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Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more.

Unit: School of Medicine

Department: Family Medicine

Mission of the Department
Founded in 1970, the Department of Family Medicine at VCU has a long and proud history of research and scholarship focused on the practice of family medicine and family medicine education.  It was the birthplace of the North American Primary Care Research Group (https://www.napcrg.org/)  and the academic home for its founder, Dr. Maurice Wood. 

Our Family Medicine Research team has a multi-disciplinary approach to research, coming from such fields as family medicine, health services, biostatistics and epidemiology, cultural anthropology, social and behavioral science, and public health. The team’s research focuses on improving quality in primary care settings, with a special focus on helping patients improve health behaviors, harnessing information technology, and improving systems of care.

Our research faculty conduct innovative, multi-disciplinary research aimed at understanding the interface between behavior and physiology, and integrates social, psychological and biological approaches that provide insight on health and illness over the life course. The department hosts research programs in the dynamics of aging, cancer prevention and control, and emphasizing behavioral and mental health.

This department is also home to the Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network (ACORN), our well-respected practice-based research network composed of more than 90 practices throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Chief Purpose of the Position
The VCU Department of Family Medicine seeks applicants for the position of Vice Chair for Research and Scholarship.  In this role you will be responsible, under direction of the Chair, for the leadership, management, and administration of the family medicine research team. 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist the Chair in fostering an environment in the department that values and promotes diverse clinical, translational, practice-based, community and educational research and scholarship across all department missions and locations
• Serve as the primary departmental advocate for and oversight for research and scholarship program improvement
• Provide oversight, support, direction, coaching, and development to the department’s research and scholarship efforts
• Advise the Department Chair and PIs on research and scholarship priorities, funding opportunities, funding needs, recruitment, and infrastructure support for research and scholarship programs
• Work with the department administrator, PIs and other program leaders to develop and maintain annual operating budgets for research and scholarship programs
• Interact with, and serve as a liaison to, university and hospital leaders to promote the departmental research and scholarship initiatives
• Foster collaboration, innovation, and coordination of research and scholarship across all training sites
• Develop and support new initiatives consistent with departmental values and focus areas
• Ensure oversight so that all research programs meet and exceed compliance standards and policies
• Ensure that the departmental research and scholarship programs function consistently with the department values
• Ensure that medical student and resident research and scholarship programs function in a trainee-focused manner, including fostering trainee safety and well-being
• Oversee medical research and scholarship activities, including identifying and securing infrastructure support and engaging faculty members to serve as mentors
• Participate in the recruitment of clinician researchers
• Serve as a mentor for faculty members with specific interest in family medicine research and scholarship across all departmental missions
• Serve as an alternative representative for the Chair on university and hospital committees relevant to research and scholarship activities
• Convene regular meetings of the department’s research team

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• MD, PhD or equivalent in family medicine research and scholarship
• 3-5 years of experience in family medicine research and scholarship
• Direct experience leading research teams with a range of experience and interests
• Maintained a diverse and sustained funding track record
• Track record of success working with a team of researchers
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism, and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU

Preferred Qualifications

• Completed an accredited residency program in Family Medicine
• Board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine
• Experience providing oversight for department or organizational budget
• Coordinated multiple projects across a team of researchers
• Identified as a national thought leader in primary care
• Established relationships with a network of primary care and multidisciplinary researchers
• Eligible to obtain license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Virginia
• Past experience in providing direct patient care to underserved populations across multiple settings
• Willing and able to care for patients in outpatient settings

Salary Range: Commensurate with experience

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Restricted Position: No

ORP Eligible: Yes

Rank: Open

Tenure: Open

Months: 12 months

Contact Name: Ashley Krauss
Contact Email: ashley.krauss@vcuhealth.org