Department Chair Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

Department Chair Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

The Chair of Osteopathic Principles and Practice/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OPP/OMM) provides academic, administrative, clinical, and scholarly leadership for the Department of OPP/OMM at the Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine. The Chair serves as the principal faculty leader responsible for the development, delivery, integration, assessment, and continuous quality improvement of osteopathic principles and practice throughout all four years of the curriculum.

The Chair ensures that osteopathic philosophy, principles, and osteopathic manipulative medicine are longitudinally integrated throughout the curriculum and support the development of the seven osteopathic core competencies, including medical knowledge, patient care, communication skills, professionalism, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, and osteopathic principles and practice/osteopathic manipulative treatment.

The Chair oversees departmental faculty, curricular operations, osteopathic clinical skills education, assessment activities, and the integration of osteopathic principles and practice across preclinical and clinical education, in a manner consistent with the institutional mission and COCA accreditation standards.

This position reports to an Associate Dean or other designated senior institutional leader.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the principal faculty leader responsible for the development, implementation, oversight, integration, assessment, and continuous quality improvement of the OPP/OMM curriculum across all four years.
• Ensure the curriculum includes instruction in osteopathic principles and practice, including both observational and supervised hands-on application of osteopathic manipulative medicine.
• Ensure osteopathic principles and practice are integrated throughout preclinical and clinical education and support development of the osteopathic core competencies.
• Collaborate with course directors, clerkship directors, simulation faculty, and institutional leadership to integrate osteopathic content throughout the curriculum.
• Participate in curriculum mapping, curricular review, assessment, and program evaluation activities.
• Ensure alignment of OPP/OMM curricular content with institutional learning outcomes, COMLEX-USA preparation, competency-based education, and accreditation standards.
• Develop and oversee practical examinations, written examinations, competency-based assessments, osteopathic clinical skills assessments, and question banks.
• Maintain oversight of osteopathic laboratory instruction, simulation activities, clinical skills education, and osteopathic clinical application experiences.

Departmental Administration and Faculty Oversight

• Provide administrative leadership and operational oversight for the Department of OPP/OMM.
• Recruit, supervise, mentor, develop, and evaluate departmental faculty and staff.
• Assist with faculty scheduling, workload management, faculty development, and departmental strategic planning.
• Ensure faculty maintain appropriate licensure, credentialing, certification, and clinical competency.
• Participate in accreditation activities, institutional committees, faculty governance, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
• Support a collaborative, professional, inclusive, and student-centered educational environment.

Teaching and Student Development

• Teach osteopathic principles, osteopathic manipulative medicine, clinical reasoning, and related clinical skills in classroom, laboratory, simulation, small-group, and clinical settings.
• Provide formative and summative student assessment and timely feedback.
• Advise and mentor students regarding academic achievement, professional development, residency preparation, and osteopathic professional identity formation.
• Write letters of recommendation and support student career advising activities as appropriate.
• Promote professionalism, wellness, inclusion, accountability, and student success.

Clinical Responsibilities

• Participate in clinical activities that support the osteopathic educational mission of the institution.
• Provide osteopathic-focused patient care…