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Description

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's) and Emory University School of Medicine (Emory) are seeking a visionary and collaborative surgical leader with a strong clinical and academic foundation to serve as Chief of one of the largest Divisions of Surgery in the country. With a premier two billion dollar medical campus scheduled to open in 2024. Children's seeks to enhance the current services delivered by over 50 hospitalists and a nationally recognized program of trainees and providers.

The Surgeon in Chief (SIC) is a top leader at Children's, serving on the Executive Team and reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. The SIC, in partnership with the Pediatrician in Chief (PIC), serves as the lead executive for Children's physician organization. The SIC works closely with the PIC, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer to lead clinical operations. The SIC leads all surgical divisions and operative services across the Children's system. The SIC participates in building the future vision and strategy to advance Children's mission and position as a national leader in pediatric care. The SIC role is a connecting point between other leaders and the surgical Division Chiefs. It serves as the voice of the surgical Division Chiefs and represents the collective ideas, successes and issues of the division's physicians to inform other parties and is the primary point person to disseminate organizational information back to the Division Chiefs.

The SIC leads the development of strategies and surgical programs aligned with Children's strategic plan, integrating clinical, research and teaching. The SIC drives operational excellence for surgical programs and guides an environment focused on quality, patient safety and continuous improvement to achieve optimal outcomes and benchmark results. The SIC works collaboratively with partnered leaders to develop and maintain an environment and structure for the implementation, improvement, delivery and evaluation of surgical services.

Children's has a robust research mission and partnerships with many institutions, including Emory University School of Medicine and Georgia Institute of Technology. This unique partnership and collaboration offers extraordinary opportunity to innovate the field of surgery. The SIC fosters surgical research and innovation across all specialties, prioritizing based on impact. The SIC works collaboratively with the Pediatrician in Chief (PIC)/Department of Pediatrics Chair and leaders at Emory School of Medicine to advance the training and education of physicians and healthcare providers.

Children's is a people first organization, respecting and supporting all team members. The SIC leads the team of professionals in surgical services to foster a culture and environment for physicians and the surgical team to thrive. Our goal is to be a place where people feel valued for their professional and personal contributions, and to be a model for standing against discrimination, and standing for diversity and inclusion. The SIC develops the roles, sets expectations, recruits and develops the talent needed to achieve Children's vision. The SIC works collaboratively with leaders to build and sustain the practices, programs and mindset to build the culture in surgical services that aligns with Children's overall culture.

The SIC leads quality improvement and patient safety for surgical services and achieves certifications and regulatory requirements for all functions. Children's is a verified Pediatric Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons. Quality is supported through our Surgical Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Council. The SIC guides all Divisions in surgery to grow their skills in quality improvement, develop quality monitoring, engage the team in prioritizing and achieving improvement. The SIC ensures regulatory readiness and compliance with all certifications and governing bodies. The SIC is the overall leader to ensure certifications for all aspects of the Trauma program.

The SIC has accountability to steward the resources available, both people and financial resources. We are constantly improving through working with surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, and the full operative services team. Areas of emphasis in operative services include Operating Room utilization, patient flow and capacity management, supply chain standardization and functioning, infection prevention and sterile processing, selection and utilization of equipment. The SIC leads the transition of surgical care and opening of Arthur M Blank Hospital in conjunction with the Chief Medical Office. Serve as a change champion and lead change management for all locations.

Reporting Relationships

Reports to President & CEO, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Direct reports

* Chief, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Center* Chief, Neurosurgery, Brain Health Center* Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart Center* Division Chief, Pediatric Surgery & Trauma* Division Chief, Otolaryngology* Division Chief, Plastic & Craniofacial Surgery* Division Chief, Urology* Division Chief, Dentistry & Orthodontics* Division Chief, Gynecology* Division Chief, Anesthesiology* Division Chief, Radiology (including Interventional Radiology)* Campus Surgical Directors: Egleston, Scottish Rite

Key Support to SIC

* Chief, Children's Physician Group* COO, Children's Physician Group* Chief, Research Officer* Chief, Teaching Officer* Chief, Faculty Development Officer* VP, Operative Services Principal Duties and Responsibilities

People* Communication: Maintain clear lines of communication with leadership and surgical Division Chiefs. Assure that system-level strategic and operational messages from executive and campus leadership are directly transmitted to Division Chiefs, and concerns or recommendations are communicated to senior leadership for closed loop feedback.* Leadership: Leadership of people is a top priority for Children's leaders. Lead surgical services professionals and create an environment for physicians and surgical team to thrive. Foster a collegial atmosphere that supports successful recruitment, retention and developing outstanding physicians and staff.* Culture: Creates a People first culture that demonstrates respect for individuals and recognizes their value to the organization.* Relationships: Develop positive working relationships across the system at all levels to ensure patient service areas function effectively as a team. Seek to understand and address issues.* Management: Recruit and retain the surgical division chiefs, physicians and team needed. Where applicable, partner with the appropriate Emory School of Medicine leaders. Decisions including hiring, performance management, coaching and mentoring, addressing conflict, determining long term workforce.* Staffing and Succession: Determine models of physician/APP staffing and develop strong succession plans for the next generation of leaders.

Strategic Leadership* Strategy: Define strategies to deliver excellence and develop programs to enhance Children's reputation and recognition as a national leader in pediatric healthcare, balancing the missions of patient care, research, and teaching. Identify optimal distribution of services, resource management and compliance. Ensure strategies are well-aligned with the Children's strategic plan, including business plans that are sustainable.* Partnership and Collaboration: Partner with administrative dyad. Respect, appreciate and drive alignment through relationships with all models of care - employed and faculty physicians and partnerships with community physicians; collaborate with leaders and staff across the system to support Children's goals and ensure campus alignment with surgical services. Identify and share best practices across locations.* Deliver Results: Sets goals and objectives for surgical divisions and operative services and works with the respective leaders and team to achieve targeted results.

Quality Clinical Care & Outcomes* Clinical Care Delivery: Maintain a surgical clinical practice. Grow and nurture top performing clinical programs. Develop and implement clinical standards, protocols, and procedures, delivering top quartile benchmark outcomes. Ensure effective clinical operation, including patient access, throughput and patient experience. Lead to achieve One Children's, delivering consistent and standard care access to system.* Quality and Patient Safety: Guide all surgical divisions and operative services to deliver and demonstrate top quartile quality results. Oversee regulatory readiness and compliance with all certifications and governing bodies for surgical services and the trauma program. Lead through continuous learning and improvement.* Patient Experience: Lead patient experience efforts, aligned with system priorities. Monitor data and drive improvement in alignment with the system patient experience strategy prioritization and routinely assess the needs for the respective Division.* Practice Management: Best in class. Work with Children's Physician Group leadership to achieve practice standards. Manage call/coverage schedules across practice sites, staffing plans, developing budgets, overseeing physician productivity/clinical FTE assignment, overseeing coding/documentation.* Medical Staff: Oversee medical staff practicing at Children's to ensure they are following requirements and guidelines as delineated in medical staff bylaws.* Operating Room: Works with Campus Surgical Directors on operative service performance to achieve operational excellence. * Outcomes: Leads team to deliver best practice outcomes for our patients. Through leveraging research and innovation, lead to improve and set new benchmarks.* Compliance: Ensures institutional compliance with applicable law/regulation/ accreditation requirements and when needed takes action to respond to recommendations and deficiencies emanating from planning, regulatory or inspecting agencies.

Emory University School of Medicine Role* Research: Develop and execute research vision for surgical specialties with Department of Pediatrics, Chief Research Officer, and respective Emory leadership to improve science in pediatric surgical specialties aligned with system research strategy, guardrails, and priorities. Contribute to Emory and Children's impact and reputation. Assist the organization to ensure mechanisms are implemented to meet regulations regarding research program compliance and create path for surgeons to conduct research.* Teaching: Develop and execute teaching agenda with Pediatrician-in-Chief and Chief Teaching Officer (subject to system teaching strategy) including recruitment of top residents and maintaining a highly competitive fellowship program for pediatric surgical specialties* Faculty Affairs: Responsible for overseeing faculty recruitment and promotions within surgical subspecialties in accordance with Emory faculty policies.Business Management & Administration: * Business operations: Accountable for financial performance, demonstrate stewardship of resources, partner with business partner to drive optimum financial performance and viability, with emphasis on operating room utilization, patient flow and capacity management, supply chain standardization, and selection and utilization of equipment.* Fundraising: Partner with Foundation in fundraising efforts and accountable to develop case for support to achieve targets. Engages with donors inspiring giving to Children's mission and programs.

Candidate QualificationsThe ideal candidate will have the following credentials:

Experience and Skills* Minimum 10 years leadership experience in a pediatric hospital or health care setting, minimum 5 years in Division Chief role.* Excellent clinical skills and record of accomplishment.* Experience building and maintaining partnerships between clinical and non-clinical stakeholders.* Experience in working with an academic healthcare system on research and teaching.

Education * Board certified in a relevant specialty. Current, unrestricted license to practice medicine in the state of Georgia, or eligible for licensure in the state of Georgia.* Current DEA registration, BLS/PALS/ATLS certification.* Meets eligibility requirements for credentialing as part of the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta medical staff.* Eligible for an appointment as an Associate Professor or Professor with the Emory University School of Medicine.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities* Ability to connect with employees and physicians at all levels through positive behavior.* Problem solving, prioritization, organization, and negotiating skills.* Flexibility and adaptability: Ability to change direction and right the course as needed to meet organizational goals.* Possesses excellent communication skills including effective listening, straight talking, deep understanding of non-verbal communication, and appropriate emotional control.* Proven physician executive able to architect the structure, roles, authority, and accountability to clarify decision making to drive results.* Experience in leading physician integration across various practice models, academics, and clinical integration. Proven ability to drive national preeminence preferably in a multi-campus setting.* A track record of driving results. Demonstrated business and financial management skills including how to grow revenues, manage expenses, consistently achieve budgets, measure, and improve outcomes. Demonstrated delivery of goal achievement.* Ability to lead quality improvement efforts along with measuring and reporting outcomes.

Key Leadership Competencies* History of successful team development empowering high performance through visionary leadership, delegation, and operational excellence.* A role model of personal and professional integrity and a visible leader.* Demonstrates aptitude for resolving conflict and problem solving.* A strong communicator and diplomat who inspires and effectively communicates with wide and diverse audiences at all levels of the organization and externally.* An ability to inspire and align faculty and staff, both those within the Division and those with whom the Division interacts.

Expectations of LeadershipTogether, Children's and Emory is recognized as a preeminent leader of pediatric surgery and continually advances clinical, educational, and scholarly activities with the goal of being a top tier program in all areas. To that end, the SIC will have made significant progress in the following areas within the first 18 to 24 months of their tenure:* Establish themselves as a credible, trusted and highly collaborative clinical team leader among the medical staff and administrative leaders at Children's and Emory through performance as a clinician and a physician leader. It is essential this leader be visible and gain credibility quickly.* Evaluate the current clinical operations model, provide recommendations working with administration to improve system performance, quality, service excellence, family experience and more efficient ways to meet patient care needs. Consistent performance of care delivery and clinical outcomes will be achieved.* Define vision and strategies in alignment with Children's, program development, identifying which services are offered, identifying optimal distribution of services, resource prioritization, and routinely assessment the needs for the hospital medicine program, balancing missions of patient care, research, and teaching.* Prepare the Division's delivery model, resources and workforce plan required for the opening of Arthur M. Blank Hospital in 2024 which will include a larger pediatric care footprint with one delivery model across the enterprise.* Establish a "team care" culture within all aspects of Children's services and initiatives strengthening the partnership of physicians, advanced practice professionals, allied health professionals and staff in delivering outstanding patient centered care.* Advance clear communication channels with staff within the Division, leaders, campus medical/surgical directors, and program medical directors resulting in alignment, trust, accountability, and collaborative working relationships in the pursuit of inter-Divisional collaboration and esprit de corps.* Consistently improve the timeliness and efficiency of patient evaluation and admission procedures to optimize patient care throughput across the enterprise.* Maintain a high level of scholarly achievement in with a notable increase in clinical research, publications, and national presence.* Continue to invest in the effective recruitment of fellows and attending physicians, set a favorable tone regarding programmatic strengths and stature, and ensure that we continue to attract the highest caliber trainees.* Create professional development plans for individual faculty providing access to mentorship and alignment to key mission areas. Focus on the retention and development of attending physicians.

Children's Surgical Specialties, Centers, and Operative AreasIn 2021, Children's performed almost 42,000 surgical procedures across our system, including 8,151 inpatient and 33,781 outpatient surgical procedures. Our surgical offerings include the following subspecialties: General Surgery, Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Urology, Anesthesiology, Radiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, and Neurosurgery. Our physicians participate in a variety of multidisciplinary clinics, such as: Craniofacial, Complex Concussion, Spina Bifida, Aerodigestive, Anorectal Abnormalities, Diaphragm Pacing Program, ECMO Center, Strong4Life, Vascular Anomalies, among others.

Our talented surgical teams are made up of approximately 375 core physicians and APPs who deliver care across three hospital campuses, two surgical centers, and multiple neighborhood locations from Athens to Columbus, GA: * Egleston Hospital is a Level 1 trauma center and has been verified as a Level 1 Pediatric Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Children's Surgery Verification (CSV) Quality Improvement Program. Children's is the first facility in the state of Georgia to earn Level 1 Children's Surgery Verification status from the ACS, which is the highest designation. Egleston has 15 operating rooms, three special procedure rooms, and two interventional radiology suites.* Scottish Rite Hospital is a Level 2 trauma center and has also been verified as Level 1 Pediatric Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Children's Surgery Verification (CSV) Quality Improvement Program. Scottish Rite has 15 operating rooms, including an intraoperative MRI suite, a DaVinci Robot, and an interventional radiology suite.* The new Arthur M. Blank Hospital will have 19 general operating rooms, three cardiac operating rooms, and a hybrid OR/Cath Lab.* Our two surgical centers include Meridian Mark, which has eight operating rooms, and Satellite Boulevard Surgery Center, which has four operating rooms.* Our outpatient clinic locations include the Center for Advance Pediatrics, Medical Office Building at Scottish Rite as well as multiple neighborhood locations across Atlanta, GA. These locations have a total of eleven operating rooms.

In addition to performing surgical procedures at our various inpatient and outpatient surgical campuses, our surgical specialties provide consultations to other medical subspecialty teams who require assistance. Our goal is to create a partnership between our team of surgeons and community physicians to facilitate transition of care.

Children's has over 25 resident and fellowship positions that are enrolled in our pediatric surgical fellowship programs, many of which are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and offer multi-year training programs for pediatric surgical procedures. The programs also include training and experience in clinical, epidemiological, and/or quality research with mentorship both within and external to our surgical areas. Fellows have opportunities to pursue research projects with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Emory's Rollins School of Public Health as well as collaborations with the Divisions in Emory University's School of Medicine.

The faculty educate surgical trainees in programs from institutions such as Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Northside Hospital, Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital, Pinnacle Orthopaedics, and Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Procedure for Candidacy

Qualified candidates should complete the online application and upload a CV. Inquiries should be sent to to Mark Lotz, Children's Director of Executive and Physician Recruiting, via email at mark.lotz@choa.org.

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