Director, Section of Palliative Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital
General Description
Director, Section of Palliative Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine invites applications for the Director of the Section of Palliative Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The Director will provide strategic, clinical, educational, operational, and academic leadership for a comprehensive palliative care program spanning inpatient consult services, general inpatient hospice care in the hospital setting, and ambulatory clinics. Reporting to the Division Director of General Internal Medicine (with a dotted line to the Vice President of Medical Affairs for The Johns Hopkins Hospital), the Director will build and sustain a coordinated, uniformly excellent service that delivers effective, safe, compassionate, and value-driven care to patients and families.
Within the nationally leading Department of Medicine, the Director will strengthen core clinical services; recruit, mentor, and support faculty, advanced practice providers, trainees, and staff; and optimize operations and performance across the tripartite mission of clinical care, education, and scholarship. Responsibilities include developing and executing strategic plans aligned with hospital, health system, and departmental priorities and representing the Section on health system, hospital, and departmental committees. The Director will collaborate with leaders across Johns Hopkins Medicine to promote standardization of care, shared metrics, and scalable models that support growth and integration across inpatient and ambulatory sites.
Clinical leadership: Will encompass oversight of inpatient consult services, GIP/mobile hospice partnerships, and ambulatory palliative care clinics. The Director will maintain an active clinical practice and model compassionate, evidence-based, team-centered care.
Educational responsibilities: Includes supporting faculty and staff in the training of medical students, residents, fellows, and advanced practice providers. The Director will foster scholarship and innovation in palliative care education, catalyze collaborations across Johns Hopkins Medicine, and support dissemination of successful initiatives to the hospice and palliative medicine field.
Research and Academic Scholarship: The Section of Palliative Care is housed within the Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM) on the East Baltimore campus. GIM's research portfolio for FY25 exceeded $22.6M, reflecting a robust foundation for investigator-initiated and collaborative scholarship. The Division maintains close ties with the Bloomberg School of Public Health through the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, and other research centers. Investigators in the Division are heavily engaged in cross-disciplinary collaboration with researchers and clinicians across divisions and departments. The Director will leverage these institutional strengths to:
- Champion and participate in scholarship in palliative care, including health services research, outcomes and quality improvement, implementation science, symptom management, and serious illness communication.
- Mentor and support faculty, trainees, advanced practice providers, and other members across the interdisciplinary team in scholarly productivity, grant development, study design, and dissemination.
- Align scholarship with operational priorities to evaluate and improve patient experience, equity, safety, and value across inpatient and ambulatory settings.
Compensation and effort for this full time position, including protected time for leadership and clinical effort in palliative care, will be commensurate with experience and the scope of responsibilities. In addition, an opportunity for endowment support may be available for exceptional candidates, subject to institutional approval.
The Johns Hopkins University is committed to equal opportunity for its faculty, staff, and students. To that end, the University does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristic. The University is committed to providing qualified individuals access to all academic and employment programs, benefits, and activities on the basis of demonstrated ability, performance, and merit without regard to personal factors that are irrelevant to the program involved.
Qualifications
Candidates must hold an MD or DO (or equivalent), be eligible for Maryland licensure, and be board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, with a record suitable for appointment at the Associate or Full Professor rank at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The successful candidate will demonstrate excellence in clinical care, education, and academic leadership; a proven ability to lead complex inpatient and ambulatory programs; a track record of supporting and mentoring faculty and clinicians across the interdisciplinary team; familiarity with operational metrics and quality improvement; outstanding interpersonal skills; enthusiasm around partnering with and engaging stakeholders to solve complex problems; and a strong commitment to inclusivity.
Application Instructions
Please submit a current CV and cover letter to Kate Walls (ksouth1@jhmi.edu). The search committee will accept nominations and applications through 3/31/2026.
Salary Range
The referenced salary range represents the minimum and maximum salaries for this position and is based on Johns Hopkins University's good faith belief at the time of posting. Not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range. The actual compensation offered to the selected candidate may vary and will ultimately depend on multiple factors, which may include the successful candidate's geographic location, skills, work experience, internal equity, market conditions, education/training and other factors, as reasonably determined by the University.
Total Rewards
Johns Hopkins offers a total rewards package that supports our employees' health, life, career and retirement. More information can be found here: https://hr.jhu.edu/benefits-worklife/.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Johns Hopkins University is committed to equal opportunity for its faculty, staff, and students. To that end, the university does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status or other legally protected characteristic. The university is committed to providing qualified individuals access to all academic and employment programs, benefits and activities on the basis of demonstrated ability, performance and merit without regard to personal factors that are irrelevant to the program involved.
Pre-Employment Information
If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at jhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711. For more information about workplace accommodations or accessibility at Johns Hopkins University, please visit accessibility.jhu.edu.
Background Checks
The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check including education verification.
EEO is the Law:
https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf
Vaccine Requirements
Johns Hopkins University strongly encourages, but no longer requires, at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine does not apply to positions located in the State of Florida. We still require all faculty, staff, and students to receive the seasonal flu vaccine. Exceptions to the COVID and flu vaccine requirements may be provided to individuals for religious beliefs or medical reasons. Requests for an exception must be submitted to the JHU vaccination registry. This change does not apply to the School of Medicine (SOM). SOM hires must be fully vaccinated with an FDA COVID-19 vaccination and provide proof of vaccination status. For additional information, applicants for SOM positions should visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/ and all other JHU applicants should visit https://covidinfo.jhu.edu/health-safety/covid-vaccination-information/.
The following additional vaccine requirements may apply, depending upon your campus. Please contact the hiring department for more information. The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.