Faculty Career Development Program

The Faculty Career Development Program was established in 2011 as the Faculty Development Academy, and in 2025, it underwent a redesign of its name and format in order to respond to the changing needs of the faculty.  Since its establishment, the program continues to provide individual career development needs, supplement on-going mentorship, and develop faculty in multiple career tracks.

Any regular-rank faculty member in the Department of Medicine can apply to become a Member of the program, but the program is specifically designed to serve early career faculty (Instructors and Assistant Professors).

Members of the FCDP join one of four branches:

• • Clinical/Health Services Researcher Branch
  • Faculty Advancement for Clinician Educators Branch
  • Medical Education Development and Scholarship Branch
  • Translational Researcher Branch

Each Branch is facilitated by a Branch Chair and several other senior faculty coaches with a strong mentoring and career development track record.

Faculty who may be particularly well-served by the program include  faculty who are:

• Currently funded through a career development award (NIH, VA, Duke, foundation, professional society, etc)
• Planning to apply for a career development award in the next one to two years
• Seeking to build a clinical teaching portfolio, establish a clinical care philosophy, and optimize clinical productivity and learner engagement
• Interested in directing and/or teaching medical student courses and training programs, as well as developing scholarship in medical education (e.g curriculum development, educational research)
• New faculty hires, particularly if with direct support from the division chiefAny early career faculty who feel that the program can serve currently unmet career development needs

The program will provide its members with:

• A DOM-tailored  career development curriculum
• Quarterly individual meetings with Branch coaches for personalized career development coaching
• Group meetings with Branch-specific topics (frequency varies by Branch)
• Review and coaching on development of the CV and personal statement
• Guided navigation of SOM and DOM faculty development resources
• Networking opportunities with faculty across the department and the institution

Members participate in the program for one year and will have an option for a second, consecutive year of participation if approved by program leadership and division chiefs.

• Demonstrated academic potential in clinical, medical education and/or research domains
• Clearly defined interest in cultivating successful career development plans
• Ability of the program to provide benefits to the applicant

Applicants should review the program requirements with current mentors and supervisors (e.g. division or section head) to assure that appropriate support exists for successful participation.

For questions, please contact Dr. Carla W. Brady (Vice Chair for Faculty Development), Pamela G. Williams (Administrative Coordinator), the Chair and/or Faculty Coach of any  Faculty Career Development Program Branch.

Faculty coaches: Steve Taylor (Chair), Diego Bohorquez

​Most investigators have formal primary mentors that are closely aligned with their research program. The broad goal of the Translational Researcher Branch is to provide ancillary mentorship for laboratory-based early-career scientists and physician-scientists in the Department of Medicine.  The objectives of this branch are to supplement and expand mentorship needs and to extend that training to peers and to disciplines outside of their primary field.  Coaches in the Translational Researcher Branch provide a series of small group sessions focused on key topics for the professional practice of academic translational science.  Example of sessions include “Writing for NIH grant reviewers,” “Scientific entrepreneurship 101,” “Leading labs in a changing world,” and “Writing scientific manuscripts: a paint-by-numbers approach,” among others. The goal of these sessions is to bring focus on critical skills for scientific practice in order to understand how translational scientists develop successful research careers.

Faculty coaches: April Salama (Chair), Kristin Newby, Nia Mitchell, Maria Marquine, Michael Pignone

Participants in the Clinical/Health Services Researcher Branch will work with faculty coaches to develop practical research skills that are aligned with their clinical work and identify pathways to obtain initial research funding.  Coaches will help participants learn how to foster collaborations with primary research programs and with faculty that align with clinical interests and expertise.  Through strategic coaching and faculty peer support, this branch will help faculty develop strategies to address challenges in research and clinical careers, manage stress and competing responsibilities, optimize time management, and enhance research productivity.

Faculty coaches: Sandro Pinheiro (Chair), Lisa Criscione-Schreiber​, Poonam Sharma

The Medical Education Development and Scholarship Branch is designed to equip faculty as medical education leaders and scholars by coaching members on the theory, methodology, and resources for designing and leading pedagogically sound medical education programs, and conducting high-quality medical education research. Specifically, this branch will provide medical educators with the skills to design, implement, and evaluate curricula and to disseminate curricula innovations and studies of teaching outcomes.  Members of this branch are faculty who are interested in directing and/or teaching medical student courses, clerkships, residency, fellowship programs, as well as developing scholarship in medical education.

Faculty coaches:Sangeeta Joshi (Chair), Kristen Dicks, , Diana McNeill, Aimee Zaas, Suchita Shah Sata

The Faculty Advancement for Clinician Educators Branch is designed to empower clinician educators with the tools, skills, and community needed to thrive in academic medicine.  Coaches in this branch will help faculty participants learn how to enhance skills and capacity in clinical teaching and scholarship and establish meaningful connections with patients, colleagues and healthcare leaders while advancing their impact in medicine.  Participation in this branch will help faculty members develop sustainable strategies to optimize clinical efficiency, productivity, learner engagement towards personal wellbeing, and professional fulfillment. Participants will also learn how to navigate the academic promotion process as clinician educators. Examples include learning how to develop an elevator pitch that helps to articulate professional identity and goals and learning how to build a clinical educator portfolio that reflects teaching efforts as well as clinical care philosophy and academic accomplishments