Position Description
The UAMS College of Medicine (COM) seeks nominations of and applications from highly qualified faculty for the position of Associate Dean for Health Equity, at the rank of associate professor/professor. Successful candidates must possess at least two years of related experience with progressive responsibility in health equity, diversity and inclusion work in academia, healthcare, private sector or government.
The Associate Dean will provide leadership for the COM to integrate efforts to improve health outcomes for traditionally underserved populations, including as defined by race or ethnicity, age, education, disability, gender, geographical location, income, and sexual orientation. As a faculty position, the incumbent will be expected to lead and contribute to scholarly works surrounding health equity. The Associate Dean will also serve as the Chief Diversity Officer for the COM and hold responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive equity approach in collaboration with administrators, faculty, staff and students.
About the University
UAMS campus in Little Rock
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is the state’s only academic health sciences center, comprised of five health professions colleges (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions, and Public Health), a graduate school, seven institutes, eight Regional Centers, and a comprehensive Medical Center.
UAMS is the largest public employer in the state of Arkansas with more than 11,000 employees. UAMS and its clinical affiliates: Arkansas Children’s and the VA Medical Center are an economic engine for the state with an annual economic impact of $3.92 billion. Centrally located within the state, UAMS’s Little Rock campus is a tertiary referral center and the only Level 1 adult Trauma Center and Comprehensive Stroke Center for Arkansas.
UAMS is located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock offers a unique professional and living environment and is located approximately 120 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, 250 miles northeast of Dallas, Texas, and 350 miles south of St. Louis, Missouri. The Little Rock – North Little Rock communities consist of approximately 750,000 people and offer a high quality of life with a modest cost of living, excellent schools, and recreational opportunities.
About UAMS Northwest
The UAMS Northwest Regional Campus was established in 2007 to meet the growing demand of health care professionals and to support the growth in the Northwest Arkansas region. Northwest Arkansas is a collection of vibrant and rapidly expanding communities, and the need for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, and other health care providers will continue to grow with our region’s population. Our academic programs include the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Professions (Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Genetic Counseling, Radiologic Imaging Sciences, and Diagnostic Medical Sonography).
About Regional Campuses
UAMS Regional Campuses, formerly Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), was founded in 1973, through combined efforts of the Governor, the State Legislature, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), as a means to encourage UAMS medical school graduates to remain in Arkansas, and help address the state’s shortage and uneven distribution of primary care physicians. Over time, our mission has expanded to include other disciplines such as pharmacy, nursing, physician assistants and behavioral health professionals.
UAMS Regional Campuses serve as an educational outreach network for UAMS and the principal means to decentralize medical and other health professions education throughout the state. Eight teaching centers in Batesville, Fayetteville/Springdale, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff, Texarkana, Magnolia, and Helena-West Helena expose future health professionals to underserved communities and provide more varied hands-on experiences than they might receive in a traditional urban, academic environment. Each center serves a multiple county region.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Assume a leadership role for building and fostering health equity efforts and research in the COM as defined by the UAMS community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners; serve as a crucial link between the UAMS Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the COM departments/institutes. It is expected that the Associate Dean will work closely with the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the leadership of the Division of for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure implementation of their initiatives across the COM.
- Lead the implementation of initiatives to allow the COM to reach the goals of the Vision 2029 strategic plan, with evaluation metrics for equity work across the College.
- Provide consultation to facilitate equitable recruitment and retention of a diverse student body, residency programs, faculty, and staff by providing effective strategies for identifying diverse candidates and addressing bias in screening and selection processes; oversee unconscious bias training for all search, selection and admission committees; develop mentoring programs to support retention of faculty, staff and students from diverse backgrounds.
- Serve as advisor and resource for faculty, staff and residents via facilitation, education and coaching.
- Recommend and co-sponsor educational experiences that foster faculty and learner education in health equity, implicit bias, anti-racism, and multi-cultural instruction.
- Assess the College’s culture impacting various stakeholders in order to move the school’s health equity agenda forward.
- Promote awareness of health issues related to unequal treatment and social determinants of health in Arkansas with internal and external partners.
- Engage in partnership with internal and external leaders to identify external grant support and fundraising strategies to support and advance health equity initiatives; provide leadership to developing research teams to address health equity priorities.
- Serve as a link with the Arkansas Department of Health, the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, as well as other community and governmental stakeholders, and the UAMS COM to inform faculty, staff and learners of the available resources.
Candidate Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have the following professional qualifications and personal characteristics:
- M.D./D.O. and/or Ph.D.
- Knowledge of contemporary issues of inclusion, anti-racism, anti-oppression, social justice, diversity, access, and equity, including the current scholarship and pedagogical approaches that inform and address these issues.
- Track record of scholarly work as a health equity investigator.
- Actively demonstrate strong communication skills that preserve confidentiality and foster open and inclusive communication among all stakeholder groups and varying levels of these groups.
- Effectively builds partnerships and influences stakeholders and decision-making at all levels of a complex, academic institution, and can pivot to deal with the nuances of audiences and constituent groups.
- Demonstrate strong strategic planning and administrative skills to execute plans; demonstrated ability to set priorities, analyze data and think systematically from both a detailed and a strategic perspective.
- Experience with problem solving and conflict resolution, including restorative justice approaches; ability to build consensus and trust.
Preferred Professional Experience and Characteristics
- Clinical training and is an M.D./D.O.
- A candidate whose scholarship is in the area of health equity; with scholarship broadly interpreted to include funded research, policy work, and/or promotion of education/training transformation at a national level supported by publications (manuscripts, books, etc.).
Personal Characteristics
- Well-developed emotional intelligence with exceptional interpersonal and communication skills
- Passion for excellence and a high level of energy and enthusiasm
- Demonstrated ability to work in a matrixed organization with multiple lines of reporting
- Demonstrated record of promoting collaboration and cultivating strong internal and external relationships
- Capacity to embrace change with an appropriate respect for culture and tradition
- Analytical and intellectual skills to lead cogent planning and sound management systems
- Demonstrated commitment to diversity
- Motivator and mentor capable of developing strong teams and developing others
- Unquestioned personal integrity
Application Process & Requirements
The UAMS Executive Search Group is facilitating this search. Applications, inquiries, and nominations should be submitted to Duchess Johnson via email at ejohnson2@uams.edu.
For full consideration, applications should be received by June 10, 2022, and include the following documents:
- a curriculum vitae
- a letter of interest providing a summary of qualifications for the position.
Written nominations, inquiries, and applications (including emails) may be subject to disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
UAMS is an inclusive Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer of individuals with disabilities and protected veterans and is committed to excellence.
The safety of our team members at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is our top priority. For this reason, successful applicants for this position must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or have filed a request for medical or religious exemption as a condition of employment. UAMS will adhere to all federal, state, and local regulations and will obtain necessary proof of vaccination prior to employment to ensure compliance.