Lead Health Professions Education at the Nashville VA Medical Center Physician – Designated Education Officer (Associate Chief of Staff for Education)

The Nashville VA Medical Center is seeking a physician leader to serve as our Designated Education Officer (DEO), also known as the Associate Chief of Staff for Education (ACOS-E). In this key executive role, you will shape the vision, strategy, and quality of all health professions education across a complex, academically rich VA healthcare system.

You will provide oversight for a full spectrum of paid and WOC health professions trainees, partnering closely with the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) and multiple academic affiliates to ensure outstanding trainee education and exceptional Veteran care. This includes stewardship of accreditation, funding, trainee onboarding, and affiliate relationships across multiple disciplines in alignment with VHA directives and national accreditation standards.

In this role, you will:

• Lead and evaluate all health professions training programs at the facility, ensuring safe, high-quality care delivered by trainees.
• Oversee accreditation compliance, trainee credentials and appointments, and educational fiscal management.
• Serve as the primary liaison with affiliate Designated Institutional Officials, program directors, and education leaders.
• Advise facility leadership on education policy, risk mitigation, and strategic growth of Health Professions Education (HPE) programs.
• Advocate for resources, innovation, and data-driven improvement in the educational enterprise.

Join us in Nashville—one of the nation’s most vibrant academic and cultural hubs—and help train the next generation of clinicians who will care for America’s Veterans.

If you are a collaborative, mission-driven education leader ready to have system-level impact, we invite you to apply and learn more through VA Careers.

For more information or to apply, please send your CV to Jason.tafoya@va.gov. To schedule a time to speak, copy and paste the following URL into your browser:

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/JasonTafoyaVA@DVAGOV.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

The Department of Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) is an integrated, complex-1A health care system. VA TVHS is comprised of a mixture of rural and urban settings which include two large medical centers and thirteen outpatient clinics. Our main medical center campuses are the Alvin C. York Campus which is located in Murfreesboro, TN, and the Nashville Campus which is located in Nashville, TN. Our patient care outreach is comprised of community based outpatient clinics located throughout Tennessee which are VA staffed clinics at Athens, Chattanooga, Clarksville, and Tullahoma with contract clinics in Cookeville, Dover, McMinnville, Maury County, and Roane County.

Paid Time Off:

• 26 Days paid annual (vacation/personal) leave
• 13 Days paid sick leave each year with no limit on accumulation
• 11 Federal holidays with pay annually
• 5 Days paid absence to attend approved CME courses

Insurance:

• Health Insurance: VA employees have an outstanding number of health insurance plans from which to choose (premiums are partially paid by VA) Lifetime Healthcare Insurance options available
• Dental & Vision: Our insurance options also include exceptional vision and dental plans (premiums are partially paid by VA)
• VA employees have the option to use Flexible Spending Accounts, which allow you to use tax-free dollars to pay for medical, dental, and vision care expenses that are not reimbursed by your health insurance plan
• Term life insurance, family, and additional coverage options are available with the cost shared by the Federal Government
• Long-term care insurance is available as an option

Federal Retirement Plan:

• VA employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). FERS is a three-tiered retirement plan composed of 1) Social Security benefits, 2) FERS-RAE basic benefits (pension), and 3) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) which is a 401K-type plan
• How is the pension funded? VA employees automatically contribute 4.4% of their salary each pay period and the VA contributes 12.2% of the employee’s salary each pay period for a total annual contribution percentage equal to 16.6% of the employee’s salary
• Similar to the 401(k) savings plans widely available in the private sector, the TSP allows employees to tax defer a portion of their income each year, subject to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service. For calendar year 2025, employees under the age of 50 may contribute up to $23,500, while those over age 50 are eligible to make catch-up contributions that allow them to defer up to $31,000.
• The Federal Government also provides an automatic basic contribution (1% of salary) and up to 4% of salary in matching contributions, depending on the amount of the employee contribution
• For retired military personnel, these benefits are in addition to full monthly retirement pay or pension
• In addition to FERS, VA provides health care insurance coverage for retired personnel
• Disability Retirement
• Employees are vested in a federal pension after only 5 years service