Vice Chair and Associate Chief of Staff of Mental Health

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (DPBS) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in partnership with the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS) is seeking candidates for the position of Vice Chair and Associate Chief of Staff (ACOS) of Mental Health for the SFVAHCS. This jointly appointed position oversees and coordinates educational and research activities between the DPBS and the SFVAHCS, represents and supervises DPBS faculty and staff based at the SFVAHCS, and specifically oversees clinical operations at the SFVAHCS. In addition, the incumbent has responsibility for strategic and operational management and oversight of the SFVAHCS’s Mental Health Service (MHS), including clinical, educational and research programs.

Overview of Institutions:

The UCSF DPBS is a national leader in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. The DPBS core missions include research, education, patient care, public service, and health equity. It is one of the largest departments in the School of Medicine and has an organizational structure that crosses all major UCSF and affiliated sites including UCSF’s Parnassus, Mount Zion, and Mission Bay campuses, Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, the SFVAHCS, and UCSF Fresno.

DPBS is also a core member of the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, which brings together world-class researchers, clinicians, and educators to solve some of the most complex challenges related to human brain health. Over the past decade, UCSF has made mental health, psychiatry, and the clinical and basic neurosciences a major institutional priority. UCSF DPBS, Neurology and Neurosurgery share “Best in the West” honors from US News and World Report and the DPBS Residency Program also ranks in the top 5 nationally.

The SFVAHCS is a complex medical facility and one of the premier institutions in the VA system. It is a major training site across multiple disciplines, and perennially ranks as the first or second among VAs in the country in terms of research funding. The SFVAHCS MHS provides comprehensive mental health care, including a 12-bed locked psychiatric unit (expected to reopen in September 2023), at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and seven outpatient clinics in Northern California. It has extensive nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and social work training programs, and exceptional research including in (but not limited to) the domains of dementia and cognitive decline, epidemiology, neuroimaging, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorders, insomnia, and suicide prevention.

Description of Vice Chair and ACOS Roles

The Vice Chair is responsible for overseeing all DPBS faculty and staff activity at the SFVAHCS and coordinates with other DPBS leadership on faculty searches and ensures that eligible staff at the SFVAHCS are proposed and vetted for faculty appointments. The incumbent works with staff to identify the appropriate series and tracks and provides mentorship and guidance on how to meet faculty responsibilities in their SFVAHCS role, including collaboration around mentorship for early career faculty at the SFVAHCS. There are currently over ninety DPBS faculty at the SFVAHCS.

The Vice Chair oversees and approves UCSF compensation for faculty based at the VA and is responsible for overseeing compliance by VA-based faculty with UCSF requirements (e.g., UCSF required trainings). The incumbent oversees all research activities, including approving IRB submissions, grant submissions, and other research related activity by VA-based faculty. The Vice Chair works with training directors of UCSF DPBS training programs with training components at the SFVAHCS to assure that they have the resources and support necessary for success. The incumbent represents DPBS interests to leadership at the SFVAHCS.

As Vice Chair, the incumbent is a member of the DPBS leadership structure, and promotes coordination and synergies of the department’s clinical, education, research, health equity, and public service missions across all campuses. The incumbent sits on the department’s Executive Committee, helps coordinate joint SFVAHCS/UCSF recruitments and hires, and serves as a key strategist and advisor to the chair, working closely with other members of the leadership team.

As ACOS of Mental Health for the SFVAHCS the incumbent is responsible for all strategic and operational aspects of the MHS. The programs under the ACOS consist of patient care services, research, and education. The ACOS of MH oversees clinical programs that include (but are not limited to) substance abuse, Mental Health Intensive Case Management, PTSD specialty services, inpatient, and outpatient psychiatry, geropsychiatry, integrated health, pain management, health psychology, neuropsychology, women’s mental health programs, and suicide prevention. The scope of professional services provided encompasses the full range of diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, and evaluative techniques.

As in the Vice Chair role, the ACOS oversees and approves all research activities in the MHS and assures that VA researchers have the necessary resources to succeed. The ACOS is responsible for training programs including clinical MH nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and MH social work.

The incumbent also represents the MHS throughout the healthcare system, maintains interdepartmental relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals, advises senior facility and agency leadership on mental health issues, is the proponent for the academic mission within mental health. The ACOS of MH serves on the Medical Executive Committee of the medical center with full voting privileges.

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates whose leadership experience has prepared them to promote excellence in clinical care, research, training, and public service and who have a demonstrated a sustained commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Preferred qualifications include a strong record of leadership and a national reputation of creative, disseminated contributions to academic medicine in one or more of these core missions.

The incumbent will have a proven ability to attract and lead a group of innovative and productive clinicians, educators, and researchers, and a track-record of outstanding productivity and significant administrative and leadership experience. The incumbent will collaborate with colleagues, both internally and externally, and contribute innovative and strategic approaches to promoting the highest quality care, supporting innovative research, ensuring outstanding multi-disciplinary training, and advancing health equity.

Qualified applicants must possess an MD, PhD, or equivalent. Applicants must be ABPN-certified in Psychiatry or have completed an APA-approved clinical psychology internship. This position will be compensated at both institutions based upon experience and level of accomplishment.

Recruitment or moving cost incentives may be available to the candidate chosen.