RUSM

Founded in 1978, Ross University School of Medicine (Ross Med) prepares skilled, practice-ready physicians to lead within the U.S. healthcare system, supported by a network of more than 16,000 alumni.

Ross Med is committed to expanding access to opportunities across the medical profession and offers students from a wide range of backgrounds the opportunity to pursue a Doctor of Medicine degree. Students complete their foundational studies in Bridgetown, Barbados, before completing their clinical training in one of our affiliated teaching hospitals throughout the U.S.

Visit medical.rossu.edu for more information, and follow RUSM on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) seeks a dynamic and collaborative physician educator to serve as Professor & Chair, Clinical Foundations. This senior academic leadership role provides strategic, academic, operational, and people leadership for the Clinical Foundations department and plays an integral role in preparing medical students for success in clinical training and future practice.

Reporting to the Dean, the Chair is responsible for ensuring excellence in teaching, assessment, student support, faculty development, clinical skills education, simulation-based learning, curriculum delivery, and continuous curricular improvement. The Chair leads full-time faculty, sessional faculty, and assigned staff while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, accountability, and student-centered excellence

Key Responsibilities

Academic Leadership & Curriculum Oversight

• Lead the academic, administrative, and operational functions of the Clinical Foundations department.
• Ensure excellence in the planning, delivery, assessment, integration, and continuous improvement of the Clinical Foundations curriculum.
• Oversee clinical skills education, simulation-based learning, standardized patient programs, patient-centered communication, professionalism, clinical reasoning, and preparation for clinical training.
• Partner with curriculum, assessment, student affairs, accreditation, and academic operations teams to support student progression and academic success.
• Promote evidence-informed medical education practices, including active learning, assessment, feedback, remediation, and simulation-based instruction.
• Contribute to curriculum innovation, educational scholarship, and faculty-led academic initiatives.
• Represent the department in institutional, accreditation, academic, and community-facing activities.

Faculty & People Leadership

• Recruit, hire, onboard, orient, develop, and retain full-time faculty, sessional faculty, and assigned staff.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing culture that supports engagement, accountability, professional growth, and student success.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, workload planning, and career development support, including promotion readiness where applicable.
• Conduct performance evaluations, provide regular feedback, address performance concerns, and make recommendations regarding appointments, reappointments, promotions, merit increases, and other personnel actions.
• Manage teaching assignments and faculty resources to ensure effective course delivery, assessment activities, student support, simulation oversight, and operational continuity.
• Lead regular departmental meetings and support faculty participation in institutional committees and shared governance activities.

Clinical Skills & Simulation Oversight

• Provide departmental oversight for clinical skills education, simulation programs, standardized patient activities, and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) preparation.
• Ensure simulation laboratories and clinical skills learning environments support departmental learning outcomes and operate in alignment with institutional policies, safety requirements, scheduling expectations, and resource standards.
• Partner with operational leaders and designated staff responsible for day-to-day management of simulation facilities and programming.
• Monitor the quality, effectiveness, utilization, and academic alignment of simulation and clinical skills activities.

Student Success & Academic Quality

• Ensure timely identification, documentation, escalation, and follow-up of student academic, professionalism, clinical skills, and simulation-related concerns.
• Support faculty engagement in student advising, mentoring, remediation, assessment, and readiness for clinical training.
• Participate directly in selected teaching, assessment, and student support activities, including clinical skills instruction, patient-centered communication, professionalism, clinical reasoning, small-group learning, and remediation support.
• Monitor student outcomes and departmental performance data and implement improvements that enhance educational quality and learner success.

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Establish departmental goals aligned with institutional priorities, program outcomes, and accreditation requirements.
• Develop and manage the department's annual budget.
• Implement departmental policies, procedures, schedules, and academic processes.
• Participate in leadership, governance, and institutional planning activities.
• Review academic, operational, faculty, student performance, and quality metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Lead initiatives that strengthen departmental effectiveness, faculty engagement, simulation lab utilization, and overall educational outcomes.

Teaching Commitment

• Contribute approximately 20% effort to teaching within Clinical Foundations, based on departmental needs and expertise.

Additional Responsibilities

• Serve on and contribute to departmental, curriculum, assessment, accreditation, search, promotion, and other institutional committees as appropriate.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Dean.
• Comply with all institutional policies, procedures, and standards.

Education & Professional Credentials

• MD, MBBS, or equivalent medical degree from an accredited institution.
• Eligible for appointment at the rank of Full Professor.
• Current medical license in good standing.
• Board certified through an ABMS-recognized specialty board or equivalent international credentialing body (e.g., Royal College of Physicians (UK) or Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada).
• Additional graduate education, certification, or formal professional development in medical education, curriculum design, assessment, academic leadership, or higher education administration.

Leadership & Administrative Experience

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in medical education, academic administration, or a comparable academic health sciences environment.
• Demonstrated success leading academic departments, programs, or faculty groups, including responsibility for faculty supervision, performance management, operational planning, and budgeting.
• Proven experience recruiting, onboarding, mentoring, evaluating, and developing faculty and academic staff.
• Experience managing faculty workloads, teaching assignments, departmental resources, and operational priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic, operational, academic, and people leadership within a complex educational environment.
• Experience serving in significant academic leadership roles and contributing to institutional planning, governance, accreditation, or organizational change initiatives.
• Record of scholarly achievement, educational innovation, and/or accomplishment in academic leadership and administration.

Medical Education Expertise

• Demonstrated effectiveness as a faculty member in teaching, student mentoring, curriculum delivery, learner support, and academic service.
• Experience in clinical skills education, simulation-based learning, standardized patient programs, and OSCE development and delivery.
• Strong understanding of integrated medical curricula, learner assessment, student progression, accreditation standards, and continuous quality improvement.
• Experience leading curriculum development, program evaluation, or educational improvement initiatives within medical education.
• Commitment to evidence-informed teaching and learning practices that support student success and readiness for clinical training.

Leadership Competencies

• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, relationship-building, and change management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, develop, and evaluate faculty and academic staff while fostering a culture of accountability, engagement, collaboration, and professional growth.
• Ability to analyze academic, operational, faculty, and student performance data to inform decision-making and drive continuous improvement.
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and complex initiatives.
• Demonstrated professionalism, sound judgment, and discretion in managing sensitive faculty, student, academic, and personnel matters.
• Commitment to student success, faculty development, scholarship, academic excellence, inclusive collaboration, and innovation.

Why Join Us

This is an exceptional opportunity to lead a foundational department at Ross University School of Medicine and influence the future of medical education. You'll partner with engaged faculty and academic leaders to advance student success, educational innovation, and institutional excellence.

Application Materials

Interested candidates should submit a current curriculum vitae and a cover letter describing their interest in the position and highlighting how their education, leadership experience, and accomplishments align with the responsibilities and qualifications of the Professor & Chair, Clinical Foundations role.

Equal Opportunity – Minority / Female / Disability / V / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation