Program Director for Research and Strategic Partnerships - Specialty Pharmacy

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center:  Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

VSP RX Services

Job Summary:

Provides expert leadership in the planning, coordination and direction of pharmacy services throughout VUMC inpatient, outpatient and specialty areas. Responsible for the overall performance of the department to maintain and exceed recognized national standards based on accepted patient and health system metrics. Responsible for the clinical and financial impact of pharmacy services, customer satisfaction, and development and education of staff and adherence to acceptance standards of practice regarding research involving pharmaceuticals.

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The Program Director for Research and Strategic Partnerships will work with the Health Outcomes and Research team on our three core efforts: research, outreach, and teaching and training. Currently, there are 5 members of the Health Outcomes and Research Program: the director, the patient care improvement program director, the patient care improvement clinical pharmacist, the senior project manager, and the senior program manager. This Program Director would focus on designing, executing and disseminating research by mentoring clinical specialty pharmacists and building and maintaining relationships with key specialty stakeholders.  Approximately two-thirds of the Program Director’s time will be spent on mentoring pharmacists and executing research, and the remaining one-third will be spent on building and engaging in strategic partnerships.

Day-to-day responsibilities may include

• Mentoring pharmacists/students on a research project (designing protocol, IRB submission, planning and completing data collection, developing abstracts, posters, manuscripts, etc.).
• Collaborating with HealthIT, biostatistics, and operations leaders to design appropriate studies that improve patient care and demonstrate the value of VSP to patients.
• Providing educational training to students and pharmacists related to research.
• Hosting meetings with specialty stakeholders (manufacturers, payers, and other partners) to promote and maintain partnerships (e.g., collaborative quality improvement efforts, sponsored research and quality improvement projects). 
• Participating in trade relations/market access meetings to communicate VSP value through Health Outcomes and Research Program research findings and potential project ideas when useful. 
• Developing materials to promote VSP value to strategic partners, often in collaboration with marketing colleagues.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides direction, oversight, and coordination of pharmacy services.
• Maintains financial supervision of the program.
• Develops drug cost containment strategies for institution.
• Provides leadership in quality and performance improvement of pharmacy services.
• The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

Technical Capabilities

• Mentoring & Coaching (Advanced): Demonstrates high levels of training and mentoring expertise in challenging and complex situations. Often takes a lead role in highly pressurized situations when there is a need to achieve training results. Consistently provides training and mentoring in a creative and imaginative manner while setting a standard for others. Knows how to use failure as a learning process in a constructive way, replacing contention and conflict with enthusiasm and confidence. Personalizes the impact of behavior on performance and assignments. Has a proven track record of providing constructive suggestions, facilitating implementation of programs and improvements, recognizing achievements individually and reinforcing success.
• Program Manage