Executive Director, Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation

Executive Director of the Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation

The Executive Director of the Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation (YCHS) provides strategic vision and operational leadership for Yale's multidisciplinary simulation enterprise, advancing education, clinical care, and patient safety through high-quality, evidence-informed simulation programming.

YCHS serves all Yale School of Medicine (YSM) medical and physician associate students, residents, fellows, and faculty, and supports clinicians and staff across Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) and its delivery networks.

The Executive Director leads and integrates a comprehensive portfolio of simulation modalitiesincluding high-fidelity manikin simulation, procedural simulation with task trainers, virtual reality simulation, in situ simulations, and Yale's simulated participant programensuring that YCHS remains responsive to evolving educational standards, clinical priorities, and technological innovation.

This position reports to the Deputy Dean for Education at Yale School of Medicine, with a dual reporting relationship to the Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Yale New Haven Health System. The Executive Director is accountable for administrative leadership, educational quality and growth, outreach, innovation and technology strategy, and a robust simulation research agenda, including funding development and scholarly dissemination.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Provide strategic and operational leadership for YCHS across YSM and YNHHS, ensuring high-quality, reliable, and scalable simulation operations aligned with institutional priorities.
2. Lead and develop YCHS personnel and faculty leadership, including supervision, mentoring, recruitment, and coordination with Human Resources for performance management and annual reviews.
3. Convene and lead regular faculty and staff meetings to align operational, educational, clinical, and research priorities and drive continuous quality improvement.
4. Build and sustain partnerships across YNHHS delivery networks and YSM departments/programs to extend and integrate simulation programming, including nursing and multidisciplinary education.
5. Oversee and continuously improve all YCHS educational activities, ensuring instructional quality, learner experience, evaluation, and (as applicable) accreditation alignment.
6. Provide operational and strategic oversight of core simulation modalities and programs, including the Simulated Participant Program, high-fidelity/manikin, procedural/task trainer, in situ, virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR), and related offerings.
7. Expand and sustain simulation curricula and training across key clinical and training domains (e.g., Internal Medicine, Surgical Specialties, OB/GYN, Anesthesia, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neurology) and specialty-specific needs.
8. Strengthen and scale debriefing education, including course offerings, faculty development, and dissemination of best practices across the system.
9. Advance competency-based procedural and clinical training and assessment (including performance-based procedural assessment) and support learner portfolios and program evaluation where applicable.
10. Expand and oversee interprofessional education and emergency medical services (EMS) training initiatives in collaboration with designated faculty and staff leaders.
11. Ensure reliable daily center operations through coordination of technical functioning, scheduling, prioritization, and resource allocation.
12. Provide budget planning and stewardship in collaboration with YSM and YNHHS partners; align financial resources to strategic priorities.
13. Support communications, web presence, publicity, and philanthropic engagement in partnership with strategy/development leadership and YSM/YNHHS stakeholders.
14. Oversee the Medical Simulation Fellowship and plan for future fellowship expansion across specialties.
15. Coordinate and serve as a non-voting member of the YCHS Advisory Board, including planning and executing biannual meetings.
16. Represent - or delegate representation of - YCHS on relevant institutional committees and working groups across YSM and YNHHS (e.g., simulation/education committees, curriculum committees, clinical skills assessment, continuing medical education).
17. Develop, evaluate, and expand outreach initiatives (e.g., Simulation Academy at Yale) and steward major funded outreach/education programs (e.g., NIH R25).
18. Review, approve, and prioritize internal and external requests to use YCHS facilities and programming for research, clinical training, outreach or other purposes, ensuring alignment with mission and capacity.
19. Collaborate with YSM educational technology innovation leadership and coordinate with YSM/YNHHS IT partners to ensure robust technology infrastructure supporting simulation operations.
20. Evaluate and implement emerging simulation technologies (including AR/VR platforms) and guide purchasing decisions consistent with instructional goals, evidence, privacy/security requirements, and sustainability.
21. Oversee and advance YCHS research strategy and operations, including governance, mentorship, investigator support, and integration with educational and clinical priorities.
22. Develop and oversee charge structures and budgeting guidance for use of YCHS resources on research grants in coordination with YSM/YNHHS finance leadership.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-organizational programs spanning academic medicine and an integrated health system.
2. Proven people leadership, including staff supervision, performance management, mentoring, recruitment, and team development.
3. Strong operational leadership skills, including resource prioritization across high-demand educational and clinical initiatives.
4. Excellence in stakeholder management and partnership-building with deans, department leaders, faculty directors, clinical leaders, and administrative teams.
5. Ability to design, oversee, and continuously improve simulation-based education, including debriefing, assessment, and learner progression across training levels.
6. Strong understanding of simulation modalities and infrastructure (manikin-based simulation, procedural/task training, VR/AR, in situ simulation, and simulated participant programming).
7. Strong communication skills (written, verbal, and facilitation), including the ability to represent YCHS to internal and external audiences.
8. Familiarity with research program development, including collaboration support, funding strategy, and dissemination through conferences and publications.
9. Budget stewardship and the ability to align financial planning with programmatic priorities in partnership with academic and health system finance leaders.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

1. Experience directing a simulation center or comparable clinical education enterprise at scale.
2. Demonstrated expertise in debriefing education and faculty development for simulation facilitation.
3. Experience integrating simulation into undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing professional education.
4. Experience with educational technology innovation, including evaluation and implementation of AR/VR/ artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled learning tools.
5. Track record of securing external funding (e.g., NIH, AHRQ, foundations) and serving as PI or co-investigator.
6. Evidence of scholarly and professional contributions to health care simulation, medical education, patient safety, or human factors.
7. Experience developing outreach programs and pipeline initiatives (e.g., K12/high school programming, admissions-related outreach).

Required Education and Experience

1. Advanced degree (e.g., MD, DO, PhD, EdD, or comparable) in a relevant field.
2. Progressive responsibility in health care education, simulation operations, or academic/clinical program leadership, including significant management experience with staff and faculty leaders.
3. Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-stakeholder initiatives.
4. Experience overseeing budgets and operational planning in partnership with academic and/or health system stakeholders.

Preferred Education and Experience

1. Formal training and/or recognized expertise in health care simulation, medical education, patient safety, human factors, or quality improvement.
2. Experience as PI or co-investigator on externally funded projects (federal and/or foundation).
3. Record of peer-reviewed scholarship and professional leadership in health care simulation or medical education.
4. Experience leading technology-enabled education initiatives, including AR/VR/AI applications in simulation.

Application Instructions

Candidates are asked to provide their CV and a statement of interest directly through the provided link.

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