Associate/Professor Pediatric Cardiology/Section Chief

Position Summary

The Department of Pediatrics of the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) seeks a nationally recognized Pediatric Cardiologist with a strong track record of leadership and of building clinical programs. There is an expectation that the new leader will grow the current clinical programs and develop a strategy to promote destination program status and regional referrals. The Section currently offers opportunities to participate in medical student, resident, and fellow education.

The new leader will ensure the section continues to contribute to the education mission of the department and hospital. University and Health system leaders will consider supporting the development of fellowship training programs to promote the program's regional and national reputation. The leader will promote the growth of clinical and translational research with emphasis on institution wide collaboration.

It is expected that the new Section Chief will develop and submit a research strategy for the section within the first year and align it with the Department and Children's Hospital of Illinois research and innovation priorities. The new leader will enhance clinical operations with the goal to grow and expand current clinical offerings and align clinical research priorities to enhance the program stature as a regional and national leader.

The Section Chief must exhibit the qualities required to be a successful leader in a complex organization, including working collaboratively across various organizations and effectively promoting the Section with community providers, leaders, donors, and hospital executives. This individual will have the opportunity to work in a blended academic/not-for-profit hospital with some verticals that are within private practice (i.e. Anesthesia/CIRA).

Duties

Responsibilities

• The Section of Pediatric Cardiology consists of 10 physicians, 4 Advanced Practice Providers.
• There are two pediatric intervention cardiologists, two board certified ACHD physicians, three fetal cardiologists, an advanced imaging cardiologist, and a preventive cardiologist.
• The cardiac cath lab provides state-of-the-art interventions for children and adults with congenital heart disease.
• Bolstered by 2 trained Interventional Cardiologists, the lab offers care to tiny premature infants all the way to adults with congenital heart disease.
• The annual volume has grown to nearly 200 cases.
• The cath lab equipment is slated to be upgraded in the next year and this position will move into a new pediatric spirality center opening early 2028.
• Adult Congenital Cardiology is a program through the Congenital Heart Center and reports through the division of pediatric cardiology.
• The ACHD program is a regional leader and has ACHA accreditation for nearly 10 years.
• The program sees the most complex ACHD patients, and teams with interventional cardiology, EP, cardiac surgery, heart failure, transplant, MFM, and anesthesia to provide outstanding care.
• The team consists of two boarded ACHD physicians, two trained APRNs, a nurse coordinator, and a social worker.
• Our echocardiography program is IAC certified in pediatric/congenital transthoracic, fetal, and transesophageal echo.
• The fetal echo team is a member of the Fetal Heart Society and has collaboration with the Perinatology team through the Fetal Care Center.
• Nearly 1000 fetal echocardiograms are performed every year and total TTE volume is over 6000 per year.
• Additionally, remote surface echo reads are provided for nearly 20 other facilities.
• The echo lab team has a robust QI program supported by pediatric dedicated sonographers.
• Advanced cardiac imaging is outstanding at our institution.
• Cardiac MRI and CT are supported through a joint effort between cardiology and radiology.
• This collaboration brings high-quality imaging to support the surgical team as well as procedural planning.
• Advanced imaging techniques such as 3D rendering and 4D beating hearts are frequently utilized to better delineate complex anatomy.
• There is an active Pediatric Congenital Cardiovascular surgical program at our center.
• This program is the only such program in downstate Illinois and has been in operation for over 45 years.
• The team is led by two cardiovascular surgeons that partner with the cardiologists to provide outstanding care.
• There is a strong Pediatric Critical Care program with 16 critical care beds, and an open intermediate care 16 beds.
• The Critical care service cares for about 1900 patients per year, more than one third are from regional transport.
• The system has active air and ground transport programs.
• Cardiac Critical Care is directed by dually boarded critical care and cardiology physicians.
• Provides support for the congenital heart surgical program, an active diagnostic/Interventional Cardiology program, and patients with other cardiac conditions.
• A multidisciplinary program provides support for the certified ECMO program.
• The Neonatal Intensive Care unit consists of a 60-bed unit.
• The NICU is the highest designated level by the state of Illinois and provides care for the most premature and complex neonates.
• ECMO service is provided.
• Interventional cardiology provides PDA occlusion devices for premature infants.
• Pre-operative neonates are cared for in a collaborative manner with neonatology, cardiology and cardiac surgery.
• Additional clinical programs are robust and well supported.
• These include Cardiac Neurodevelopmental follow up, Down Syndrome clinic, satellite clinics, and the Pediatric Lipid clinic.
• One successful research and innovation program in the section is the Advanced Imaging and Modeling lab.
• This partnership between the section, department, and hospital allows for the team of imaging cardiology and engineering to build state of the art imaging techniques.
• This lab has developed numerous patents and is now incorporating AI into the cardiac imaging repertoire.

Department of Pediatrics

• The Department of Pediatrics is one of the largest departments at UICOMP.
• In collaboration with the OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, the Department has 19 sections and over 145 faculty members providing general pediatrics and subspecialty services to the pediatric population in Central Illinois.
• The Research office with research coordinators, biostatisticians and epidemiologist support the faculty in the department.
• Grant writing and research mentorship support is also available.
• The department has identified understanding how prenatal, neonatal, and childhood exposures influence lifelong health outcomes as the research focus.
• Department supports up to $200k of internal pilot research grants per year and Children’s Hospital of Illinois provides additional $100k of grant funding.
• There is a well-developed research core with expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence research.
• This group has developed a strong collaboration with Center for Health Research at: and Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago at: .
• The department is currently participating in several Epic Cosmos studies.
• The Pediatric and Med-Peds Residency program has more than 75 residents who rotate through pediatric inpatient and ambulatory programs including Pediatric Cardiology.
• We also offer pediatric hospital medicine, critical care, neonatology and gastroenterology fellowships.
• University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria is one of the regional campuses and accepts up to 55 medical students every year who rotate through Children’s Hospital of Illinois for their training and several department faculty serve in leadership roles in medical education.

Pediatric Cardiology and Jump Simulation Collaboration

• Jump Simulation and Trading Center is a collaboration between UICOMP and OSF HealthCare.
• The center replicates a variety of patient care settings to ensure novice and seasoned clinicians can practice handling medical situations in a lifelike environment.
• Jump Advanced Imaging and Modeling, created in 2013, is a collaborative effort between engineers and medical professionals to perfect the vision of human anatomy and pathology through 3D/4D modeling and imaging.
• The National Institutes of Health 3D Print Exchange Heart Library, curated by the Jump Trading Simulation Education Center, was developed to promote the understanding of congenital heart disease through the open sharing of hearts and ideas.
• There are several ongoing collaborations with Jump Innovation and the Department in simulation, advanced imaging, artificial intelligence and machine learning application in healthcare research.
• The primary teaching hospital of UICOMP is Children’s Hospital of Illinois, a tertiary care facility serving a 37-county region with a population base of over two million.
• Children’s Hospital of Illinois provides comprehensive services to children, including Level IV NICU and a state-designated Pediatric Critical Care Center.
• Children’s Hospital of Illinois is a major medical facility with 136 beds and a 32-bed critical care unit and the only Level 1 trauma center in Illinois outside of Chicago.
• There are existing resources through UICOMP and Children’s Hospital of Illinois for seeding research funding, quality and outcomes focused academic work and innovation in health education.
• The Section is actively engaged in quality improvement and process improvement research.
• Last year the Section published manuscripts, case reports, presented at national conferences, and invited lecturers.

The Section Chief will lead the section faculty and advanced practice providers in:

• Advocating and promoting the care of children with acute and chronic cardiac disorders and adult patients born with congenital heart defects.
• Providing consultation and support to other services regarding assessment and stabilization of children with cardiac abnormalities in the hospital and across Central Illinois.
• Providing consultation services for physicians and patients in the region with cardiac diseases and overseeing the regional expansion of cardiology programs and services.
• Collaborating with the pediatric and congenital cardiothoracic surgery team, anesthesia and cardiac critical care physicians to develop care pathways to ensure coordinated and high-quality care for children undergoing surgery for congenital heart defects and other disorders.
• Collaborating with nursing leadership, echosonography, Cardiac Cath lab team, radiology, and other ancillary services to provide high quality, safe, and individualized patient and family centered care.
• Sustaining the existing supportive and collaborative environment for other subspecialists thus facilitating programs that care for high complexity patients.
• Supporting quality improvement efforts and safety initiatives within pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery program.
• Work closely with the Children’s Hospital CMO and Director of Quality and Safety to ensure program outcomes and quality meet the national peer benchmarks.
• Supporting undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs of the Department.
• Work closely with the Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program Director to support and strengthen the critical care fellowship program, andoversee the faculty’s contribution to nursing, APPs, and transport team education.
• Developing a clinical research and innovation strategy for the section in collaboration with the Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery team and aligning it with the Children’s Hospital of Illinois destination program development strategy.
• Promoting research grant funding within the section to sustain the research infrastructure.
• Performing the duties of a university faculty member including committee assignments, curriculum development and administration.