Chief, Pediatric Cardiology and Executive Co-Director, Children’s Heart Institute

McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston , a leading academic health center, invites applications and nominations for the position of Chief, Pediatric Cardiology and Executive Co-Director, Children’s Heart Institute.  The Children’s Heart Institute is seeking an established leader in pediatric cardiology with established leadership experience and excellence in clinical, research, and education. This is a unique opportunity to lead the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and co-lead the Children’s, Heart Institute.  The other Executive Co-Directors of the Children’s Heart Institute are Jorge Salazar, MD, Professor and Chief, Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, and Jon Meliones, MD, professor and Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care.

 

The Children’s Heart Institute at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital is ranked nationally in Cardiology and Heart Surgery by U.S. News & World Report (#35) and offers innovative solutions for patients with congenital or acquired heart disease delivering high-quality outcomes.  The Children’s Heart Institute at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital earned a three-star rating, the highest possible distinction from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) .  The Children’s Heart Institute received this rating for its patient care and outcomes in congenital heart surgery.  As one of only 12 three-star programs of the STS’s 119 participating programs, Children’s Heart Institute ranks among the elite in the United States and Canada for congenital heart surgery.

 

POSITION KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

 

Reporting to the Office of the President, the Chief, Pediatric Cardiology, and Executive Co-Director, Children’s Heart Institute will provide vision, leadership, and innovation to the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and the Children’s Heart Institute.  The Chief will work closely with the other Executive Co-Directors of the Children’s Heart Institute, leadership, faculty, and staff, and is responsible for the division’s overall clinical, academic, research, and administrative activities.

The new Chief will apply a robust and proven commitment to excellence in delivery of medical, care, education, research, and advocacy.  With responsibility for all clinical, educational, research, and operational functioning within the division, the Chief will oversee or have direct involvement with budgeting, staff management, patient services, and other functions relevant to effective division management.

 

Responsibilities:

 

Strategic Planning and Leadership

 

• Provides clinical supervision of medical services and assures appropriateness, quality, and safety of patient care within the division.

• Maintains program accreditations, ensuring that the service meets or exceeds local and national standards of outcome performance.

• Develops and fulfills goals for clinical services with all hospital partners.

• Assures appropriate supervision and engaged instruction of trainees and allied health professionals in the provision of clinical care.

• Ensures that divisional faculty and staff provide care that reflects best practice standards and current advances within the discipline; responsible for ensuring that clinical activities are compliant with governmental, societal, and hospital regulations.

• Assigns clinical coverage to ensure timely access for patients and their consulting physicians in the inpatient and ambulatory setting, keeping with hospital expectations.  This will include participation in outpatient clinics, call coverage, inpatient rotations, inpatient rounds, and Grand Rounds.

• Oversees the distribution of clinical work in a transparent, reliable model to divisional faculty to ensure clinical coverage needs are met.

• Participates in or delegates participation in practice management activities to optimize scheduling, clinical workflow, utilization of allied health professionals, support staff, and the electronic medical record to allow for effective and efficient delivery of clinical care in the inpatient and ambulatory setting.

• Ensures that divisional faculty and staff comply with hospital policies for timely completion of medical records, including attestation of care provided by trainees or allied health professionals in keeping with the Children’s Heart Institute standard and UT Health Houston policies.

• Optimizes clinical productivity standards concerning national benchmarks and clinical FTE status.

• Participates in quality assurance efforts, patient safety initiatives, and other hospital-based programs as requested.

• Ensures that divisional faculty communicate with patients, families, referring clinicians, colleagues, and staff in a courteous, professional manner; maintains institutional service excellence standards.

 

Clinical Care

 

• Provides clinical supervision of medical services and assures appropriateness, quality, and safety of patient care within the division.

• Maintains program accreditation, ensuring that the service meets or exceeds local and national standards of outcome performance.

• Develops and fulfills goals for clinical services with all hospital partners.

• Assures appropriate supervision and engaged instruction of trainees and allied health professionals in the provision of clinical care.

• Ensures that divisional faculty and staff provide care that reflects best practice standards and current advances within the discipline; responsible for ensuring that clinical activities are compliant with governmental, societal, and hospital regulations.

• Assigns clinical coverage to ensure timely access for patients and their consulting physicians in the inpatient and ambulatory setting, keeping with hospital expectations.  This will include participation in outpatient clinics, call coverage, inpatient rotations, inpatient rounds, and Grand Rounds.

• Oversees the distribution of clinical work in a transparent, reliable model to divisional faculty to ensure clinical coverage needs are met.

• Participates in or delegates participation in practice management activities to optimize scheduling, clinical workflow, utilization of allied health professionals, support staff, and the electronic medical record to allow for effective and efficient delivery of clinical care in the inpatient and ambulatory setting.

• Ensures that divisional faculty and staff comply with hospital policies for timely completion of medical records, including attestation of care provided by trainees or allied health professionals in keeping with the Children’s Heart Institute standard.

• Optimizes clinical productivity standards about national benchmarks and clinical FTE status.

• Participates in quality assurance efforts, patient safety initiatives, and other hospital-based programs as requested.

• Ensures that divisional faculty communicate with patients, families, referring clinicians, colleagues, and staff in a courteous, professional manner; maintains institutional service excellence standards.

 

Divisional Financial Health & Growth Strategies

 

• Works in partnership with other Executive Co-Directors of the Children’s Heart Institute, to develop and implement the annual and long-range budgets of the Institute and the division.  This includes estimates of future personnel and equipment needs; ensuring that hospital resources are optimally utilized through participating in strategic planning and financial budgeting processes, and development of practices that achieve specific objectives and resolution of unfavorable performance variances; providing leadership and implementing strategies to provide cost-effective quality care.

• In partnership with the Executive Co-Directors, strengthen the Institute’s financial health.

• Assures program effectiveness and impact across clinical care, education, research, and advocacy

• Grows the program through enhancing patient access and building strong relationships within the referral community.

• Develops three-year growth and recruitment strategy with the following goals:

  • Recruitment of 8 – 10 additional clinical cardiology faculty at all levels (one Assistant Professor rank, seven Associate Professor rank, and two Professor rank).

  • Recruitment of two research faculty (one considered for Professor and one for Assistant Professor rank)

  • Recruitment of NPs for Heart Failure/Transplant Program and Transplant and VAD coordinators.

• Develops and fosters community and donor relationships and works with UTHealth Houston Development Officer to seek philanthropic donations to aid and support the divisional and Institute objectives.

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Teaching, Mentoring, and Faculty Development

 

• Promotes teaching by providing leadership for and participation in the education of medical students, fellows, residents, nursing, and medical staff.

• Mentors faculty and leverages institutional resources to develop and implement objectives for faculty career development.

• Defines and communicates expectations for faculty for participation in both clinical education and scholarly activity; evaluates faculty members on an annual basis via a performance evaluation and provides documented feedback based on trainee evaluations in the form of an annual review.

• Develops a quality-assurance, peer-review program to assess divisional and individual clinician performance to identify improvement opportunities and provide documented feedback.

• Performs a variety of staff management functions including interviewing, hiring, evaluating, counseling, and terminating assigned management, clinical, and support staff.

 

Research

 

• Utilizes protected time to enhance personal research program and develop a research program for the Institute.  Actively participate in scholarly research and publications.

• Oversees allocated laboratory space for current faculty members and those research faculty to be recruited.

• Assists in the development of a Heart Institute Research Core (HIRC), in partnership with existing Cores and Genetics faculty using allocated funding established in the yearly budgeting process.

• Raises funds to support two visiting professorships per year, as well as funding for hosting a yearly regional, national or international conference.

• Conducts independent and collaborative research and ensures external funding for research efforts including the pursuit of federal and state grants.

 

QUALIFICATIONS:

 

 

• MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent with a robust record of professional leadership roles in an academic institution.

• American Board Certification in Pediatrics with a sub-specialty certification in Pediatric Cardiology required.

• Must have or be able to obtain an unrestricted medical license in the state of Texas.