Vice President of Advancement, Georgetown University Medical Center

Vice President of Advancement, Georgetown University Medical Center

Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit University, seeks a Vice President of Medical Advancement.

Georgetown University, located in the heart of Washington, DC, is a leading research university steeped in the tradition of liberal education with a mission dedicated to Catholic, Jesuit principles including public service (“women and men in service to others”) and Cura Personalis (“care of the whole person”). Locally and globally, it cares for the most vulnerable among us. With a dedication to mission and consistent, impressive leadership, it is ranked among the country’s top twenty-five universities. 

The Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic health center with a four-part mission of research, teaching, patient care (provided through clinical partnerships), and service. As the nation’s largest, most prominent Catholic academic health center, GUMC is home to the School of Medicine, which includes the clinical and basic science departments, the School of Nursing, the School of Health, the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Biomedical Sciences. GUMC also plays a key role in the University-wide Georgetown Global Health Institute and has a distinct focus on ending health disparities in Washington, DC and beyond.

Twenty years ago, Georgetown joined in a partnership with MedStar Health, now the dominant healthcare provider in the Baltimore-Washington and southern Maryland region with ten nationally respected hospitals and 280 specialty, urgent, and primary care locations. The partnership aims to foster health and advance health equity through innovative research and education, compassionate care, and community collaboration.

MedStar and Georgetown add service through the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC), the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Washington area, a designation it has held since 1970. It is a state-of-the-art cancer center housing more than 124,000 square feet of clinical and research space. MedStar offers GUMC excellent opportunities for its faculty to serve patients, for clinical placements for its students, and for clinical trials and translational research, often in conjunction with MedStar’s Research Institute. The University renewed its partnership with MedStar in 2017, with a fifty-year agreement. As MedStar grows, GUMC will grow its faculty and partnership opportunities for shared research, new student enrollment, clinical placements, and philanthropy. The agreement creates a shared endeavor around philanthropy and a committed financial flow to GUMC that can also increase with the growth of the system.

GUMC is home to the University’s most robust research enterprise which is essential to the University’s status as a top and very active research (R-1) University. GUMC’s faculty attract almost $160 million in external research funding annually. GUMC’s research facilities include 306,000 square feet of research space. Research expenditures regularly grow, and the University intends to accelerate that pace in order to increase and enhance activity. GUMC is one of the few medical centers in the country to hold both a Clinical and Translational Science Award for the National Institutes of Health (renewed in 2020) and a Cancer Center Support grant from the National Cancer Institute (renewal expected in 2024).

The School of Medicine is the University’s second oldest school. The school has succeeded in maintaining its selectivity and its record in educating highly successful students, as reflected in their residency matching results. The school’s commitment to Cura Personalis, mission for social justice, DC location, and dedicated faculty, paired with the advantages of our MedStar partnership have made it an enrollment magnet among medical schools. GUMC attracts approximately 30% of all U.S. medical school applicants each year.

In 2022, after careful study, Georgetown created two new schools, a School of Nursing, and a School of Health, built from the foundation of its former School of Nursing & Health Studies. The formation of new schools supports GUMC’s aspirations in these disciplines. Leadership and faculty at both schools have ambitious plans for growth.

The School of Nursing, originally founded in 1903, has 44 full and part-time faculty and 160 adjunct faculty, educates over 880 students and provides a bachelor’s degree, five graduate degrees and three doctoral degrees through on-campus and distance-based, online nursing programs that emphasize research and scholarship. All are grounded in a social justice framework that aims to reduce health disparities and promote health equity.

The School of Health offers academic programs for bachelor’s degrees in Human Science, Global Health, and Health Care Management and Policy and master’s degrees in Global Health and Health Systems Administration. It currently houses over 400 students with 35 faculty.

GUMC offers a number of creative biomedical education programs which currently educate 735 students (170 of whom are in PhD programs), taught by 197 faculty, in 20 master’s, seven PhD and 11 certificate programs across basic and applied science, clinical disciplines, data science, and pre-health training. These programs have a long history at Georgetown and remain a critical component of GUMC.

Enrollment at Georgetown’s historic hilltop campus is limited by DC zoning, but the University is building downtown at its Capitol Campus, near its law school campus, where it has acquired new, large, and impressive facilities and has allocated space for interdisciplinary research centers, executive education, and both the School of Nursing and School of Health. Each will make critical, downtown expansion choices in the immediate future. 

With the unwavering support of the University’s Board and President, GUMC is now positioned to take advantage of its partnership opportunities, research excellence, and its educational marketplace to build in every dimension, in care, research, teaching, and philanthropy. It seeks a success-oriented and proven advancement professional who can identify and secure increased contributed income, thus helping to advance a leading healthcare center in the heart of the nation’s capital. 

The Vice President of Advancement (VP) for the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is a newly-created role which will provide leadership and strategic vision to maximize the philanthropic potential of GUMC’s development program operation.

The VP will lead a team that currently comprises 15 dedicated personnel and raises an average of $35 million annually, representing approximately 10% of the annual philanthropy revenue funds raised by Georgetown University. The VP will focus on initiatives including finishing Georgetown’s Called to Be campaign (completion by end 2026), preparing for the next university-wide campaign, and developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to increase annual fundraising revenue to $100M and increase the endowment to $500M+. 

In addition, the VP will:

• Develop innovative strategies for personally cultivating and soliciting new prospects,
• Strengthen relationships with existing donors and leverage volunteer leaders
• Establish strong and effective working relationships with the EVP, GUMC deans and faculty, with the University’s central Office of Advancement, and with colleagues across the university and with partner institutions— including MedStar Health – the Medical Center’s clinical partner

The desired qualifications and experience of the new Vice President for GUMC Advancement include:

Pivotal Experiences and Expertise

• Strategic Vision and Innovation: Strategic leadership that innovates fundraising processes, as well as envisions new revenue-generating opportunities. Experience and confidence leading organizational change with diverse constituencies and capacity-building at all levels of the organization.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Substantial experience with cross-functional team collaboration, and adept management of competing priorities. An effective communicator and ambassador – both internally and externally – of GUMC’s fundraising goals and how they empower GUMC’s mission.
• Team Leadership: Seasoned management skills, a proven record of change-agency, and the ability to develop and implement the metrics and accountability required to support and advance the missions of the Medical Center, especially as related to the financial health of GUMC.
• Fundraising Expertise: A proven track record of achieving or surpassing goals and developing fundraising strategy rooted in best practices in a complex organizational environment with a diverse revenue stream. Robust experience across all donor types, including high-net-worth individuals.
• Academic Experience: A bachelor’s degree and ten years of related work experience in an academic institution are required, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

 Culture Impact

• Data and Technological Acumen: Data-driven with experience leveraging technology and information to creatively identify prospects, retain and upgrade donors, steward gifts, and inform future investments in program growth.
• Mission Alignment: A commitment to and understanding of the Catholic identity of the University, Jesuit principles and an understanding of and appreciation for the academic, research and clinical missions of this world-renowned University. 

Nominations and applications should be directed to: GUMCAdvancement@Heidrick.com

The salary range for this position in the District of Columbia is $395,000 to $475,000 plus incentives. Actual compensation is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, and qualifications.

Georgetown University embraces diversity and inclusion in our workforce and is strongly committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining the most qualified applicants from a diverse candidate pool. Georgetown provides equal opportunity in employment for all persons, and prohibits unlawful discrimination and harassment in all aspects of employment because of age, color, disability, family responsibilities, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, matriculation, national origin, personal appearance, political affiliation, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other factor prohibited by law. Additional information about our commitment to non-discrimination is available in our notice of non-discrimination.