Flexibility in the clinical faculty track
The clinical faculty track exists for those faculty members whose principal career focus is outstanding teaching, clinical and translational research and delivery of exemplary clinical care. Clinical faculty members will generally not have sufficient protected time to meet the robust scholarship requirements of the tenure-track within a defined probationary period. For this reason, the nature of scholarship in the clinical faculty differs from that in the tenure-track and may be focused on a mixture of academic pursuits including the scholarship of practice, integration, education, as well as new knowledge discovery. Faculty members appointed to this track may choose to distinguish themselves in teaching, innovative pedagogic program development, or patient-oriented research.
There are three pathways that describe prototypes of faculty careers on the clinical faculty:
Clinician-Educator: The Clinician-Educator pathway reflects pedagogic excellence as measured by teaching evaluations and innovative teaching practices, modules and publications.
Clinician-Scholar: The Clinician-Scholar pathway reflects excellence in translational science, clinical research and health services (e.g., health care policy and comparative effectiveness research) as measured by publications and grant funding, respectively.
Clinical Excellence: The Clinical Excellence pathway exists for faculty members who focus on exemplary clinical care, unique areas of emphasis in patient management, or outstanding service to a Department, the College of Medicine, and Ohio State. Faculty members on this track typically devote 80 percent or more of their effort to patient care or administrative service.
A faculty member should be discussing which pathway best suits their career goals, and progress towards promotion within that pathway, with their Division Director, Chair, and P&T Chair on a regular basis. This conversation should be centered around the pathway criteria established in their Appointment Promotion & Tenure document, which can be found on the University Office of Academic Affairs website. From the College perspective, it should be documented in the faculty members annual reviews and in the forms, dossier, and other documents required for promotion.
Promotion to associate professor on the clinical faculty track is awarded for having developed a national level of recognition and impact in one’s field of study. This is generally assessed through the evaluation of the contributions the faculty member has made to their primary area of focus as related to education, clinical research, or patient care. Scholarship is required and may be evidenced by invitations to present one’s work, the publication of case studies, development of educational curriculum, or through new methods of providing clinical care that improves outcomes or efficiency. Impact is assessed by evaluating numerous data points including the audiences to which one is invited to speak, the quality of care given, the efficacy of curriculum implementation, or the service on committees of one’s academic society.
The titles of faculty members on the clinical faculty are: instructor-clinical, assistant professor-clinical, associate professor-clinical and professor-clinical.
Clinical faculty appointments are not eligible for tenure, but are eligible to be appointed to renewable long-term contracts of three to five years. The first term of appointment to the regular clinical track is probationary, regardless of the length of the contract period and the rank of initial appointment. Faculty are reviewed annually and a formal review occurs in the penultimate year of the contract to determine if the contract will be renewed.
Renewal of the contract may be for a period of 3-5 years and the term of a renewal is not dependent on the term of the previous contract. A formal review occurs in the penultimate year of each subsequent contract to determine if the contract will be renewed. There is no minimum or maximum years of service required before a faculty member can be considered for promotion.