Program Director - Head & Neck Surgery

The mission of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation, and the world through outstanding programs that integrate patient care, research and prevention, and through education for undergraduate and graduate students, trainees, professionals, employees and the public.

KEY FUNCTIONS

Research Program Management

• Develops and manages research activities for the research program including clinical research operations, performance of clinical trials, data management and informatics development, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance mechanisms.
• Develops strategic and tactical plans for ongoing research activities and oversees long-term strategic planning of programmatic research initiatives in collaboration with departmental and extramural faculty.
• Responsible for the oversight of the development and implementation of multi-institutional consortium networks and the policies/procedures necessary for a successful collaboration including implementation of clinical trials, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance mechanisms.
• In collaboration with the program leadership and senior faculty, oversees the development, tracking, and progress of multiple research projects and program deliverables.
• Manages the effective operation of multiple clinical and translational research projects.
• Presents program initiatives at relevant meetings. Prepares reports, business plans, strategic plans and presentations.
• Identifies internal and external funding opportunities, directs grant application development and submission.
• Coordinates strategies to enhance collaboration between MDACC investigators and extramural investigators.
• Establishes collaborative relationships with institutional, departmental, and extramural faculty and staff to assure advancement of organizational and departmental goals, programs, and projects.
• Perform critical review of submitted materials for research funding applications, progress reports, and other related communications. Copy-edit or rewrite as necessary to ensure that the information collected is accurate, reflects the requested information, and is provided in accordance with specified guidelines and policies (institutional, federal, and industry).
• Serves as a consultant and leads project teams.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY

• Acts as liaison to extramural providers including drug companies, community physicians and institutions.
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills when contacting other institutions, patients, and agencies (i.e., NCI, pharmaceutical companies, sponsoring agencies, etc.) by phone, email, and/or face to face interactions.  Assimilates pertinent information to compose written correspondence.
• Ensures systems, policies and procedures are in place to facilitate collaborations.
• Maintains and ensures knowledge of the research process in compliance with institutional policies, Institutional Review Board, and federal regulations.
• Develops and manages quality assurance systems ensuring clinical research activities, to include external clinical research conducted by the department, meet, or exceed IRB, Good Clinical Practice, federal and local regulations, or guidelines for conducting research. 
• Develops and monitors the implementation of systems, policies and procedures related to clinical and translational research protocols.
• Manages the protocol administration to include sponsored agreements, laboratory study agreements, material transfer agreements, and other agreements.
• Develops and provides formal and informal education on administrative, quality, and operational requirements.
• Ensures effective resource management and consistent compliance with institutional operational policies and procedures. Coordinates improvement and implementation of systems and processes to increase productivity, efficiency, and cost savings.
• Assists in writing grant applications as needed.
• Conducts routine administrative staff and research program meeting.

• Works with Department Administrator, Operations Manager, Financial Analyst, and CRG management team to ensure departmental and institutional polices for managing protocol-related costs, charge recapture, and allocations of appropriate staffing ratios are implemented and reported accurately.
• Works with the Department Administrator, faculty, institutional informatics, and software developers to coordinate the development of operational and strategic issues related to departmental electronic research applications.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

• Responsible for creating, managing, and reconciling scientific project budgets, including philanthropic funds, and working with internal and external staff to ensure appropriate expense captures.
• Assists with budgetary decisions as they affect the research component of the Head and Neck Endocrine Research Program
• Prepare monthly budget reports and updates for the Head and Neck Endocrine Research Program principal investigators.
• Prepare budgets related to grant and research proposals.

SUPERVISION OF RESEARCH PERSONNEL

• Oversees supervision of research personnel in the Head and Neck Endocrine Research Program. Responsible for direct supervision and mentorship of program staff.
• Assures that policies/procedures of the institution are communicated to research personnel formally and informally by written and/or verbal means.
• Coordinates educational activities for the research personnel.

OTHER

•  Attends appropriate departmental meetings and institutional continuing education programs.
•  Maintains working knowledge of current Code of Federal Regulation and Good Clinical Practice guidelines as well as a comprehensive understanding of the research trial process, including but not limited to eligibility and disease processes.
• Completes special projects and reports as requested.