Director, Cardiometabolic Research Center

Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Atrium Health are seeking a dynamic national leader with outstanding credentials in clinical and translational research to direct a new research center designed to advance the understanding, treatment, and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. The research center will focus on new approaches for deep phenotyping including state-of-the-art -omics, advanced non-invasive imaging, remote/mobile technologies and patient engagement tools, and advanced analytics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and systems biology to identify and better characterize people with or at risk for cardiac and metabolic conditions, and to translate this new knowledge into improved strategies for clinical care and prevention.

Clinical investigators (MD or PhD) with a current rank of Associate or Full Professor who have national/international academic stature; a strong track record of extramural funding; demonstrated leadership and management skills necessary to design, build, and run a large program of clinical and translational research; and evidence of a commitment to promoting a culture that respects and advances diversity and inclusion of all people, will be considered.  The Director will be expected to work with institutional and Enterprise leaders to identify and recruit an Associate Director with complementary research expertise and, together with the Associate Director, recruit a team of research-intensive faculty to fulfill the goals of the center.

The Wake Forest University School of Medicine has a long established and ongoing tradition of excellence in basic and clinical research, including >$100M in extramural funding for cardiovascular and metabolic research in the most recently reported fiscal year.  Moreover, the recent combination of Advocate Health Care, Atrium Health, and Aurora Health Care has created an integrated healthcare system caring for more than six million patients available to support a broad-based program of clinical, translational and population research. The Director of the new center will be expected to build on these existing strengths and capitalize on new opportunities created by developments in science and technology to generate and apply new knowledge to treatment and prevention of cardiac and metabolic disease. Addressing disparities in cardiometabolic health will be considered an important area of focus in this new center.

The position will report to the Atrium Health Heart and Vascular Service Line leadership: Dr. David Zhao, Chief, Section on Cardiovascular Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Health Heart and Vascular Center/Service Line Chief of Cardiology; and Dr. Geoff Rose, President of the Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute and Enterprise Leader of the Heart and Vascular Service Line; as well as Dr. Ebony Boulware, Chief Science Officer of Atrium Health and Dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

If you have any questions, please email Thavone Khounthikoumane at tkhounth@wakehealth.edu. He will help get you connected.