Designated Institutional Officer

The Designated Institutional Officer (DIO) serves as the primary institutional liaison with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and provides oversight of all VCU Health System’s graduate medical education residency and fellowship programs. This position reports to the Chief Medical Officer of VCU Health and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean, VCU School of Medicine.



The DIO leads the Graduate Medical Education (GME) community, and organizes resources, to ensure that the institution offers high-quality GME training opportunities in all programs.  Ensures ongoing compliance with the ACGME Institutional Requirements.  Provides oversight of all residency and subspecialty residency program directors to ensure ongoing compliance with ACGME. Works with departments to ensure a quality curriculum, adequate faculty development and support, and effective evaluation methodologies. Provides oversight of the GME office, develops and updates the institutional GME strategy, and oversees execution of the GME strategy.

Institutional Leadership for Graduate Medical Education: 

Serve as the lead institutional representative for graduate medical education. 

Advocate for GME priorities and resources at the institutional level. 

Represent GME interests in institutional strategic planning and decision-making processes. 

Build and maintain effective relationships across departments to support GME program needs. 

Oversee activities of the Graduate Medical Education Office. 

Ensure compliance with accreditation standards and regulatory requirements for GME programs. 

Serve as the lead institutional involvement with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and all other matching systems (SF Match, American Urological Association Residency Match Program, etc.) as well as with the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). 

 

ACGME Institutional Oversight: 

Serve as the official institutional representative to the ACGME and its Review Committees for the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. 

Oversee all communications and correspondence between the institution and ACGME.  Submit the annual ACGME update for the institution. 

Ensure that the VCU Health System meets or exceeds all ACGME requirements for institutional and non-standard training accreditation. 

Lead institutional efforts for ACGME Clinical Learning Environment Reviews. 

Responsible for preparing the content, and submission of, the ACGME Annual Institutional Review (AIR).  Oversees preparation for ACGME CLER site visits, and for ACGME Institutional 10-year site visits and other unanticipated requests for response from the ACGME. 

 

Program Oversight: 

In coordination with the Graduate Medical Education Committee, ensure that all ACGME accredited training programs meet or exceed common and specialty specific program requirements.  

Provide mentorship, coaching, and support for program directors and program coordinators. 

Approve program letters of agreement (PLAs) that govern the relationships between each program and each participating site providing a required assignment for the residents/fellows in the program. 

Oversee the submissions of the annual ACGME update for each program, the submission of applications for ACGME accreditation and recognition, requests for voluntary withdrawal of accreditation and recognition, and requests for changes in residency and fellowship program complements. 

Oversee program preparations for accreditation site visits