The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invites candidates with strong scientific and clinical credentials to apply for the position of Head of the Bioethics Consultation Service in the Department of Bioethics, at the NIH Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD.

The NIH is the nation’s foremost federally-funded biomedical research institution. The NIH Clinical Research Center (CRC) is the onsite hospital for the NIH campus providing full support for clinical research in inpatient and outpatient settings. The NIH Clinical Center is the world’s largest clinical research complex serving a dual role; providing humane and healing patient care as well as the environment clinical researchers need to advance clinical science. The NIH Clinical Center provides a full range of services from ambulatory clinical to critical care and special procedures. Patients come from all over the world to participate in a research program aimed at developing new knowledge of disease processes, new treatments, and expanded comprehension of basic biologic systems. The focus on early phase and first-in-human clinical trials and on the study of rare diseases makes it possible to rapidly translate scientific observations and laboratory discoveries into new approaches for diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease. The patient population generally has a clinical intensity higher than that of comparable specialties in academic medical centers, and patients are seen for prolonged periods of assessment, treatment and recovery.
The Department of Bioethics is a center for research, training, and service related to bioethical issues. The Department provides high quality ethics consultation services to clinicians, patients, and families of the NIH’s Clinical Center and advice to the NIH IRBs, investigators, and others on ethical issues in clinical care and clinical research. In addition, members of the department conduct conceptual, empirical, and policy-related research into bioethical issues; offers comprehensive training to future bioethicists and educational programs for biomedical researchers and clinical providers.

The selected candidate is expected to lead, organize, and guide the planning, management, and implementation of the CC Bioethics Consultation Service. The Bioethics Consultation Service provides ethical analysis and facilitates discussion about a range of ethical issues that arise in caring for patients or research participants and during the course of research conducted at the NIH. The Bioethics Consultation Service provides both clinical ethics consultation and research ethics consultation, and is available to anyone with an ethical question or concern including investigators, research participants, families, physicians, nurses, administrators, social workers, pastoral care providers, and others who work at the NIH. In addition, the incumbent will rotate as an attending consultant on the Bioethics Consultation service; provide guidance about consultation to other attendings; orient and train fellows regarding bioethics consultation; represent the Consult Service to the CC and NIH; serve as vice-chair of the CC Ethics Committee; and participating in weekly clinical rounds as appropriate.

The incumbent will conduct empirical and/or conceptual research on theoretical and applied issues in bioethics and health policy. The Department currently has five major research foci: 1) research ethics; 2) ethics of genetics and emerging technologies, 3) ethics and health policy, 4) global health ethics; and 5) clinical ethics. Topics might include, but are not limited to, the allocation of health care resources; approaches for decision-making to resolve complex ethical problems; research on methods and systems involved in patient care; and investigation of methods to engage family members to maximize clinical outcomes and engage community members to inform or enhance health policies.

The incumbent will also contribute to educational programs in bioethics through planning and teaching and mentor fellows in the bioethics fellowship program. The incumbent will advise the Chief of the Bioethics Department, the CC Director, NIH Institute Clinical Directors, DDIR, and others at NIH, as needed on issues in bioethics.

Candidates must possess superior clinical and academic credentials. The Candidate must have an M.D. or equivalent medical degree, an active medical license (in any of the United States), and be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National. Candidates should demonstrate experience and proven skill in bioethics consultation, and the ability to provide ethical analysis and facilitate discussion on a range of ethical issues that arise in patient care or during the course of research as well as a record of accomplishment in research and training in the field of bioethics.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) is a core competency for the Clinical Center (CC) so candidates are required to submit a diversity statement describing their commitment to promoting DEIA as evident in a track record of prior activities. Please include in your application a description of mentoring and outreach activities in which you have been involved, especially those involving women and persons from racial/ethnic or other groups that are underrepresented in biomedical research. If invited for an interview you will be required to describe your record of promoting diversity and inclusion such as, but not limited to, mentoring individuals from underrepresented groups, participating in mentoring programs designed to promote diversity, and DEIA-related outreach activities.

Salary will be commensurate with clinical experience as well as scientific accomplishments. A full Civil Service package of benefits (including retirement, health, life insurance, Thrift Savings Plan, etc.) is available for this position. Position is located at the Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.

Applications should be submitted via the www.usajobs.gov website, job announcement # NIH-GR-DH-23-11941532 that will be open from 06/26/2023 to midnight on 07/05/2023. Please include your Resume/CV, a brief cover letter, a personal statement, and a description of mentoring and outreach activities as described above. For more information on how to apply on USAJobs please review this link:
https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include/.

If you have questions about this position, please contact Paula Landry, HR Specialist, NIH at 301-402-7903 or at Paula.Landry@nih.gov.

HHS and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers. Selection for this position will be based solely on merit, without discrimination for non-merit reasons such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, politics, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental handicap, age or membership, or non-membership in an employee organization. All applicants will be subject to a background investigation.

For more information, please visit https://www.cc.nih.gov/about/jobs/ccjobs.html.