The Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Ophthalmology and the Department of Surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) are actively seeking a full-time board-certified physician leader for the position of Division Chief of Ophthalmology at CHLA. 

Position Description

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic individual to join our team as the Division Chief of Ophthalmology. As a pivotal departmental leader, the Chief will be responsible for leading a team of 16 physicians covering the full clinical ophthalmology service and working in collaboration with the Department of Surgery’s Surgeon-in-Chief. The position also includes supporting the academic success and professional development of our faculty and fellows.

Candidate Attributes

The ideal candidate will be a pediatric ophthalmologist with a strong orientation toward clinical operations, with an accomplished clinical research record and prior successes in developing and mentoring faculty members.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to inspire and motivate through vision and purpose, has academic credentials of merit, has effectively managed people around short and long-term objectives, understands the business of academic medicine, and is a clear and professional communicator. The ability to build high-performing teams, engage in strategic thinking and decision-making are all necessary skills.

Responsibilities

The candidate will balance a clinical patient care practice that spans the wide variety of care settings and environments available at CHLA with oversight of the practice of faculty members within the Division and supervision of non-physician team members. The individual will champion growth within the department, engage in program development activities, develop and champion innovative compensation models for approval and implementation and provide leadership and mentorship regarding education and research activities.

Specific Responsibilities and Requirements

In this leadership role, you are expected to:

Demonstrate behaviors in concert with hospital mission, values, policies, & procedures.Demonstrate behaviors that support performance improvement activitiesMaintain competence and professional development.Maintains license, certification or registration as required.Perform other duties as requested.

Specific leadership responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Clinical Oversight

Oversee the delivery of clinical care provided throughout the division and ensure that the quality of care delivered meets or exceeds accepted standards.Ensure that patient access is maximized for the division. Ensures the maintenance of on-call and ambulatory schedules.Ensure that the divisional faculty and staff maintain positive working relationships and contact with referring physicians.Ensure medical directors and program directors have appropriately scoped duties and are satisfactorily fulfilling expected duties.Ensure compliance with appropriate medical record documentation and timely and accurate submission of charges for clinical services.Ensure compliance with all internal policies and procedures of the university, medical school, department, hospital, and external regulatory agencies.

Leadership

Create a positive work environment for the division.Serve as a role model for effective communication.Establish a system for ensuring that information is transmitted in a timely manner to all faculty and staff.Monitor and understand the local and national forces shaping healthcare in the US and how these forces may influence the future of discipline.Identify opportunities for growth of the division’s clinical, research, and educational programs.Provide guidance and participate in implementation of growth plans, including monitoring progress and performance in achieving objectives. Provide guidance and mentorship for junior faculty and trainees.

Administration oversight and accountability

Submit an annual report to the chair on status and activities in the areas of research, education, and patient care, as well as notable awards and accomplishments of divisional faculty and staff.Participate in healthcare system, hospital, medical school, or department committees as requested or appropriate.Lead and participates in quality assurance and performance improvement activities for the division, department, and hospital.Regularly attend departmental divisional director and faculty meetings.Communicate appropriate information from the department, medical school, and hospital to division personnel in a timely and regular manner. Interacts with and responds to requests from administrative departments (e.g., finance, strategy, marketing, human resources, foundation/development, health information management, medical staff, quality, etc.) in a timely manner.Actively participate in departmental fundraising activities and represent the division at events.Address clinical, service, process and behavioral complaints regarding the division with directly with affected faculty and escalates to the department chair as needed.Other duties may be required for the division or department and assigned by the chair.

Financial oversight

Develop a divisional budget in collaboration with the department chair, medical group and hospital with the objective of achieving a surplus or, at a minimum, to break even.Monitor the financial status of the division on an ongoing basis and develop corrective action plans to address deficit situations.Evaluate and establish clinical productivity standards for all clinical faculty in the division.Compare division and faculty productivity to appropriate benchmarks and formulate plans to maximize clinical productivity as appropriate.Ensure divisional faculty compliance with clinical practice billing and documentation rules and regulations.

Research oversight

Demonstrates track record of developing a research program.Develops a divisional research plan integrating clinical, translational, basic science, and health services research opportunities.Recruit faculty whose talents and research interests are consistent with the overall divisional/departmental research program.Encourages cross-divisional and departmental research and training collaborations.Optimizes utilization of divisional research resources, including space.Monitors progress of divisional investigators.Develops a plan to deal with gaps in research funding for investigators, as well as a plan for shortfalls in research funding for funded investigators.

Teaching Oversight

Demonstrated track record of resident and fellow educationEnsure appropriate and engaging grand rounds for the division.Participate when requested by the chief residents in departmental teaching conferences for residents and medical students and ensure that division faculty are similarly responsive to these requests.Regularly attend grand rounds and departmental conferences.Participate in resident and medical student education and ensures divisional faculty participation and compliance with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and Liaison Committee on Medical Education training requirements, to ensure successful program continuation

Requirements

Board certification in OphthalmologyExperienceMinimum of 10 years of Pediatric Ophthalmology progressive experience, preferably at a large, complex academic children’s hospital or academic medical center, ideally in a diverse, urban and highly regulated market with a high ratio of Medicaid-insured patient population.Experience should include a minimum of 3 years in a leadership role either within an academic Division or Department or in one or more enterprise positions within their home hospital or health system.Successful track record leading cost management initiatives and experience with budget management preferred.Must have demonstrated a commitment to professional development along with mentoring and coaching of faculty and team members.Must have demonstrated experience leading faculty in professional development.LicensureMust be licensed (or be eligible for medical licensure) in the State of California

Department of Surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

The Department of Surgery brings together special pediatric experts who are dedicated to providing family-centered care. The Department performs over 16,800 surgical procedures annually for children ranging in age from newborns to adolescents, unlike practices where procedures are routinely performed for adults and these approaches are simply adjusted to fit a child.

Surgical Care Divisions

The Department of Surgery provides care through each of its divisions. Each Division is staffed by board-certified physicians, who together represent one of the largest pediatric multispecialty medical and surgical groups in the United States dedicated to providing care for newborns through adolescents.

Abdominal Organ TransplantationCardiothoracic SurgeryDentistry and OrthodonticsGeneral Pediatric SurgeryNeurosurgeryOphthalmologyOrthopedic SurgeryOtolaryngologyPlastic and Maxillofacial SurgeryUrology

For more information, please visit: https://www.chla.org/surgery-department

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

CHLA is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers devoted to children. At the forefront of pediatric medicine, CHLA is home to renowned experts who work together across disciplines to deliver exceptional care, drive advances in pediatric medicine and help set standards of care across the nation and around the globe. Driven by a culture of innovation, the hospital’s principles of research and discovery are embedded in every aspect of care. The best and brightest come to work at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles because they are deeply dedicated to providing life-changing, lifesaving care for a truly diverse population of children—including many from underserved communities—all in a culturally sensitive and family-friendly environment.

The impact of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles spans more than a century. Founded in 1901, CHLA has the highest number of pediatric discharges in the state of California. The hospital and six regional specialty care centers are vital resources for children throughout the nation’s most populous county; CHLA is also a regional referral center and a care destination for children from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. CHLA’s expertise spans the entire pediatric care continuum, from everyday preventive medicine to the most complex surgical interventions such as double organ transplants, treating every child as an individual while demonstrating a commitment to contributing to overall healthier communities.

With more than 350 specialty programs and services, CHLA has more than 7,000 team members and nearly 1,000 medical staff members. Through more than 700,000 patient visits and more than 17,000 inpatient discharges in its most recent year, CHLA cares for a broad and clinically complex population. CHLA consistently achieves impressive patient and family experience scores, far outperforming pediatric benchmarks.

CHLA pediatric specialists deliver a level of care that is consistently recognized among the best in the world. Newsweek magazine ranks CHLA among the top 8 hospitals in the world specializing in pediatrics, and the 4th in the nation. U.S. News & World Report ranks CHLA among the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country every year, including No. 1 in California and No. 1 in the Pacific U.S. region. CHLA is also one of the very few hospitals to have been continuously designated a Magnet hospital since 2008, with its most recent designation process being accelerated during the pandemic.

CHLA is home to The Saban Research Institute (the Saban) where scientific inquiry is combined with clinical care devoted exclusively to children.  Investigators at the Saban conduct basic, translational and clinical research, and are involved in collaborative projects with academic institutions worldwide. Two research buildings on the main campus comprise over 215,000 square feet for wet lab and dry lab research activities.

If interested, please apply using the link above. For further inquiries, please contact:

Mark D. Krieger, MD

Surgeon-in-Chief

Department of Surgery

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

mkrieger@chla.usc.edu

P: 323.361.3151

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of the "Trojan Family," which is comprised of the faculty, students and staff that make the university what it is.

The annual base salary range for this position is $331,566-$998,121.  When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Academic appointments through USC Keck School of Medicine will be commensurate with training and experience. USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. CHLA and USC greatly value diversity and are committed to building a vibrant and culturally diverse community of faculty that best reflects the patients and families that we serve. Individuals from underrepresented groups in medicine are especially encouraged to apply.