Director of Evaluation Undergraduate Medical Education; UME

Director of Evaluation for Undergraduate Medical Education (UME)

Director of Evaluation for Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) role at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
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This open rank faculty position provides strategic leadership and oversight of evaluation, data analytics, and scholarly inquiry to inform and advance undergraduate medical education (UME) at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine. This role is responsible for shaping the vision, strategy, and execution of the UME evaluation enterprise to ensure alignment with institutional priorities, accreditation standards, and best practices in medical education.

• Strategic Leadership
• Provide strategic vision, leadership, and oversight of program evaluation and educational research for undergraduate medical education
• Supervise and mentor research analyst(s) ensuring high-quality execution of assigned activities
• Act as a content expert on educational data analytics and evaluation, advising other faculty, staff, and leadership on best practices and data-informed decision making
• Anticipate emerging data needs and proactively design solutions that leverage advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and visualization tools
• Anticipate challenges and proactively develop solutions to support the educational mission and advance the objectives of the Evaluation Team
• Collaborate with undergraduate medical education partners to facilitate the use of collected data to drive data-informed decision making to optimize the design and delivery of the MD program
• Serve on School of Medicine committees and work groups as assigned/appointed

• Data Management
• Lead the development, implementation, and refinement of tools, and execution of evaluation plans by the Evaluation Team
• Oversee the development and ensure the quality of reports and complex visualizations (i.e., data dashboards) using a user centered agile approach, ensuring data presented is optimized for the intended audience
• Collaborate with leadership in the Office of Medical Education to review and respond to requests for data
• Establish and maintain data quality standards, including validation procedures and integration of multiple data sources
• Acts as a data steward for the School of Medicine, collaborating with School of Medicine Technology (SOMTech) partners, to manage data at all levels, including collection, preparation, storage, and analysis. Provide oversight for educational data governance, ensuring compliance with institutional policies and procedures, and state and federal regulations regarding the collection, maintenance, storage, and distribution of data

• Evaluation
• Lead the design, implementation, and refinement of program evaluation frameworks, models, and tools to guide ongoing program evaluation
• Collaborate with the Evaluation Team, OME leadership, and School of Medicine Leadership in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of evaluative data to support accreditation, curriculum review, and institutional decision-making as part of ongoing continuous quality improvement efforts
• Lead the advancement of evaluation processes by integrating best practices, national trends, emerging tools and technologies, and innovative approaches in UME
• Lead focus groups to support the collection of qualitative data

• Scholarly Activity
• Foster and lead scholarly activity in undergraduate medical education, including externally and internally funded research projects (i.e., data collection, data analysis, IRB submission)
• Promote dissemination of evaluation and research findings through peer-reviewed publications by collaborating with educational leaders and other faculty members across the School of Medicine and other VCU Schools and departments as may be applicable
• Conduct simple (descriptive) and complex data analyses (e.g., inferential statistics such as linear and logistic regression) as needed across projects
• Identify and pursue opportunities for grant funding and research partnerships to advance the educational mission of the School of Medicine
• Collaborate with the Director of Medical Student Research to design and deliver educational sessions to students to promote understanding and completion of medical education research activities
• Maintain compliance with all internal and external policies and processes regarding the completion of research and scholarly activities
• Advise on the design and execution of educational research projects

• PhD, EdD, or other terminal degree in education, psychology, data science, or other related field with advanced training in research and evaluation methodology and statistics, or
• A minimum of three years of relevant work experience in program evaluation, designing and implementing research projects, analyzing data and creating report visualizations, preferably in health professions education
• Proficiency in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies such as survey development, focus groups, interviewing,…