As the Department of Internal Medicine expands in size and scope, the academic clinician track has seen the sharpest growth rate across the five faculty ladder tracks. Faculty in this track play a critical role in the department's clinical and educational missions.
Historically, Yale University policy stipulated that senior faculty in the academic clinician track could vote only on appointments and promotions in the academic clinician track. In contrast, senior faculty in the other four ladder tracks could vote on all appointments and promotions (A&P.) With the permission of Yale School of Medicine, the Department of Internal Medicine’s leadership recommended that the voting privileges of professors in the academic clinician track be expanded to include all faculty appointments and promotions during the A&P process. The senior and tenured faculty has officially voted to approve this change as a new departmental policy.
“As we've expanded our clinical programs, there's an enormous need for academic clinician faculty to further our clinical and clinical-educational missions. There are outstanding professors in the academic clinician track whose insights are critical to helping determine the future of the department, so I am glad that they can now vote on all faculty appointments and promotions,” said Lawrence H. Young, MD, vice chair of Faculty Affairs and professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine) and of cellular and molecular physiology.
Since 2019, the academic clinician track has added nearly 50 new physicians within Internal Medicine. Per Yale’s Office of Academic & Professional Development, the academic clinician track “highlights faculty who provide exemplary clinical skills, and clinical and/or educational leadership.”
Department Chair Gary V. Désir, MD, Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine and vice provost for Faculty Development and Diversity, is pleased with the voting change.
“The academic clinician track has changed over the years, but what has never changed is our faculty’s exceptional clinical skills and their unwavering commitment to educating the future leaders in medicine. They are a vital part of our department, and I am happy that the leadership and tenured faculty have agreed to honor them in this way,” said Désir.
Professors in the academic clinician track can now vote on faculty in all tracks as part of the A&P process, a change that was effective on March 1, 2024.
The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.