Director Surgical Proficiency Laboratory

UNC Health; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

UNC Health seeks a Director to oversee the Surgical Proficiency Laboratory (SPL) and advance surgical education across the department. You will lead operations, curriculum development, research, and collaboration with School of Medicine, GME, and clinical departments to improve trainee outcomes and patient care.

The role requires strategic leadership, budget oversight, and the ability to deploy innovative education initiatives with measurable impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in medical education.
• Strong leadership and program management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Direct daily operations and delivery of education projects in the SPL.
• Develop and manage research activities and pursue grants.
• Design and deploy curricula and surgical simulation devices.
• Coordinate with industry partners on devices and labs.
• Develop data infrastructure to measure instructional impact.

Skills

Project management

Budget management

Interpersonal skills

Cross-functional leadership

Communication skills

Independent worker

Program leadership

Educational research

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Node.js

Python

R

MySQL

Job description

Your passion belongs at UNC Health. Join more than 56,000 teammates working together to improve the health and well‑being of the communities we serve across North Carolina.

Summary

A central objective of the Department of Surgery is to be a national leader in human surgical proficiency. To advance that objective, the Director will oversee all aspects of the mission of the Surgical Proficiency Laboratory at UNC. Reporting directly to the Vice Chair of Strategic Business Advancement, the Director provides practical surgical specialty educational support to the Department leadership, School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Education office, and other UNC health departments. The Director operationalizes new and developed surgical curricula and educational initiatives that support learning for students, residents, fellows, nursing, and CME, and in measuring the reach and effectiveness of these efforts. The Director also advances surgical instruction methods by conducting and supporting research projects related to medical education. The Director remains informed of educational regulations and requirements, educational innovations, new surgical devices and new surgical practices.

Responsibilities

Operations and Administration

• Direct the daily operations and delivery of all education projects in the SPL.
• Acquire and maintain all equipment, hardware and software to support Lab functions
• Maintain the calendar and scheduling
• Manage the budget for the Lab
• Identify philanthropic opportunities to expand the reach of the lab
• Collaborate with coordinators in regards to the accreditation processes for all courses, certificate(s), and/or degree program(s), as warranted, to facilitate compliance with regulators’ requirements (GME,ACCME,ACGME,ACS); minimize “compliance passthrough” effects on trainees and staff.
• Participate in surgical education committee meetings on a scheduled basis to integrate and facilitate usage of the SPL resources for the hospital.

Research

• Develop and manage research activities
• Identify and pursue grants to fund surgical education research
• Facilitate the “Bench to Bedside” model in research and device design as applicable (e.g. prototyping, benchtop testing, sim model development for testing and teaching)

Curricula

• Develop and deploy curricula specifically intended to promote conceptual problem-solving, precision use of medical devices, and an intuitive knowledge base among trainees and staff.
• Course Development: Design and deploy internal and external surgical instruction courses
• Develop devices and substrate for surgical simulations
• Track and measure reach of course offerings Re-deploy content for surgical education to family education pertaining to surgical procedures 1 of 2 where applicable

Devices

• Industry: Coordinate with industry partners to provide instruction on new and existing surgical devices; develop support opportunities in design, research, consulting, and instruction with industry partners
• Supply Chain: Enable hands‑on evaluation of new devices, and provide advice for surgical devices deployed to the operating room

Data and Technology

• Data: Develop and leverage data infrastructure that allows measurement of effect of instruction methods on proficiency as reflected in clinical outcome metrics (operational measures, rate of complications, resource costs of disease states)
• Video: Develop or collaborate with current audio/video resources to grow capabilities, and to generate, organize, store and disseminate content, especially for video coaching
• Innovations: RaiN Project, Device development, etc
• Content Management System: Develop a user‑centered Content Management System via website, text or mobile application

Other Information

Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required

Licensure/Certification Requirements

• NA

Professional Experience Requirements

• At least 7 years of relevant experience in medical education

Knowledge/Skills/and Abilities Requirements

• Financial management or accounting knowledge
• Significant successful past program leadership
• An innovative and entrepreneurial outlook, with the ability to conceive fresh ideas, implement and sustain them, in accordance with the vision of the Board
• Medical academic teaching and/or professional training experience strongly preferred
• Outstanding interpersonal skills with the capability to navigate complex situations
• Thrive in a cross‑functional role and team environment
• Excellent project management skills
• Exceptional organizational skills with strong attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to work independently
• Demonstrated ability to take projects to completion
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Strong customer service skills, cultural sensitivity
• Experience with online education, in‑class presentation/lectures and hands‑on technical skill base
• Complete the full scope of Data Analysis
• Understanding key aspects of audio/video creation along with storage and delivery of said content
• Understanding of Cloud Infrastructure with coding experience in Node JS, Python, R and MySQL
• Ability to identify, plan, develop, implement and maintain academic strategies and initiatives for program improvement

Job Details

Legal Employer: STATE
Entity: UNC Faculty Physicians
Organization Unit: UNC P&A Surg Admin
Work Type: Full Time
Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00
Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity
Work Assignment Type: Hybrid
Work Schedule: Day Job
Location of Job: US:NC:Chapel Hill
Exempt From Overtime: Exempt: Yes
This is a State position employed by UNC Health Care System with UNC Health benefits. If, however, you are presently an employee of another North Carolina agency and currently participate in TSERS or the ORP, you will be eligible to continue participating in those plans at UNC Health.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran or political affiliation.

UNC Health makes reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as applicants and employees with disabilities. Please email [e-mail] if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.