Chief Physician Assistant

Chief Physician Assistant

The Department of Radiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center is seeking a Chief Physician Assistant (Chief PA) to provide clinical and administrative leadership for physician assistants supporting Diagnostic Radiology services.

Reporting administratively to the Department Administrator/Chief Administrative Officer and working under the clinical direction of designated Diagnostic Radiology physician leadership, the Chief PA is responsible for the effective deployment, supervision, professional development, and performance management of the Diagnostic Radiology PA team.

The Chief PA partners with radiologists and clinical and operational leadership to develop and optimize the role of PAs within Diagnostic Radiology, including patient assessment, procedure support, imaging-related clinical care, care coordination, and other activities within the PA's authorized scope of practice and clinical privileges. The position supports consistent PA practice across hospital-based and ambulatory imaging environments and identifies opportunities to improve patient access, radiologist efficiency, clinical workflow, and the patient experience.

The Chief PA maintains an active clinical practice appropriate to the individual's training, credentials, privileges, and assigned responsibilities.

Responsibilities

PA Leadership and Workforce Management 10%

• Provides administrative leadership and day-to-day supervision of physician assistants assigned to Diagnostic Radiology.
• Develops staffing and coverage models that align PA resources with clinical volumes, imaging schedules, procedural activity, and operational needs.
• Manages PA schedules, assignments, time-off requests, and coverage plans across applicable Diagnostic Radiology services and locations.
• Participates in recruitment, interviewing, selection, onboarding, retention, and succession planning.
• Conducts or coordinates performance evaluations, goal setting, coaching, corrective action, and professional development in collaboration with departmental leadership and Human Resources.
• Establishes consistent expectations for PA performance, productivity, clinical practice, documentation, and professional conduct.
• Facilitates regular PA team meetings and serves as the primary administrative liaison between Diagnostic Radiology PAs and departmental leadership.
• Promotes employee engagement, teamwork, accountability, and professional growth.

Diagnostic Radiology Clinical Operations 10%

• Partners with Diagnostic Radiology physician and operational leadership to develop, implement, and optimize PA-supported models of care.
• Evaluates opportunities to deploy PAs to improve patient access, clinical workflow, radiologist efficiency, procedural capacity, and continuity of care.
• Coordinates PA coverage across appropriate Diagnostic Radiology divisions, modalities, procedures, and clinical locations.
• Develops standardized workflows defining PA responsibilities within Diagnostic Radiology consistent with applicable scope-of-practice requirements, institutional policies, credentialing, and clinical privileges.
• Works collaboratively with radiologists, nurses, technologists, schedulers, and practice operations teams to improve imaging-related patient care and workflow.
• Supports PA involvement in appropriate image-guided and other Diagnostic Radiology procedures based on training and clinical privileges.
• Supports patient assessment and management associated with imaging procedures, contrast administration, procedural preparation and recovery, and other Diagnostic Radiology services as appropriate.
• Identifies workflow barriers and develops solutions that allow radiologists and other clinical staff to practice effectively at the appropriate level of their training and expertise.
• Participates in planning for new imaging programs, clinical locations, technologies, and models of care.
• Uses operational and clinical data to evaluate PA utilization, staffing needs, productivity, and opportunities for program expansion.

Quality, Clinical Standards and Professional Development 10%

• Partners with Diagnostic Radiology physician leadership to establish consistent standards for PA clinical practice.
• Supports initial and ongoing assessment of PA clinical competencies.
• Develops standardized orientation, onboarding, and training programs for Diagnostic Radiology PAs.
• Works with credentialing offices and institutional partners to ensure maintenance of required licenses, registrations, certifications, credentials, privileges, and mandatory training.
• Promotes continuing education and professional development relevant to Diagnostic Radiology practice.
• Participates in departmental quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
• Reviews PA-related clinical or operational concerns and works with appropriate physician and administrative leadership to develop and implement corrective actions.
• Supports development and review of clinical protocols, policies, procedures, and standardized workflows applicable to PA practice.
• Promotes consistent documentation and compliance with institutional, regulatory, and professional requirements.

Clinical Practice 70%

• Maintains an active clinical practice within Diagnostic Radiology based upon assigned service needs and the individual's education, training, experience, credentialing, and clinical privileges.
• Performs patient histories and physical assessments and evaluates patients before, during, and following imaging examinations or procedures as appropriate.
• Orders or facilitates appropriate diagnostic testing and medications within authorized scope of practice and applicable institutional policies.
• Performs or assists with image-guided and other Diagnostic Radiology procedures for which the PA has appropriate training and clinical privileges.
• Provides imaging-related patient education, clinical follow-up, care coordination, and communication with referring providers as appropriate.
• Evaluates and assists in the management of contrast reactions and other imaging-related clinical events within established protocols and scope of practice.
• Documents clinical encounters and procedures accurately and timely within the electronic medical record.
• Collaborates with supervising and attending radiologists and other members of the multidisciplinary care team.
• Provides clinical coverage when necessary to support continuity of patient care and departmental operations.
• Serves as a clinical resource and role model for other PAs within Diagnostic Radiology.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited Physician Assistant program or equivalent educational preparation required.
• Graduate of an ARC-PA accredited Physician Assistant program.
• Current certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
• Current or eligible for New York State licensure and registration as a Physician Assistant.
• Current or eligible for credentialing and clinical privileges required by affiliated clinical entities.
• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible clinical experience as a Physician Assistant.
• Demonstrated leadership, supervisory, or program-management experience.
• Strong knowledge of clinical operations, patient safety, quality improvement, and interdisciplinary healthcare delivery.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities within a complex academic medical center environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree from an accredited Physician Assistant program or related healthcare field.
• Seven or more years of clinical PA experience.
• Three or more years of formal supervisory or leadership experience involving physician assistants or other advanced practice providers.
• Experience in Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, surgery, emergency medicine, or another procedural or imaging-related specialty.
• Experience within a large academic medical center or multi-site healthcare organization.
• Experience developing PA staffing models, clinical workflows, orientation programs, and competency standards.
• Experience implementing or expanding PA-supported clinical programs.
• Experience with clinical quality improvement and operational performance measurement.

Other Requirements

• The incumbent must maintain all licenses, certifications, registrations, credentials, and clinical privileges required for continued practice as a Physician Assistant. Clinical responsibilities must be performed in accordance with applicable federal and New York State requirements, Columbia University policies, and the policies, bylaws, credentialing requirements, and clinical privileges of affiliated healthcare institutions.
• This position may require work at multiple clinical locations and participation in evening, weekend, holiday, and/or on-call coverage based on operational needs.

Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong leadership and people-management capabilities.
• Sound clinical judgment and commitment to patient safety.
• Ability to establish effective working relationships with radiologists and multidisciplinary clinical teams.
• Strong operational and workflow-management skills.
• Ability to identify opportunities to improve radiologist efficiency and patient access through effective PA deployment.
• Effective conflict resolution and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to analyze clinical and operational data and translate findings into actionable improvements