Physician Assistant - Cardiothoracic Surgery

Position Summary:

The Medical College of Wisconsin’s Department of Department of Surgery, Division of Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, is seeking an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) to serve as the APP Manager 24 Hour Surgical.  Additionally, this APP will provide care within the Operating Room, Inpatient and Outpatient settings.  The Advanced Practice Provider (APP) works as a member of a multidisciplinary health care team who will contribute to excellence in program administration, patient care, patient safety, research, quality improvement, and teaching. 

Position Highlights:

• Practice within the Herma Heart Institute (HHI), Wisconsin's largest pediatric cardiac care center and a nationally recognized leader in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery.

• HHI performs annually:

• Over 450 pediatric heart surgeries

• More than 22,000 diagnostic procedures

• Services delivered across 16 locations throughout Wisconsin

• Multidisciplinary program consisting of approximately 87 providers.

• Strong academic and research environment with:

• Multiple NIH-funded investigators

• Robust quality and outcomes program

• Affiliation with the Children's Research Institute (CRI)

• National collaborative research partnerships

• Opportunity to contribute to research, quality improvement, education, and innovation in pediatric cardiovascular care.

• Pediatric and adult congenital heart disease patients from fetal diagnosis through adulthood.

• Surgical and medical management of complex congenital cardiovascular conditions.

• Inpatient, ICU, perioperative, operative, and ambulatory care settings.

• Exposure to highly complex congenital heart surgery patients, including ECMO and ventricular assist device (VAD) populations.

• Required: Reporting: APP Manager, Division Administrator)

Leadership Responsibilities:

• Serve as a point of contact for clinical and administrative issues, ensuring the highest standards of care and professional development.  

• Consider a program-wide approach to supervision and coordination of APPs, supporting the implementation of policies and procedures to maximize efficiency within the program and the Advanced Practice Provider model.  

• Assist with recruitment, training and evaluation of the APPs, serving as a liaison between APPs and leadership, and actively participate in division activities as an APP representative.

• Administrative duties as directed by the leadership team.

Schedule:

• M-F Days

• Evening, Weekend and Holiday Call (rotating)

• Ability to pick up extra call shifts  

• Required: Full time FTE  

• Required: Salaried (Exempt)

Department/Division Highlights:

Herma Heart Institute (HHI)

The HHI at Children’s Wisconsin is the largest pediatric cardiac care center in the state of Wisconsin and is a national leader in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery with over annually over 450 heart surgeries, 400 heart procedures, 22,000 diagnostic procedures in 16 locations across the state of Wisconsin.  The program includes 87 providers from multiple disciplines.  In addition, the HHI includes 7 principal investigators with multiple current NIH funded projects, and a robust quality and outcomes program. In 2023, the HHI published numerous impactful articles and has more than $56 million endowed funds with Children’s Wisconsin Foundation.  We care for patients with congenital heart disease from fetus through adulthood, and we consistently report some of the best surgical outcomes for even the most complex types of heart disease.  The HHI runs one of the largest adult congenital heart disease programs in the United States with physicians specially trained to treat this population.

Children’s Research Institute (CRI)

As a children’s hospital within an academic medical center, research is interwoven into the care we provide every day.  Children’s Wisconsin (CW) allocates a portion of its annual budget to pediatric research to stimulate research activity which is focused solely on improving child health outcomes.  This research is focused on improving diagnostics, discovering, and testing new therapies, and improving the way we prevent and manage some of the most complex medical conditions.  Physician-scientists, nurse-scientists, researchers, and technicians at the Children’s Research Institute (CRI) seek answers to the toughest questions in pediatric medicine. This innovative culture helps to attract and retain the best and brightest minds to our organization.  Since its inception in 2003, the CRI has grown to include more than 150 researchers spanning all diagnostic, medical, and surgical specialties. Together they form the largest "concentration of 100% pediatric research” in Wisconsin.

The CRI provides infrastructure and financial support for pediatric researchers conducting child health research.  CRI’s academic partners include the Medical College of Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, and Marquette University.

Types of support include the following:

• Supplemental Grant Support for Early-Stage Investigators

• Competitive Pilot Grants to help investigators test new ideas.

• Shared services, including a pediatric translational research unit staffed by pediatric nurses trained on the complexities of regulated clinical research.

• Dedicated laboratory space for pediatric researchers

• National Landscape

• Resources to support successful scientific writing.

Children’s Wisconsin engages in several national research partnerships with other children’s hospitals including Children’s Oncology Group (COG), Pediatric Heart Network (PHN), Midwest Pediatric Surgical Consortium, and Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PeCARN).  CW’s support of pediatric research is ~$16-17 million annually inclusive of philanthropy and overhead.  Much of CW’s philanthropic support for research is targeted to specific diseases.  The areas with the most significant donor support of research include pediatric cancer, congenital heart disease, and juvenile diabetes.  A more recent gift provided a new opportunity in mental and behavioral health research.

Qualifications:

Preferred Experience:

• Previous APP CT Surgery experience preferred.

• Leadership experience preferred and 5 years clinical experience in CT Surgery

Minimum Education:

• Advanced Practice Registered Nurse: Master’s Degree or higher in Nursing from a nationally accredited organization.

• Physician Assistant: Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Physician Assistant Studies from an ARC-PA-accredited organization.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse                                                

• Wisconsin APRN License

• APRN Certification

• Nurse Practitioner Certification from a nationally accredited professional nursing organization

?Physician Assistant

• Wisconsin Physician Assistant License

• Certification by National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)            

Why MCW?

• MCW offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.

• Access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources.

• Supportive and collaborative work environment.

• A competitive 403(b) retirement plan with an 8% employer contribution.

• Generous CME allowance to cover societal dues, travel and conferences.

• As a qualifying non-profit, employment with the Medical College of Wisconsin may make you eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

• Robust benefits package, including health, dental, life insurance, disability coverage, adoption assistance, paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement program, generous paid time off and more!

Organizational Overview

Children’s Wisconsin and Children’s Specialty Group

Children’s Wisconsin is an independent health care system dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. The hospital, with locations in Milwaukee and Northeast Wisconsin, is recognized as one of the leading pediatric health care centers in the United States. Children’s Wisconsin provides primary care, urgent care, emergency care, specialty care, mental and behavioral health services, community health services, foster and adoption services, child advocacy services and health insurance plans. Each year, the Children’s Wisconsin team has more than 6.5 million touchpoints with kids and families through medical care, advocacy, research and education. In Northeast Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin is expanding its services to provide increased access to outstanding pediatric subspecialty care. This includes a pediatric hospital, with a Pediatric Unit, Level III NICU and Infusion Center, which is located at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Neenah, WI. A multispecialty pediatric ambulatory clinic with on-site laboratory and radiology services opened in Appleton, Wis. in 2023.

Children’s and its joint venture with the Medical College of Wisconsin – the Children’s Specialty Group (CSG) - are the largest providers of pediatric healthcare in the state, serving the children and families of Wisconsin with the highest level of care through their American College of Surgeons Level I Children’s Surgery Verification Center, Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, Diagnostic Imaging Center of Excellence, 72-bed Level IV NICU, Level IV Epilepsy Center, and a 72-bed PICU. In 2021-2022, CW and CSG had six specialties ranked by US News & World Report: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; gastroenterology and GI surgery; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; and pulmonology.  With over 70 specialties and 675 providers, CSG providers had 220,000 outpatient visits at 13 regional care sites, 67,000 emergency department/trauma center visits, and over 9,000 admissions.

Procedure for Candidacy  

To submit your application, please click on “Apply Now.” You will create a candidate profile, and you will be prompted to upload your CV and your cover letter, describing your interest and qualifications. References will be required at an appropriate time in the process. All interactions will remain confidential, and no inquiries will be made without the consent of the applicant. Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

For inquiries or to learn more, please contact:

Mikaela Messerschmidt - Physician & APP Recruiter
[email protected] 

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