Job Description
The Vice Dean for Research, School of Medicine provides senior school-level leadership for the research mission of the School of Medicine within the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. Reporting directly to the Dean, the Vice Dean serves as the Dean’s principal advisor and accountable leader for advancing the School of Medicine’s research strategy, strengthening faculty and trainee research capacity, supporting growth in extramural funding, and integrating the research mission with the school’s clinical, educational, and service missions.
This role is designed to complement, not duplicate, the broader VHS and university research administration structure. The Vice Dean for Research is responsible for translating institutional and VHS research priorities into school-level strategies, working directly with department chairs, faculty investigators, research centers, students, residents, fellows, and administrative leaders to advance research productivity and scholarly impact within the School of Medicine. The position collaborates closely with the VHS Senior Associate Vice President for Research, the Associate Dean for Research Administration, ODURF, and central research administration functions to ensure alignment with enterprise research strategy, sponsored programs processes, compliance requirements, research infrastructure, and cross-school opportunities.
The Vice Dean for Research will provide leadership across the continuum of medical school research, including basic science, translational research, clinical research, population health, community-engaged research, clinical trials, and student and trainee scholarship. The role will also support a disciplined governance structure for setting research priorities, monitoring key performance indicators, identifying barriers to research growth, and advising the Dean on resource needs and strategic investments.
Responsibilities
General Function
The Vice Dean for Research provides strategic leadership, coordination, and faculty-facing support for the School of Medicine’s research enterprise. The role advances the school’s research mission by developing school-level research priorities, facilitating collaboration across departments and disciplines, supporting faculty investigators and physician-scientists, strengthening clinical and translational research opportunities, and ensuring that the School of Medicine is effectively represented in the broader VHS and university research enterprise.
The position works in close partnership with VHS research leadership and research administration offices to align school-level research activity with institutional strategy, compliance frameworks, sponsored programs requirements, clinical research infrastructure, and external partnership opportunities.
Key Responsibilities
School-Level Research Strategy and Governance
- Develop, in collaboration with the Dean, VHS research leadership, department chairs, and other key stakeholders, a school-level research strategy that aligns with the School of Medicine’s academic, clinical, educational, and service missions.
- Translate VHS and University research priorities into actionable School of Medicine goals, initiatives, and performance expectations.
- Advise the Dean on research priorities, emerging opportunities, resource needs, faculty support needs, research infrastructure, and strategic investments.
- Establish and maintain school-level research goals, key performance indicators, and reporting mechanisms to monitor progress in areas such as extramural funding, proposal activity, clinical trials, publications, student and trainee scholarship, research collaborations, and faculty development.
- Chair or oversee a School of Medicine Research Advisory Committee or similar governance body that advises the Dean on research priorities, performance measures, policy needs, resource allocation, and strategic opportunities.
- Partner with department chairs to develop or expand departmental research goals that align with school-level priorities and department-specific performance indicators.
Faculty Research Development and Mentorship
- Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to School of Medicine faculty, including physician-scientists, basic science faculty, clinical investigators, and early-career researchers.
- Support faculty development strategies that improve grant readiness, proposal quality, resubmission success, scholarly productivity, and long-term research career development.
- Work with department chairs and research leaders to identify faculty with high research potential and connect them with appropriate mentorship, collaborators, internal resources, pilot funding opportunities, and external funding pathways.
- Promote interdisciplinary and interprofessional research collaborations across the School of Medicine, VHS, ODU, healthcare partners, community partners, and external academic institutions.
- Support the recruitment, retention, and development of research-active faculty by advising on research expectations, infrastructure needs, startup considerations, and opportunities for collaboration.
Research Development, Grant Growth, and Sponsored Research Support
- Collaborate with VHS research administration, ODURF, and central sponsored programs functions to strengthen the school’s grant development infrastructure and improve faculty access to pre-award and post-award support.
- Identify opportunities to increase extramural funding from federal agencies, foundations, industry, philanthropy, and other external sponsors.
- Facilitate school-level support for major grant opportunities, including multi-investigator grants, training grants, center grants, clinical and translational research awards, and strategic institutional proposals.
- Work with department chairs and faculty investigators to identify barriers to grant submission and develop practical strategies to improve proposal development, internal review, resubmission, and award management coordination.
- Monitor and report school-level research activity and funding trends in collaboration with VHS research leadership and research administration offices.
Clinical Research, Translational Research, and Clinical Trials
- Provide leadership for the growth and coordination of clinical research and clinical trials opportunities within the School of Medicine.
- Collaborate with clinical departments, healthcare partners, VHS research administration, and relevant institutional offices to strengthen clinical research infrastructure, investigator support, study activation processes, and clinical trial participation.
- Promote collaboration between basic science, translational, clinical, and population health researchers to accelerate movement from discovery to clinical application and community health impact.
- Identify and cultivate relationships with industry, academic, healthcare, community, and governmental partners to create new research and clinical trial opportunities.
- Support alignment between clinical research priorities and the strategic goals of the School of Medicine, VHS, affiliated healthcare partners, and community health needs.
Student, Resident, Fellow, and Trainee Research
- Support and strengthen research opportunities for medical students, residents, fellows, graduate students, and other trainees affiliated with the School of Medicine.
- Partner with the Office of Medical Student Research, graduate medical education leaders, program directors, faculty mentors, and VHS research leadership to ensure student and trainee research opportunities are accessible, well-coordinated, and aligned with the school’s academic mission.
- Promote research training pathways, scholarly concentration opportunities, summer research experiences, research symposia, and other programs that develop the next generation of investigators and physician-scientists.
- Support integration of research and scholarly activity into the medical education and clinical training environment in a manner consistent with accreditation expectations and institutional priorities.
Research Operations, Infrastructure, and Resource Advocacy
- Advise the Dean on school-level research infrastructure needs, including research space, core services, shared resources, data and analytics support, clinical research infrastructure, and administrative support models.
- Collaborate with VHS research leadership, central research administration, facilities, information technology, and department leaders to identify operational barriers to research growth and recommend solutions.
- Advocate for appropriate financial, staffing, space, and infrastructure resources to support school-level research priorities.
- Provide guidance regarding the use of Dean’s research funds, pilot funding, bridge support, or other discretionary research investments, as assigned by the Dean.
- Support communication strategies that improve alignment among the School of Medicine, VHS research leadership, ODURF, central research administration, departments, faculty investigators, and clinical partners.
Research Compliance, Integrity, and Institutional Alignment
- Promote a culture of research integrity, responsible conduct of research, compliance, transparency, and accountability within the School of Medicine.
- Collaborate with VHS research leadership, the Associate Dean for Research Administration, ODURF, IRB, IACUC, conflict of interest, research integrity, export control, data security, and other institutional compliance functions to support compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, sponsor requirements, and institutional procedures.
- Assist in identifying and addressing research compliance risks affecting the School of Medicine, including issues related to clinical research, human subjects research, animal research, conflicts of interest, data management, research security, and sponsor requirements.
- Ensure that school-level research policies, practices, communications, and processes are aligned with VHS and university research administration requirements.
- Serve as a school-level liaison and escalation point for research-related operational and compliance concerns, while preserving the authority and responsibilities of central compliance and research administration offices.
External Representation, Partnerships, and Visibility
- Represent the School of Medicine in internal and external research-related forums, committees, working groups, and strategic initiatives, as assigned by the Dean.
- Collaborate with VHS research leadership to identify and pursue cross-school, university-wide, regional, national, industry, philanthropic, and community research partnerships.
- Support technology transfer, innovation, commercialization, and intellectual property opportunities in coordination with the appropriate institutional offices.
- Promote the visibility and reputation of the School of Medicine’s research enterprise through strategic communication, faculty recognition, research events, partnerships, and external engagement.
Management and Supervisory Responsibilities
Management and supervisory responsibilities will be determined based on final organizational design. The position may provide functional leadership, direction, or oversight to school-level research committees, research support initiatives, faculty workgroups, or staff supporting the School of Medicine research mission. Direct supervision of staff may be assigned if the school establishes a dedicated research office or related administrative support structure under this role.
Budgetary Responsibility
Provides strategic guidance and recommendations regarding the use of Dean’s research funds and other school-level resources designated to support research priorities. Advocates for financial resources, staffing, infrastructure, pilot funding, bridge funding, and other investments needed to advance the School of Medicine’s research mission. Collaborates with the Dean, department chairs, VHS research leadership, finance leadership, ODURF, and central research administration to align school-level research investments with institutional strategy, compliance requirements, sponsor expectations, and available resources.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- M.D., Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., or other terminal degree in a discipline relevant to the biomedical, clinical, translational, population health, or health sciences research mission of the School of Medicine.
- Demonstrated record of research accomplishment, scholarly productivity, and extramural funding or equivalent evidence of sustained research leadership.
- Experience mentoring faculty, trainees, or interdisciplinary research teams.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with department chairs, faculty investigators, clinical leaders, research administrators, students, trainees, and senior institutional leaders.
- Knowledge of the research environment in an academic health center, including sponsored programs, clinical research, research compliance, faculty development, and research infrastructure needs.
- Strong communication, collaboration, analytical, problem-solving, and change leadership skills.
Location : Location
US-VA-Norfolk
