Faculty Development

How to Succeed in the Academic Track at Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Penny Asbell, George Atweh, Ehud Kaplan and Klaude Weiss

September 22, 2004
NOTES from the Academic Track Panel

What are the criteria for the Academic Track?
The criteria are stated in the Faculty Handbook.

How do I decide if I belong in the Academic Track?
Describe what you do in your professional life at Mount Sinai: If you are primarily involved with research as a principal investigator who is funded by peer reviewed grants, with a record of peer reviewed publications, then this is the right track for you. Teaching and clinical work can be a component of your portfolio and can compliment the other parts.

If I am a physician scientist, or a course director, do I belong in the Academic track or the Clinician-Educator track?
The Clinician and/or Educator track is the track for faculty for whom clinical work and/or education are the primary activities. If you are devoting most of your time to the development and advancement of your own independent research program, the Academic track is probably the right track for you. An Academic Track faculty member's portfolio must include high quality peer-reviewed articles, grant funding (NIH awards are especially important) and some teaching and service. In contrast, in the Clinician and/or Educator Track the primary emphasis is on clinical care and/or teaching, with research a desirable secondary pursuit. So if a considerable amount of your time is dedicated to patient care, with some involvement in clinical research (which would include clinical trials and/or funding from pharmaceuticals/industry), you should consider the Clinician and/or Educator Track. And if your main responsibilities include course directorship and/or other school leadership responsibilities such as curriculum design/development, along with clinical responsibilities, than you probably belong on the Clinician and or Educator Track. In the unusual case that you are seeking promotion on the Academic Track primarily as an educator, your bibliography must include (but not be limited to) publication/participation in educational texts and materials, and you should be known nationally as an educator in your discipline. This includes the expectation that you give lectures/presentations at the national level.

How does the Research Track differ from the Academic Track?
In the research track you are not expected to have independent funding for your research and you function as part of a team or play a key role in supporting the research of others and are expected to participate in publications.

How can I get promoted in the Academic Track?
In any track, promotion requires that you have distinguished yourself according to criteria that would be characterized as “excellent.” This means that you must publish and be widely known outside Mount Sinai. People in your area of science should be familiar with your work and able to render an evaluation (peer-review) on your contributions to the field. These evaluators must include people outside MSSM, i.e., in the Metropolitan region, nationally and even internationally (depending on the rank of your candidacy). Although you achieve your national and/or international reputation primarily from your publications, serving on editorial boards, study sections and giving invited talks at national and international symposia, and other institutions are also evidence of your repute. The CV that is submitted and the Chair's statement must emphasize the critical aspects of your scholarship and contributions. Furthermore, your success at securing grants indicates that a study section composed of experts in your field is making favorable judgments about your research and its importance. For promotion to Associate Professor there must be evidence of a sustained record of research funding with an upward trajectory. Again, NIH and other Federally Funded peer-reviewed awards are especially important. For example this can mean that you are successful in renewing your grant or in getting a second grant.

Do “Publish or Perish” and “Up or Out” apply to the Academic Track?
Yes – that’s what characterizes advancement in the traditional Academic track. You have to publish regularly in peer-reviewed journals in order to make known the scientific contributions of your lab. In this way your work is transmitted to many other groups for them to build on your findings. It is also the basis for successful peer-reviewed renewal of your funding. Finally your publications are the basis for your national and international reputation and that of your medical school. In the Academic Track, there is a maximum of 7 years as Assistant Professor and 9 years as Associate Professor (see table) (effective 2002 when Mount Sinai converted to the current Appointments & Promotions methodology). Your department chair determines your appointment and re-appointment as Assistant Professor. Promotion to and re-appointment as Associate Professor requires the review and approval of the Appointments and Promotions committee (see below).

Can I be promoted because I am an excellent teacher?
Being an excellent teacher is not enough to be promoted in the Academic Track unless you are doing funded research and publishing regularly about education.

How do I determine if I am ready for promotion to Associate Professor or Full Professor?
Discussions with your chair or division chief are critical in determining a strategy, timetable and criteria for promotion. Your department chair must support your candidacy for promotion. If some departments, you would commence discussion with your division chief who would in turn garner the mandatory support from your chair. Therefore you should arrange a meeting to discuss your viability for promotion at this time, or whether it would be premature and in your favor to submit at a later date. If the advice is that the request for promotion is premature, then you should receive recommendations from your chair as to strategies to employ in the interim to better enhance your promotion application. You should also ask what the timeframe would be before the process could be initiated.

Can anyone other than my chair advise me about whether I could be promoted?
The leaders of the Appointments and Promotions Committee are available to look at the papers prior to official submission. A request for advice for your chair may be initiated by your chair. This kind of prescreening can help the chair identify where additional materials are needed. It can also help in choosing the appropriate track so that when your file is submitted, the promotion is more likely.

Where can I find the information that outlines the paperwork that’s required by Appointments and Promotions?
When the decision has been made to move forward with your promotion, it is important that you contact your department administrator, who is familiar with and responsible for working with you to complete the application. However, there are a few things you can review and/or work on beforehand which will expedite the process.

• Your CV must be prepared to strictly adhere to a required format
• Requirements for submission of a reviewer nominee list differ according to rank and track
• You will be asked by your administrator to submit reprints of what you consider to be your most important publications

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