Vice Chair, Administration

Description

Job Description

The Vice Chair for Administration (VCA) serves as the senior administrative leader for the MSHS Department of Psychiatry, with responsibility for partnering on the oversight and advancement of all clinical, research, and educational activities of the Department and its faculty, and overseeing the related administrative activities.

The position functions within a matrixed organizational structure and reports dually to the Department’s System Chair and to the Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, reflecting shared accountability to departmental leadership and enterprise administration. The VCA is expected to collaborate effectively with senior and executive leaders across the System to advance the One Mount Sinai enterprise vision.

The VCA directs comprehensive administrative, financial, operational, academic, and research affairs across the Mount Sinai Health System. As a key member of the Department’s leadership team, the VCA partners with departmental and system leaders to develop, enhance, and support the clinical, academic, and research missions in alignment with Mount Sinai Health System’s strategy, policies, and performance expectations. The role balances advocacy for departmental priorities with stewardship of system-wide objectives, ensuring consistency, accountability, and sustainable performance across all divisions and sites.

Responsibilities

Enterprise and Strategic Leadership

• Serve as a strategic partner with the Chair, departmental leadership, Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, and Mount Sinai Health System leadership to advance the clinical, academic, research, and operational priorities of the Department within the context of the One Mount Sinai strategy.
• Operate with dual accountability to departmental and enterprise leadership, serving as both an advocate for the department and a steward of system-wide priorities.
• Ensure departmental strategies, resource allocations, and operational decisions are aligned with departmental and enterprise goals, aspirations, performance expectations, financial frameworks, and any relevant policies and regulatory requirements.
• Identify growth, performance improvement, and strategic opportunities for the Department; collaborate, support, participate, and/or lead initiatives that enhance clinical, academic, research, and financial performance.
• As relevant, collaborate with relevant Institute Vice Presidents to advance the strategies and activities of MSHS integrated and clinical institutes.
• Provide guidance to department leadership and faculty regarding external business ventures, professional service agreements, and affiliations, collaborating closely with legal counsel and compliance offices to protect MSHS interests.
• Oversee the management of relationships with external for-profit and not-for-profit entities and ensure potential conflicts of interest are identified and appropriately managed.
• Represent the Department on institutional and system committees and serve as a liaison between the Department and School, Hospital, and System leadership.
• Serve as the liaison and departmental point of contact for enterprise-wide administrative initiatives and operational directives, including but not limited to regulatory and compliance-driven requirements, emergency preparedness activities, staff compensation, and bonus programs.
• Translate enterprise policies and operational requirements into department-specific implementation plans, ensuring timely coordination, communication, and execution across all divisions and sites.
• Identify and mitigate operational, financial, regulatory, and reputational risks affecting the Department and/or MSHS.

Faculty Affairs and Performance Management

• With the Chair, oversee all components of faculty affairs, including recruitment; engagement and retention; appointments, promotion, and tenure processes; compensation; effort allocations; and human resources and disciplinary matters.
• Support faculty recruitment and program start-up planning through the collaborative development of business plans, cost-benefit analyses, budgets, space planning, and organizational/programmatic design.
• Regularly monitor faculty performance compared to MSHS, FPA, and ISMMS standards in areas such as clinical productivity, access, quality, extramural research salary coverage, trainee satisfaction, and others; recognize exceptional performance and collaborate with the Chair and relevant leaders to develop improvement plans in areas of underperformance.

People Leadership and Change Management

• Develop a collaborative and respectful culture consistent with a learning organization to foster individual ideas and to spark intellectual curiosity.
• Build a high-performing administrative leadership team aligned to ente