Vice Chair for Clinical Operations for the Department of Radiation Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University

Jefferson Health Plans•Gibbon, MN

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Department of Radiation Oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, seeks an experienced radiation oncologist to serve as Vice Chair for Clinical Operations. This senior leadership position reports directly to the Department Chair and works closely with the Associate Vice President of Radiation Oncology to lead clinical, operational, and strategic performance across the enterprise. The Vice Chair is the Chair’s principal deputy for the clinical enterprise and is accountable for the safety, quality, consistency, and efficiency of radiation oncology care across Jefferson Health facilities, as well as strategic growth across the regions. The role combines active clinical practice with operational leadership and continued academic faculty engagement. Following Jefferson Health’s combination with Lehigh Valley Health Network, the radiation oncology enterprise spans Philadelphia, South Jersey, the Lehigh Valley, and northeastern Pennsylvania. The Vice Chair will integrate academic, community, and regional sites under common quality, safety, and practice standards while respecting local relationships and referral patterns. The role oversees clinical operations, physician governance, safety and quality systems, accreditation readiness, clinical pathways, multidisciplinary programs, technology deployment, staffing and capacity, and integration across legacy Jefferson and Lehigh Valley sites. It also supports enterprise strategic planning, budgets, workforce planning, clinical informatics, faculty performance, and institutional representation, while ensuring operations advance research, education, and the academic mission. The Vice Chair is expected to provide direct patient care at the Academic Hub in Center City for approximately two days per week, maintain an active clinical practice, meet departmental clinical expectations, and travel regularly to sites across the network. Academic contributions include research, clinical trial support, teaching, mentoring, and committee service. The department is part of Sidney Kimmel Medical College and delivers care across Jefferson Health. It has an ACGME-accredited residency program, an active clinical trials portfolio, and research programs in radiation biology, medical physics, precision oncology, and clinical and digital health. Care is delivered in partnership with the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute in April 2024. The operational scope extends beyond the Cancer Center’s seven-county catchment area to the full Jefferson Health radiation oncology network.

Requirements

MD, DO, or MD/PhD degree.
Board certification in Radiation Oncology by the American Board of Radiology, or board eligibility with certification expected within 12 months of appointment.
Eligibility for unrestricted medical licensure in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Eligibility for faculty appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor at Sidney Kimmel Medical College; rank commensurate with academic record.
Five to seven years of practice beyond training, including demonstrated formal leadership in clinical operations, quality, or safety.
Demonstrated experience with radiation oncology quality and safety systems, accreditation processes, and performance metrics.
Evidence of effective multidisciplinary collaboration and successful clinical program development.
Strong communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, and change management skills, with credibility to lead peers across multiple sites.
Maintain active medical licensure, board certification, and hospital privileges at assigned sites.
Meet departmental expectations for clinical productivity, documentation, peer review, coverage and call, and patient experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading clinical operations across multiple sites or within an integrated health system network.
Experience with post-merger or post-affiliation clinical integration, including harmonizing standards, metrics, and governance across organizations.
Effectiveness working with community and regional physicians and hospital leadership, beyond an academic medical center setting.
Formal management training such as an MBA, MHA, MMM, or executive leadership program.
Working knowledge of radiation oncology reimbursement, coding, and alternative payment models.
Experience with clinical informatics, operational analytics, or AI-enabled workflow improvement.
Record of peer-reviewed scholarship and participation in cooperative group or investigator-initiated clinical trials.

Responsibilities

Oversee clinical workflows, patient safety, quality metrics, and multidisciplinary program development across radiation oncology facilities.
Provide enterprise physician leadership in partnership with Regional Medical Directors and Site Medical Directors, establishing expectations for performance, access, quality, productivity, professionalism, clinical citizenship, and adherence to enterprise standards.
Establish and lead physician governance across the enterprise, including decision-making, escalation, accountability, and dissemination of clinical standards.
Oversee clinical workflows across all sites, from consultation through survivorship handoff, emphasizing timely access and reducing unwarranted variation.
Lead patient safety systems, including event and near-miss reporting, root cause and common cause analysis, corrective action plans, and follow-through with frontline staff.
Define, monitor, and act on the departmental quality dashboard and its clinical and patient-experience measures.
Lead and standardize peer review, chart rounds, and prospective contour and plan reviews across sites.
Maintain accreditation and regulatory readiness, and lead survey preparation, response, and remediation.
Develop and maintain evidence-based treatment guidelines, care pathways, and technical standards, and oversee their adoption across the network.
Develop multidisciplinary programs with disease-site leaders and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, including tumor boards, multidisciplinary clinics, and aligned pathways.
Guide clinical deployment of advanced technologies and techniques, including credentialing, competency, and equitable geographic access.
Partner with medical physics, dosimetry, radiation therapy, nursing, and advanced practice leadership on staffing, scope of practice, competency, and workflow design.
Manage clinical capacity, including machine utilization, scheduling, downtime, disaster planning, cross-site coverage, and patient transfer protocols.
Lead clinical integration across legacy Jefferson and Lehigh Valley Health Network sites, harmonizing standards and operations while preserving effective local practice and referral relationships.
Promote equitable access and consistent quality across academic, community, and regional sites, including multidisciplinary review and clinical trial access.
Develop an enterprise framework for Centers of Excellence and regional specialization, defining which capabilities should be broadly distributed and which concentrated at designated centers.
Assist the Department Chair with clinical operations and strategic planning; serve as the Chair’s principal deputy and represent the Chair in designated forums as delegated.
Work in dyad partnership with the Associate Vice President of Radiation Oncology to align physician leadership with operations, finance, workforce, capital planning, and strategic execution.
Co-lead annual strategic planning, operating and capital budget development, and performance-to-budget review for the clinical enterprise.
Contribute to clinical workforce planning, including staffing models, site assignments, coverage, call schedules, recruitment, and onboarding.
Help design and administer clinical effort, productivity, and incentive frameworks, and participate in faculty performance review and professionalism expectations.
Oversee clinical informatics supporting operations, including the oncology information system, EHR integration, scheduling, registries, dashboards, and workflow improvement, in coordination with institutional teams.
Coordinate with fellow Vice Chairs so clinical operations support research accrual and trainee education.
Ensure clinical operations support the academic mission, including trial accrual, trainee education, prospective data collection, implementation research, and dissemination of clinical innovation.
Represent the department to hospital, cancer center, medical school, and enterprise administrative leadership, and serve on relevant institutional operating committees.
Provide direct patient care at the Academic Hub in Center City for an expected two days per week.
Maintain an active, high-quality clinical practice aligned with departmental needs and the candidate’s expertise.
Meet expectations for clinical productivity, documentation timeliness, peer review participation, coverage and call, and patient experience.
Model the safety, quality, and pathway-adherence standards overseen by the role; maintain active licensure, board certification, and hospital privileges at assigned sites.
Travel regularly to network sites, including the Lehigh Valley and northeastern Pennsylvania, as operational responsibilities require.
Participate in research, resident education, and departmental, hospital, and medical school committees; produce scholarship commensurate with academic rank.
Support clinical trial accrual across the network and extend trial access to community and regional sites.
Teach and mentor residents, fellows, and medical students, including instruction in quality, safety, and health care operations.
Mentor junior faculty and advanced practice providers in clinical and operational leadership.
Maintain engagement with national professional and cooperative group organizations.