates, supports, facilitates, and implements the educational programs of the Division, including curricula for medical student, resident, and fellow training; and for graduate and postdoctoral training-- to satisfy or exceed national and accreditation standards.
- Develops a collaborative vision, with a track record for successfully implementing new initiatives that meet the challenges of academic medicine and clinical care.
- Ensures academic programs meet external regulations and accrediting standards.
- Builds collaborative partnerships within Children’s, Department of Pediatrics and across Emory to achieve top performance. Works harmoniously with others to ensure efficient and high-quality health care and other services.
- Establishes governance mechanisms that ensure participation in the academic affairs of Children’s and Emory. Holds regular meetings to fully involve members in the organization and executive leadership. Communicates key departmental, university, medical group, and hospital information to executive leadership.
- Provides leadership at the local, regional, state, national and international levels in clinical and academic matters.
- Conducts Divisional and programmatic reviews and appropriately assign faculty to carry out the educational programs.
- Evaluates the performance of faculty, students, and graduates ensuring that goals and professional standards are met or exceeded.
- Serves as a role model and mentor for Division faculty members or assures that other appropriate mentoring is provided for everyone.
Child Advocacy
- Develops and communicates a vision and overall direction for pediatric health that aligns all entities across Children’s. Presents pediatric health strategy and updates to Children’s & Emory’s Executive Teams, and Boards of Trustees as appropriate.
- Serves as a physician champion and leader for the provision of quality healthcare and clinical performance excellence.
- Ensures consistent standards of practice in all practice locations. Leads in identifying mechanisms to meet external regulations around quality of care and service.
- Takes initiative to identify, conceive, implement, evaluate, and refine new methods of health care delivery, especially wellness/preventative medicine initiatives that will impact the organization and community.
- Guides ongoing and emerging priorities and works with faculty and leaders to develop a vision that encompasses other areas of growth.
- Partners in fundraising endeavors, contributing to new and existing partnerships and philanthropic opportunities.
- Facilitates growth to meet the demands and needs of Metro Atlanta and other communities in Georgia and supports the expansion of regional networks and partnerships. Helps Children’s achieve the right balance between acting locally and having the horsepower and responsibility to achieve globally.
Candidate Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have the following credentials:
Education
- Doctor of Medicine (MD/DO) from an accredited school of medicine; Board Certification as a Pediatric Nephrologist and eligibility for licensure in Georgia.
- Completion of three-year fellowship in pediatric nephrology from an ACGME accredited program
- Meet eligibility requirements for credentialing as part of Children’s professional staff.
Experience and Skills
- An experienced academic and operational leader with vision, enthusiasm, executive presence with a track record as a unifier. Can successfully galvanize a group to one vision.
- Significant clinical experience and clinical operations/management experience with the capacity to align/engage physicians and clinicians.
- Clinical experience with 5-10 years of administrative or leadership experience in a pediatric hospital or health care setting.
- Passion for patient care and service that permeates through the team including the ability to lead service improvement efforts by example.
- National reputation of excellence in clinical care and/or education and research, gained within an advanced and highly complex market.
- Experience building and maintaining partnerships between clinical and non-clinical stakeholders.