Job Overview

As one of the oldest medical schools in the country, the UC College of Medicine (UCCOM) has a reputation for training best-in-class health care professionals and developing cutting-edge procedures and research that improves the health and clinical care of patients. 

The Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) provides high-quality and compassionate patient care, inspires and educates tomorrow’s leaders in primary care, and is committed to research and innovation. Our faculty are engaged in scientific inquiry across a broad range of areas, including community engagement in health research, quality improvement to improve cardiovascular outcomes, and educational innovations across a variety of learner populations. The department maintains an active research portfolio of both funded and investigator-initiated projects across several specialized units, including global health, geriatrics, cancer survivorship, integrative medicine, two geographically distinct residency programs, and medical student education. The division proudly employs several skilled research assistants and program managers, as well as three faculty members with years of experience in research and successful funding, including from the National Institutes of Health and Health Resources Service Administration.

The Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is seeking candidates for the position of Vice Chair of Research including a faculty appointment. Academic rank commensurate with experience.

The Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Family and Community Medicine will be responsible for supporting the spectrum of research activities within the Department including health services research, community-engaged research, quality improvement and implementation science research, educational research, and growing our research activities in areas such as clinical trials. The Vice Chair will be responsible for developing a vision for the research initiatives of the Department and its Divisions in conjunction with the Department’s leadership. The Vice Chair will lead the execution of the research vision, develop comprehensive research plans for the different areas, and oversee, mentor, and teach faculty members, research trainees-fellows, staff, students, and other personnel involved in research. Supporting early career faculty members and trainees in the academic research journey is another key aspect of the Vice Chair responsibilities.

The Vice Chair for Research is expected to increase the departmental research funding, grow departmental research capacity and scope, and develop cooperative research opportunities within the University of Cincinnati and with other institutions.

Effort breakdown is flexible depending on a candidate’s existing funding and/or clinical responsibilities. The Vice Chair will be responsible for the leadership, management, and administration of family and community medicine research, under the direction of the Chair. 

Essential Functions

• Maintain and grow a highly productive research operation and federally or state-funded grant portfolio with a national reputation.
• 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.
• Provide advocacy, oversight, support, direction, coaching, and development to the department’s research and scholarship efforts.
• Advise the Department Chair and Principal Investigators on research and scholarship priorities, funding opportunities, funding needs, recruitment, and infrastructure support for research and scholarship programs.
• Foster collaboration, innovation, and coordination of research and scholarship across all clinic and training sites, units across the university, and community organizations.
• Conduct a semi-annual research budget review for fiscal year planning and progress.
• Develop and oversee the DFCM research budget in collaboration with the department’s finance and research administration team.
• Convene regular meetings with faculty and staff involved in department research activities.
• Plan and execute an ambitious strategy for growth in the department’s research vision.
• Engage in ongoing meetings to review the department’s research portfolio and make recommendations to the DFCM Chair for corrective actions needed to keep the research operation viable and solvent.
• Assist and advise the DFCM Chair in recruiting/developing/retaining highly productive research faculty and staff.
• Interact with, and serve as a liaison to, university and hospital leaders to promote departmental research and scholarship initiatives.
• Serve as an alternative representative for the Chair on university and hospital committees relevant to research and scholarship activities.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior faculty members in defining and developing their research projects and directions.
• Provide ongoing mentorship for faculty researchers in development of training, program, and center grant applications.
• Support faculty to compete successfully for internal and external funding.

Clinical, if MD or DO:

• Provide direct patient care services at an assigned Primary Care clinical site.
• Participate in quality improvement initiatives within the clinical sites.
• Supervise and teach learners (residents and medical students) in an outpatient clinical setting.

Minimum Requirements

• MD, DO, PhD, or equivalent.
• Federally funded research portfolio, current and/or past.
• Significant experience with mentorship.
• Evidence of experience in program/project leadership.
• Maintenance of a varied and sustained funding track record.
• Track record of success working with research teams.
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a collaborative faculty, staff, and student environment and the commitment to do so.

For physicians:

• Unrestricted Ohio Medical License.
• Completed an accredited residency program in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and/or Pediatrics.
• Board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine or equivalent primary care board.
• 3-5 years of experience in family medicine research and scholarship.

Additional Qualifications Considered

• Direct experience leading research teams with a range of experience and interests.
• Experience in social and behavioral research and mixed methodologies and/or clinical trials.
• Experience providing oversight for organizational budget.
• Mastery coordinating multiple projects across a team of researchers.
• Recognized as a national thought leader in primary care.
• Established relationships with a network of primary care and multidisciplinary researchers.