Description

Kaleida Health’s General Physician Cardiovascular (formerly Great Lakes Cardiovascular) in Buffalo, NY, has an open search for a Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery

The successful candidate will be joining and leading a group of four Cardiothoracic Surgeons at General Physician Cardiovascular (formerly Great Lakes Cardiovascular). We seek an accomplished and visionary Chief of Cardiothoracic surgery who will lead the program and the service through clinical, operational and strategic governance.

Kaleida’s Cardiology Service line through General Physician Cardiovascular, is an opportunity for a surgeon who is respected, high performing and visionary.  This critical department leadership opportunity will enable a true leader, with outstanding clinical expertise to be part of an organization committed to program development, physician engagement and quality. 

At this time Kaleida Health is growing, adding 2 hospitals to its network in the region, improving through rebuilding one hospital and adding EPIC EMR, and focusing on our important role in the region as the leader in Cardiovascular Care. 

The service line goals include:

•       Maintaining position as market leader in both surgical volumes and quality outcomes
•       Optimizing care in the cardiovascular ICU
•       Development of clinical initiatives to reduce readmission rates, improve mortality rates, and increase compliance with evidence-based protocols
•       Improving patient experience and patient satisfaction scores
•       Enhancing care coordination across cardiology, surgery and rehab
•       Improving contribution margin per case and total financial performance of the cardiac surgical services
•       Review of operating room workflows and efficiency

Highlights of this Position

• Work with a team dedicated to high-quality cardiovascular care
• Call is 1:4 with APP support
• Site has full cardiac services to include ECMO, CVICU, Imaging and helipad.
• Strong collaboration with General Physician Cardiology team and the University at Buffalo
• High end research, simulation and 3 D Printing through the Jacobs Institute.
• Accredited by ACC and STS – CT includes CABG, AVR and regions main hub for cardiac care
• Team to include CT, EP, Interventional and General Cardiologists who work alongside, pulmonologists, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, and specialized ICU staff to manage complex cases safely.

Key Responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality surgical care to cardiac patients across a full spectrum of conditions.
• Participate in shared call coverage, inpatient and outpatient services.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including pulmonology, anesthesiology, and cardiology.
• Participate in clinical and/or basic science research with opportunities for intradepartmental and inter-institutional collaboration.
• Maintain a commitment to service excellence and continuous quality improvement.

Surgeon in Chief Responsibilities

• Serve as the innovative, strategic and operational surgical leader for all cardiothoracic care at Kaleida Health.
• Guide recruitment, mentorship, and professional development of surgeons and staff.
• Oversee clinical operations, efficiency, quality, and safety initiatives.
• Work closely with hospital and health system leadership to enhance program visibility.
• Establish and implement divisional goals aligned with departmental and institutional missions.
• Drive innovation in cardiothoracic surgical care delivery, education, and quality.

Job Requirements

Qualifications

• M.D. or equivalent degree with completion of an ACGME-accredited training
• Board certification by ABTS
• Eligible for medical licensure in New Yor
• NY DEA
• Demonstrated track record of clinical excellence, teaching, and scholarly achievement.
• Strong leadership skills with experience in faculty development, team management, or program-building preferred

Preferred Attributes

•       Clinical expertise to provide continued excellent clinical care
•       Clinician with an ability to mentor 
•       Experience with program development and expansion
•       Larger program experience 
•       Strategic and visionary leader capable of recommendations that are solid for the region.
•       Strong leader with administrative expertise
•       Understanding of capabilities of navigating a matrix organization.  

Preferred Skills and Experience

1. Clinical Excellence:  Experienced candidate to provide clinical care, teaching, patient safety with proven quality outcomes.
2. Financial Acuity: Ability to analyze and be fiscally responsible for budget.
3. Leadership: A candidate with an understanding of balancing clinical and administrative leadership who will lead the hospital toward program expansion.
4. Growth Mindset: Ability to identify and develop strategic expansion of clinical programs and services. A leader who will foster interdisciplinary collaboration to meet the evolving needs of our patient population.
5. Recruitment and Development: Familiarity and success with recruiting, mentoring, and retaining surgeons and advanced practice providers.  Strong interest in mentoring and leading the charge for the professional development of the medical staff.
6. Relationship Building: Experience and proven success cultivating strong relationships with other divisions, departments, referring physicians, and community partners.
7. Strategic Leadership: Developing and implementing a strategic vision for Cardiothoracic Surgery at Kaleida Health

Compensation and Benefits

•       Salary: $1,000,000-$1,500,000;  Combination of clinical and administrative duties
•       Arrival Bonus: $100,000 
•       Comp/wRVU, Kaleida will protect base for first two years 
•       Relocation up to $10,000
•       Paid Occurrence Based Malpractice
•       Paid PTO and Paid Holidays
•       Health and Retirement Benefits
•       CME allowance and CME Time

General Physician Cardiovascular (formerly Great Lakes Cardiovascular)

Our overall cardiology team at General Physician Cardiovascular includes non-invasive, electrophysiology, interventional and structural heart specialists.  We are part of Kaleida Health System, Western New York’s largest healthcare system, serving eight counties in the state of New York.

The General Physician Cardiovascular surgeons at Kaleida Health perform surgery within the Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute (BGMC/GVI). The Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) features four floors dedicated to comprehensive vascular care, revolutionary neurological procedures, and cardiac services unavailable anywhere else in the region.   The Surgeons collaborate with scientists in University at Buffalo’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute- encompassing four floors of a combined 10-story building. Together, they are accelerating progress toward medical breakthroughs and innovative treatments.

GVI and Buffalo General Medical Center

The Gates Vascular Institute and the adjacent Buffalo General Medical Center (an academic medical center) share a very busy emergency department designed to accommodate more than 60,000 visits each year, a helipad, 28 operating rooms, 17 interventional labs for procedures, and utilizes a state-of-the-art imaging center.    The Cardiothoracic program at Kaleida Health performs 1000+ non-thoracic cardiac pump cases annually.

Jacobs Institute 

Our cardiac team is actively involved in many national clinical trials and works in concert with the Jacobs Institute at The University at Buffalo to discover new and better ways to treat the heart and bring those discoveries to the bedside.   The Cardiothoracic department is planning for future growth through the development of an aortic center of excellence, structural heart, and heart failure program.

Our Cardiac Surgery Services Include:

• Mutliarterial CABG
• Minimally invasive CABG
• Mitral Valve repair and replacement
• Aortic repair and replacement via minimally invasive techniques
• Heart valve repair and replacement
• Internal cardioverter defibrillator placement
• Pacemaker and defibrillator implants
• Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) (on and off pump) with endoscopic vein harvesting
• Transmyocardial laser revascularization
• Repair of adult congenital heart disease
• Aortic aneurisms and dissection
• Excision of cardiac tumors
• Maze procedure and pulmonary vein isolation – for atrial fibrillation
• Multiple valves
• Septal myectomy for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysm stents and repairs
• Carotid stent and heart valve/CABG surgery
• Coronary stent and heart valve surgery
• Epicardial ablation
• Left atrial appendage ligation
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)

Application

Send CV, Narrative and interest to:

Mary Lynn Candella

Director, Provider Recruitment

Kaleida Health

MLCandella1@KaleidaHealth.org