An Administrator’s Guide to Departments of Internal Medicine

Whether you lead a department, division, or other administrative group in the academic environment, this guide will serve as a comprehensive resource in your management of the clinical, research, and teaching aspects of our field. We hold unique positions intended to support and promote excellence in the scholarship of discovery and the application of that knowledge in the care of patients and training of the next generation of clinical and research faculty.

Working closely with chairs, chiefs, and other faculty leaders, administrators lead strategic planning and review efforts, implement new programs, ensure compliance, maintain and invigorate existing programs, and assume fiscal responsibility for their scope of operations. There is no single career pathway for administrators—individuals may enter the field with experience in financial management, research administration, medical education, or clinical practice, or with no previous experience in academics or clinical care.

Although the role of the internal medicine administrator varies by department, we are commonly expected to provide advice and input on any or all aspects of the management of a department or division. We balance these operational requirements with staff recruitment and development while responding to the needs of faculty and other administrators. While we serve as stewards of our department and its resources, we must also make time to invest in ourselves and our skills development. Administrators of Internal Medicine (AIM) provides that opportunity for us all to learn together.

AIM is the professional home for over 1,300 academic administrators who are committed to developing the skills and network connections needed to take on these challenges, while building and supporting our leaders in health care.

As members of AIM and the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), you will have opportunities to network with a broad range of academic internal medicine professionals, to participate in national conferences and access resources to increase knowledge on a variety of relevant topics. AIM members are encouraged to share their insights with faculty and other administrators through committee work, poster sessions, and workshop presentations at our national educational conference and through other Alliance networking opportunities. Each of us has benefited from our participation in AIM and we encourage you to be “active consumers” of all that AIM and AAIM have to offer.

Craig DeGarmo, MBA, MHA
Department Administrator
Department of Internal Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
AIM President 2017-2018

Steve Vinciguerra, MBA
Administrator
Department of Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
College of Medicine
AIM President 2015-2016

Masada (Musty) Habhab, CPA
Chief Administrative Officer
Department of Internal Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
AIM President 2016-2017

Internal medicine administrators come to their positions from a wide range of backgrounds. For some, it is their first experience working with physicians or in higher education. In addition to possessing core skills in financial and human resources management, administrators are expected to gain an in-depth understanding of the research, educational, clinical, and administrative missions of an academic internal medicine department.

Departments of internal medicine are commonly organized into administrative units that are overseen by the chair of medicine’s office. Divisions within the units are arranged by educational programs and subspecialty medicine topics (e.g., cardiology) and are managed separately. The scope of responsibilities managed at the department level and the roles held at the division level vary among institutions based on their school of medicine’s organizational structure and management arrangements with affiliated medical centers.

Departments of medicine are large, diverse, and dynamic. Academia is predicated on the testing of new theories, the development of cutting-edge practices, and creative implementation of practices in all mission areas. Administrators work with faculty, trainees, and staff to facilitate these professional aspirations in a fiscally responsible and compliant manner. Administrators new to a position or new to the field soon learn a new language (or languages) and are welcomed into this community of people in similar roles willing and able to help.