Surgery Clerkship Director (Assistant Professor/Associate Professor/Full Professor)

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Position Summary:

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University seeks an accomplished surgeon-educator to serve as Surgery Clerkship Director, reporting to the Chair of the Department of Surgery with a secondary academic reporting relationship to the Associate Dean for Medical Education. This leadership role provides strategic direction and oversight for the required Surgery Clerkship within the College’s longitudinal integrated clinical curriculum, ensuring excellence in surgical education, student assessment, faculty engagement, and clinical learning experiences across affiliated training sites.

The Surgery Clerkship Director will work closely with Undergraduate Medical Education leadership, faculty, residents, and affiliated clinical partners to advance curriculum innovation, continuous quality improvement, and compliance with LCME accreditation standards. This position includes a 0.5 FTE educational and administrative appointment and a 0.5 FTE clinical faculty appointment, with the expectation of maintaining an active surgical practice that supports outstanding patient care, bedside teaching, learner mentorship, and surgical resident education. The successful candidate will have a track record demonstrating a commitment to fostering academic excellence, professionalism, and student success while helping prepare the next generation of physicians.

Primary Responsibilities

The Surgery Clerkship Director’s primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide overall leadership, administration, and oversight of the required surgery clerkship across all affiliated clinical training sites.
• Direct the supervision of medical students during their assigned surgical clerkship experiences throughout the Medical and Surgical Sciences Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship by:
  • Providing direct clinical supervision and bedside teaching at the Director's primary clinical practice site(s).
  • Maintaining regular communication with site directors, clerkship coordinators, preceptors, and core teaching faculty to ensure consistency in educational experiences and student assessment.
  • Attend monthly Clerkship Director meetings and any additional meetings necessary to review student performance and curriculum implementation issues.
  • Periodically visit all clinical teaching sites for the surgery clerkship to observe and ensure high quality and positive learning environments.
• Enhance and continuously refine the surgery clerkship curriculum, in collaboration with the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, in accordance with LCME accreditation standards and institutional educational objectives.
• Deliver surgery lectures to various levels of medical students each year and facilitate Diagnosis & Reasoning (DR) rounds for the clerkship students at the College of Medicine during in-person weekly academic half day.
• Develop, organize, and oversee the annual schedule of didactic lectures and educational activities, ensuring appropriate faculty participation and instructional quality.
• Oversee student assessment and evaluation, including preparation and review of narrative evaluations and timely submission of final clerkship grades in coordination with the Surgery Clerkship grading committee.
• Prepare all student narrative comments for the surgery clerkship that will be included in the students’ Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE/Dean’s Letter).
• Provide timely formative and summative feedback to students regarding clinical performance, professionalism, medical knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, and achievement of clerkship learning objectives.
• Serve as a feedback coach to provide ongoing formative feedback to students, including review of goals achieved, strengths, adequacy of patient load and experiences, and areas for continuing work.
• Develop individualized performance improvement and/or remediation plans for students demonstrating academic or professional deficiencies, establish measurable goals and timelines, and monitor progress, in collaboration with Year 3 Curriculum Director/Co-Director, and communicate outcomes to the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, the Associate Dean for Medical Education, Chair of the Department of Surgery, and the Medical Student Promotions and Professional Standards Committee, when appropriate.
• Regularly evaluate the adequacy of clinical experiences, patient volume, faculty teaching effectiveness, and educational resources across all clerkship sites.
• Provide regular reports to the Chair of the Department of Surgery regarding clerkship performance, curricular initiatives, faculty participation, student outcomes, accreditation issues, and resource needs.
• Serve as a mentor and career advisor to medical students pursuing careers in surgery, including guidance regarding residency applications, career planning, research opportunities, and professional development.
• Work directly with FAU General Surgery residents during the clinical portion of the appointment and promote integration of clerkship students into the resident educational experience whenever appropriate.
• Serve as an active educational leader within the FAU General Surgery Residency Program by participating in:
  • Clinical Competency Committee (CCC)
  • Annual Program Evaluation Committee (APEC)
  • Resident didactic education
  • Surgical skills laboratories
  • Residency recruitment and applicant interviews
• Prepare letters of recommendation for students applying to Surgery residency programs and any other letters of recommendation requested by students to support their success (ex. research opportunities, away rotations, scholarships), as appropriate.
• Participate in ongoing curriculum evaluation and quality improvement initiatives by analyzing clerkship outcomes, student feedback, faculty evaluations, and national best practices in surgical education, and implementing curricular improvements as indicated.
• Build and maintain collaborative relationships with faculty, site directors, and educational leaders at each affiliated training site while proactively identifying and resolving issues affecting the quality of the clerkship.
• Provide faculty development and constructive feedback to teaching faculty to enhance the educational experience, teaching effectiveness, learner assessment, and mentorship of medical students.
• Complete annual evaluations for Surgery affiliate faculty who teach and mentor medical students for review by the Associate Dean for Medical Education and the College's Committee on Appointments and Promotions, which oversees affiliate faculty appointments, reappointments, and promotions.
• Participate in LCME accreditation preparation, documentation, and site visits as requested.
• Assist in the development, implementation, and evaluation of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), simulation-based education, and other innovative instructional activities within the FAU College of Medicine.
• Perform additional administrative, educational, and departmental responsibilities as assigned by the Chair of the Department of Surgery.

Clinical Practice Expectations

The Surgery Clerkship Director is expected to maintain an active clinical surgical practice within the Department of Surgery. The incumbent must demonstrate a sustained commitment to excellence in patient care while providing a diverse and meaningful clinical learning environment for medical students and surgical residents.

The clinical practice should provide sufficient patient volume and operative experience to support high-quality bedside teaching, clinical supervision, and mentorship of learners. The Clerkship Director is expected to model professionalism, evidence-based surgical care, and effective interdisciplinary collaboration, while integrating medical students into appropriate clinical and operative experiences consistent with the educational objectives of the Surgery Clerkship.

Overall Expectations

The Surgery Clerkship Director is expected to demonstrate excellence in clinical teaching, educational leadership, curriculum development, faculty mentorship, student advising, and continuous quality improvement. The successful candidate will serve as a key educational leader within both the Department of Surgery and the College of Medicine while fostering a culture of professionalism, accountability, academic excellence, and innovation in surgical education.

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