How to become director of a hospital or dean of a medical school?

BU Medical Sciences
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members don't see this ad :)
Yes true but actually a lot of hospital directors (or executives at least) seem to just have MD
 
calipremed5768 said:
Yes true but actually a lot of hospital directors (or executives at least) seem to just have MD
Click to expand...
I would guess that's because most directors or executives desire to have that role once they have been involved in the healthcare system for an extended period of time, like working as a physician. Like most threads you've started, I would say that college-aged students desiring to be administrators of hospitals is pretty atypical.
 
calipremed5768 said:
What is the typical path from MD to a role like this?
Click to expand...
To get to be a dean, you need to rise up the ranks of administration. Typically it will be:

Faculty
Dep't Chair or Division Head
Assistant or Associate Dean position (for example, Dean of Curriculum)
Finally, Full Dean.

These positions are advertised in medical or medical education journals when new schools open, or Deans resign/retire or die.

Networking skills are crucial, as are administrative ones. Fundraising or a successful grant history is also important. Having vision is also a requirement, especially at a new school.

Deans are also paid to lie.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Goro said:
To get to be a dean, you need to rise up the ranks of administration. Typically it will be:

Faculty
Dep't Chair or Division Head
Assistant or Associate Dean position (for example, Dean of Curriculum)
Finally, Full Dean.

These positions are advertised in medical or medical education journals when new schools open, or Deans resign/retire or die.

Networking skills are crucial, as are administrative ones. Fundraising or a successful grant history is also important. Having vision is also a requirement, especially at a new school.

Deans are also paid to lie.
Click to expand...
And if you’re the dean of USC you get paid to do a lot of other things...
 
Choose a large specialty (like IM) that offers flexibility and lots of leadership/administrative opportunities so you can network and gain experience
 
calipremed5768 said:
What is the typical path from MD to a role like this?
Click to expand...

you gotta be a world-class "slurper" and lick your way to the top of the cone as chronicled in

1566518266905.png

probably idk
 
Goro said:
To get to be a dean, you need to rise up the ranks of administration. Typically it will be:

Faculty
Dep't Chair or Division Head
Assistant or Associate Dean position (for example, Dean of Curriculum)
Finally, Full Dean.

These positions are advertised in medical or medical education journals when new schools open, or Deans resign/retire or die.

Networking skills are crucial, as are administrative ones. Fundraising or a successful grant history is also important. Having vision is also a requirement, especially at a new school.

Deans are also paid to lie.
Click to expand...

If someone is interested in this type of work, are there things that they should be considering doing as part of their medical school experience/school choice (assuming they are lucky enough to have multiple choices)/specialty choice related to it? For example, some schools offer specific MedEd pathways. Would this make a significant difference? Or is this a trajectory where it just matters that you do what you do well, get some grant writing experience/fundraising as you’ve said, and then enter the pathway later in your career?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!
 
Angus Avagadro said:
Many are retired staff physicians from that particular hospital. I would get an online degree in education or hospital administration. They are abundant
Click to expand...

I would also be interested in an online MD degree. Would that be on par with the Caribbean?
 
MD-MBA but a lot of people say you forget all the MBA stuff by the time you're done with residency, but the title is nice.
 
You can’t really plan a trajectory for becoming a dean. You need to rise through the academic ranks so first you need to get into the academic ranks (i.e prove yourself as an academic/scholar/researcher in addition to as a physician). Then you need to be really, really good at politics. People need to like you. You need to be good at fundraising and public speaking because that’s like half of your job. You need to prove you can run a large, financially complicated enterprise which is why most deans are dept Chiefs or dept Chairs first, ideally at a very well known dept in ur field.

When a position opens up you need to be well known and liked enough to appear on the search committees list.

Lewis Thomas has an essay on being a dean at both Yale and NYU in Medusa and the Snail, i believe. “On the governance of a medical school” or something like that
 
Cornfed101 said:
I would also be interested in an online MD degree. Would that be on par with the Caribbean?
Click to expand...
Dont see why not. It most likely wont be recognized by any licensing body, so you could not get a license but could call yourself an MD. CRNAs in the 90s got Doctor of Divinity degrees online and were referring to themselves as Dr XYZ from anesthesia to patients. The state medical board had to get involved to get them to stop. Now, they get a PhD with their degree, so here we go again.
Some schools have an Independent Study track, but you have to be pretty exceptional to get accepted to it.
 
For hospital - there are different types of physician executives - there are CEO, and there are CMO (chief medical officer)

Usually you start as staff. Hospitals usually have lots of committees and task force. You start by joining a few ... there will be meetings, and more meetings, and follow-up meetings. In between meetings there will be emails. Occasional power point presentations will be required. After a while, if the opportunity opens up, you could be ask to serve as division (or section) chief. Whether this is via vote by division, or via selection committee, or appointment by the department chair or medical executive committee, or search committee depends on the hospital and how seriously they take themselves. Sometimes the selection is by default if no one else wants the job. This promotion results in more meetings, especially among different divisions in the same department. If the opportunity arises, there could be vacancy at the department chair level ... and if you're worthy - you get appointed to that. From here, if you focus on meeting with board of directors, as well as administrations from other lines of service (nursing, pharmacy, lab, etc) and show potential for organization, plus awareness of fundraising, strategic planning - you could be slated for the hospital administration pathway. If you still want to practice as a physician and be a liaison between physicians and hospital administrators - you can head toward the chief medical officer role.

Every hospital organization is structured differently so the above is just generalizations. And the more administrative task you sign yourself up to do, the fewer the opportunities to actually practice clinically.

As an example

Here's the bio for the Chief Medical Officer at Cleveland Clinic (an MD)
my.clevelandclinic.org

Robert Wyllie, MD | Cleveland Clinic

Find professional and biographical information about Cleveland Clinic physician Robert Wyllie, MD
my.clevelandclinic.org my.clevelandclinic.org

Here's the bio for the Chief Executive Officer at Cleveland Clinic (also an MD)
my.clevelandclinic.org

Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD | Cleveland Clinic

Find professional and biographical information about Cleveland Clinic physician Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD
my.clevelandclinic.org my.clevelandclinic.org
 
Angus Avagadro said:
Dont see why not. It most likely wont be recognized by any licensing body, so you could not get a license but could call yourself an MD. CRNAs in the 90s got Doctor of Divinity degrees online and were referring to themselves as Dr XYZ from anesthesia to patients. The state medical board had to get involved to get them to stop. Now, they get a PhD with their degree, so here we go again.
Some schools have an Independent Study track, but you have to be pretty exceptional to get accepted to it.
Click to expand...

"Reverend Doctor Smith, CRNA will be putting you under for surgery today"
 
InfectiousLaughter said:
If someone is interested in this type of work, are there things that they should be considering doing as part of their medical school experience/school choice (assuming they are lucky enough to have multiple choices)/specialty choice related to it? For example, some schools offer specific MedEd pathways. Would this make a significant difference? Or is this a trajectory where it just matters that you do what you do well, get some grant writing experience/fundraising as you’ve said, and then enter the pathway later in your career?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!
Click to expand...
You tell me:

drexel.edu

Charles B. Cairns, MD, Named Drexel College of Medicine Dean

Charles B. Cairns, MD, will become the next Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. He will succeed Daniel V. Schidlow, MD, who announced last year that he planned to retire this summer.
drexel.edu drexel.edu

The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean | Leadership | Albert Einstein College of Medicine

www.einstein.yu.edu www.einstein.yu.edu

Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS

Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FRCS, Ed (Hon)
www.wakehealth.edu www.wakehealth.edu

Lawrence G. Smith, MD, MACP | Northwell Health

Lawrence G. Smith, MD, MACP, is the dean Emeritus of the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He previously served as physician-in-chief, Northwell Health's senior physician on all clinical issues and as Northwell’s chief medical officer.
www.northwell.edu www.northwell.edu

Robert Simari

Robert Simari bio page
www.kumc.edu www.kumc.edu

medicine.wustl.edu

About Dean Perlmutter | WashU Medicine

A national leader in the field of pediatric gastroenterology with decades of experience in academic medicine, David H. Perlmutter, MD, is executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
medicine.wustl.edu medicine.wustl.edu
 
Or in my experience, do a Chief year, see/experience the administrative life, and run screaming back to clinical medicine forever with increased gratitude 😉. Admin work in medicine is a thankless grind *to me* but someone’s gotta do it and sometimes you having to do it is better than the alternative of someone worse doing it, so I’m willing to do some, but not as a primary career.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

smc285
Chances of Getting Into a T20 Medical School
Replies
5
Views
3K
wysdoc
wysdoc
DiavoloAlighieri
How to improve at medical scribing outside of the workplace?
Replies
3
Views
439
NOLZAOINK
N
F
  • Locked
What kind of school to apply
Replies
4
Views
391
chilly_md
chilly_md
M
Medical School as a Paraplegic
Replies
7
Views
1K
gyngyn
gyngyn
Mr.Smile12
Study of course requirements among medical schools
Replies
0
Views
333
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top