Chief of Staff

How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Job Summary

The Medical School Chief of Staff serves as the principal strategic partner, advisor, and integrator for the Dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. This executive leadership role ensures clarity, alignment, and coordinated execution across institutional priorities spanning academic, research, administrative, and communications domains.

Acting as the Dean?s chief strategist and advisor, the CoS drives institutional planning and governance, oversees the Dean?s Office operations, and enables high-impact decision-making. With additional responsibilities for academic communications activities, the role ensures that the Dean?s priorities and the school?s mission are advanced through clear, consistent, and compelling messaging that strengthens institutional reputation and stakeholder confidence.

This role represents the Dean in high-visibility settings, ensures cross-system integration with Michigan Medicine partners, and supports an inclusive, mission-driven culture that accelerates institutional progress.

Mission Statement

The University of Michigan Health System improves the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally. Our mission is guided by our Strategic Principles and has three critical components; patient care, education and research that together enhance our contribution to society.

Responsibilities*

Strategic Leadership & Institutional Advising

• Serve as the Dean?s trusted advisor and thought partner on strategic, operational, and organizational matters.
• Translate the medical school?s goals into coordinated actions across the tripartite mission: education, research, and clinical care.
• Drive and support short- and long-term strategic planning processes, including alignment with accreditation, enterprise priorities, and campus partners.
• Prepare executive briefings, environmental scans, analyses, and recommendations to support complex decision-making.
• Represent the Dean?s perspective and priorities in high-level planning meetings and governance bodies.

Executive Operations, Governance & Organizational Effectiveness

• Oversee the daily operations of the Dean?s Office to ensure efficient workflow, prioritization, and follow-through.
• Establish systems for information flow, decision documentation, accountability tracking, and performance monitoring.
• Partner with senior administrative leaders (finance, HR, operations, faculty affairs, research, education) and Dean?s Cabinet members to ensure coordinated delivery on institutional priorities.
• Identify organizational gaps or inefficiencies and recommend enhancements to strengthen institutional performance and culture.

Strategic Project & Program Leadership

• Lead high-impact, cross-functional projects related to institutional growth, administrative modernization, faculty affairs, diversity and inclusion, research infrastructure, or medical school operations.
• Develop project scopes, metrics, timelines, and reporting mechanisms.
• Anticipate risks, remove barriers, and ensure execution to meet goals.
• Serve as the operational lead for mission-critical moments such as leadership transitions, strategic planning cycles, accreditation reviews, and school-wide initiatives.

Strategic Communications & Reputation Management

• Lead executive communications strategy for the Dean, including thought leadership, strategic updates, and institutional narratives, ensuring consistent, aligned, and high-quality messaging across the Medical School.
• Partner with Michigan Medicine?s Chief Communications & Marketing Officer (CCMO), and the EVPMA/CEO Office on high-stakes, crises/issues management communications, including message development and strategy for sensitive academic, research, faculty or administrative matters involving the Dean and senior academic leadership.
• Advise academic and medical communications leaders on strategic campaigns that elevate institutional reputation, highlight excellence across missions, and support enterprise priorities.

Stakeholder Engagement & External Partnerships

• Manage stakeholder relationships across campus, the health system, faculty leadership, and external partners.
• Cultivate relationships with national organizations, peer institutions, and thought leaders to advance benchmarking and elevate UMMS visibility.
• Represent the Dean or institution at selected external meetings or conferences.

Required Qualifications*

• Advanced degree (e.g., MD, PhD, MBA, MPH, MHA) or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 8?10+ years of progressively responsible leadership experience in academic medicine, higher education, healthcare administration, or complex research organizations.
• Demonstrated success in strategic planning, executive advising, project leadership, and organizational change.
• Exceptional analytical, organizational, relationship-building, and communication skills.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a matrixed academic-clinical environment and influence without direct authority.
• Ability to manage confidential information with discretion and act with high judgment.

Core Competencies

• Strategic and systems thinking
• Executive communication and political acumen
• Emotional intelligence and relationship-building
• Decision-making under ambiguity
• High personal integrity and professional judgment
• Change leadership and organizational design
• Writing excellence and message precision
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Reporting Structure

• Reports directly to: Dean, University of Michigan Medical School with administrative oversight from the Chief Operating Officer of the Medical School
• Academic Communications Accountability: Chief Communications & Marketing Officer
• May supervise: Executive assistants, analysts, embedded Dean?s Office staff, project managers, and special initiative teams
• Works closely with: Department chairs, center and institute directors, research and education leaders, Michigan Medicine executives, campus partners, and external organizations

Background Screening

University of Michigan Health System conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings. Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.