Division of Education Executive Assistant

University of Washington Medical Center•Seattle, WA

7d•$61,512 - $80,004•Hybrid

About The Position

UW’s Division of Education, a Division of the Department of Surgery, School of Medicine has an exciting opportunity for an Executive Assistant. POSITION PURPOSE The Executive Assistant provides direct support to the Vice Chair of Education, the General Surgery Residency Program Director and program support to the Division of Education. This role is responsible for managing complex scheduling, preparing and managing high-level complex meetings, and managing events and educational programs. They serve as the primary point of contact for the Division of Education and are a liaison with internal and external stakeholders at local, national, and international levels. The Executive Assistant is responsible for daily operations support, including project management, event planning, and meeting coordination for the division and associated committees. The Executive Assistant reports directly to the Vice Chair for Education with a strongly matrixed reporting relationship to the Program Director of the General Surgery Residency Program and day-to-day oversight from the General Surgery Program Manager. Our Mission and How This Position Contributes to the Department of Surgery and the University: The Division of Education in the Department of Surgery is a busy office and interfaces with high-level offices locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. The General Surgery Residency program at the University of Washington is a large program, with approximately 100 residents. It is in the top 1% of graduate surgical education programs in the USA and regularly draws from the top tier of medical students for its residents. There are myriad regulations that cover graduate medical education, and the program is regularly reviewed internally as well as by the external accrediting body to assure that it meets standards of excellence. Managing this enterprise is complicated. A small, but dedicated staff, together with an excellent program director, has kept this program one of the best in the country. The Department of Surgery is among the largest clinical departments within the School of Medicine, and its strategic and financial impact on UW Medicine are disproportionately greater than the size of the department. The department has grown substantially over the last 3-4 years, by about 25% -- and we continue to appropriately, but rapidly, add faculty, programs, and staff. As of January 2025, the department composition is 151 paid professorial track academic faculty located at all the UW clinical sites; 161 clinical faculty located throughout the community and WWAMI region; Four (4) ACGME residency programs (General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery) with 107 residents in these four programs. 20 ACGME and research fellowships; 150 administrative and research staff. More information about the Department of Surgery can be found at https://uwsurgery.org/.

Requirements

BA in education, business, communications, or other relevant field.
2 Years’ experience in administrative duties.
Exceptional organizational & time management skills: Ability to independently manage complex projects, prioritize tasks, and meet deadlines with minimal oversight.
Advanced communication & interpersonal skills: Strong written and verbal communication; able to build trust and collaborate effectively with faculty, staff, and trainees.
Strategic thinking & operational alignment: Capacity to see the big picture and align administrative processes with programmatic and institutional goals.
Technical proficiency & problem-solving ability: Expert-level use of Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe, Zoom, and scheduling tools; resourceful and analytical in resolving issues independently.

Nice To Haves

Prior work in an academic medical setting.
Prior work in graduate medical education programs.
Experience with MedHub and other UW GME systems.

Responsibilities

Calendar Management: Coordinate complex schedules to include management of their graduate medical education duties, their clinical practice and other academic duties.
Must have a strong understanding of all aspects of the work and manage the calendars to optimize priorities and time.
Meeting Preparation: Arrange a wide variety of meetings, to include (but not limited to) regular meetings with residents, mentors, all program directors and associate program directors, ad hoc taskforces, and the annual State of Residency meeting. Duties will include:
Communication Management: Manage recurring Division of Education communications by drafting and finalizing emails or other forms of communication, ensuring all members of the Education Division are up to date on policies, practices and other important communications.
Event Management: Work with leadership to plan Department of Education events. Oversee all logistics and planning for several large-scale and complex events, including (but not limited to): Annual Education Seminar; Education Team Building Day; DoS Education Graduation events; Bi-annual Residency Program Council
Project Coordination and support (under direction of Department of Education Leadership), including: Annual program evaluation and Clinical Competency Committee; Accreditation Data System updates and summative evaluations; Board of Surgery (ABS) application
Administer the Education Division Verifications System; maintain the database
Update the Division of Education intranet; maintain and make updates.
Schilling research and budget management