The Department of Medicine PATHS were created as a guide for faculty as they navigate through their careers. These are only guidelines for accomplishments towards promotion, not requirements, and achievement of these targets does not guarantee promotion. These are examples and it is not expected every faculty member achieve every suggested target. The PATH is divided by career years into best practices and academic mission areas.
Years 1-2
Education
- Teach in patient care environments*
- Present a lecture as part of a clerkship, elective, short or semester long course*
- Attend DOM/SOM medical education workshops like Learning to be Better Teachers
Scholarship
- Begin initial scholarship and explore faculty resources for scholarship, identify research area
- Write a clinical vignette or case report
- Submit an abstract
- Present an abstract (platform or poster)
Professional Service
- Understand what the clinical metrics are for your site and section
- Demonstrate clinical competence per job expectations and development for growth in area of expertise
Academic Service
- Become a member of academic societies (e.g. American Society of Nephrology, (opens in a new window) SGIM) (opens in a new window) and take advantage of opportunities
Beginning of year 1 Best Practices
- Check out the Department mentoring resources for individual development plan templates, helpful checklists and more.
- Download our app (ios only): BUGLE: Best Unofficial Guide to Life at Emory - a quick-reference guide to help you better navigate Emory with site-specific details and insider tips
- Attend New Faculty Orientation: Learn how you fit into the DOM and how we are improving health through discovery, education and care. Walk away with new skills you can apply immediately regardless of your career focus.
Tip! Download the SOM CV, Service Portfolio, and Teaching Portfolio templates…and start adding in your efforts NOW and continue to do so. This will help you track your efforts and be prepared for performance reviews, promotions, etc.
Years 1-2 continued
Education
- Learn about educational scholarship (opens in a new window)
- Participate in a workshop such as the Capstone module*
- Participate in a Journal Club or seminar series*
- Start building supervisory and mentoring skills and developing mentor relationships with trainees
- Begin to track contact hours for students
* Get connected with educational leaders who can help you get involved.
Scholarship
- Learn about educational scholarship opportunities
- Work on a collaborative project and submit initial results making use of faculty support services, e.g., DABCore (opens in a new window)
Professional Service (Clinical)
- Define clinical commitments in outpatient and inpatient settings.
- Provide outstanding patient care/clinical service
- Start tracking scope of clinical activities e.g. numbers of patients, referral base, etc.
- Be aware of individual and group clinical metrics
- Contribute to collaborative team efforts in clinical or public health activities
- Participate on hospital committees as well as appropriate related organizations/institutions
Academic Service (Institutional, Regional & National)
- Inquire about section/division/department committees on which to serve, but don't over commit yourself (Committees with greater time commitments should be scrutinized carefully)
- Join abstract review committees for regional/state associations
During years 1 & 2 Best Practices
- Prepare for your Career Conference Performance Review (opens in a new window) by reviewing your CV, Teaching and Service Portfolios for accomplishments. Prepare to discuss goals with your evaluator.
- Review Department’s faculty development (opens in a new window) and mentoring websites (opens in a new window) and the promotion guidelines
- Attend Professional Development Opportunities such as:
During years 1 & 2 Best Practices Continued
- Find out what else is being offered in the DOM and SOM
- Explore offerings from the Emory WorkLife Resource Center (opens in a new window)
- Begin tracking MOC and CME workshop participation
Before year 3 Best Practices
- Interested in improving your leadership skills? Apply for the SOM Junior Faculty Development Course a career development program specifically for junior faculty (5 month program)
- Learn about quality improvement and efforts underway at Emory:
- Health Services Research Day “Quality Day” - (opens in a new window) annual quality forum and networking opportunity for researchers sponsored by Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (CTSA) (opens in a new window) of which Emory is a member
- Emory Healthcare Quality Academy: Leadership for Healthcare Improvement - designed to give health care leaders an introduction to quality improvement. (2 day course)
- Emory Healthcare Quality Academy: Practical Methods for Healthcare Improvement – more intensive program designed to develop local quality improvement leaders who are capable of independently planning and conducting improvement in their areas and serving as resources to others
- Interprofessional Team Skills for Quality Improvement – seven session course guides teams through quality improvement projects, fosters interprofessional teamwork and builds skills to teach QI in clinical teams
Years 3-4
Education
- Present conferences, Grand Rounds or similar educational sessions and venues
- Identify focus area(s) of teaching which will help drive scholarship areas.
- Develop or direct electives, short courses or ACGME (opens in a new window) programs
- Develop educational/curricular materials
- Develop or direct a workshop such as Capstone
- Organize and develop conferences, journal clubs, etc.
- Participate or plan a regional/national CME event
- Start developing mentor relationships with junior faculty
Scholarship
- Publish original scholarship, as well as case reports and review articles on clinical and scientific topics related to the initial project (journals for educational scholarship) (opens in a new window)
- Expand to more advanced projects
- Publish educational, clinical, basic science, quality measures, epidemiological or social science research with evidence of significant contribution to publications, e.g., senior authorship
- Provide reviews or ad hoc editorial services to professional publications
Professional Service (Clinical)
- Continue to track and document scope of clinical activities e.g. numbers of patients, referral base (especially important of you are becoming a regional and national expert in your clinical area)
- Join appropriate local or regional committee(s) of specialty societies or groups related to clinical specialty services
- Revisit clinical performance metrics
- Contribute to policy development for the Institution or a local agency
Academic Service (Institutional, Regional & National)
- Join appropriate committees or groups related to academic activities such as the DOM Faculty Development Committee
- Membership role/chair of major committees in professional medical organizations on a regional basis
- Join appropriate committees or groups related to academic activities such as DOM Quality Council and committees mentioned above
- Join national professional associations
During years 3 & 4 Best Practices
- Learn if you are on track for promotion by attending a DOM CV Review or SOM Promotion Readiness Session (opens in a new window)
- Want to continue building your leadership skills? Apply to the EM-Pro LEAD course which focuses on enriching leadership skills, enhancing business knowledge, and developing strong partnerships across Emory (Jan-Oct)
- Continue best practices from your first years on faculty
Years 5-6
Education
- Develop evaluation techniques
- Advise, mentor and/or provide career guidance to significant numbers of learners and junior faculty
- Continue to present conferences, Grand Rounds or similar educational sessions and venues
- Develop or direct a clerkship program or design a semester long course
Scholarship
- Continue scholarship and research in educational focus area
- Author book chapters, monographs, and other traditional and online publications on topics in medical or related sciences
Professional Service (Clinical)
- Continue and quantify outstanding patient care/clinical service
- Be aware of individual and group clinical metrics
- Lead or direct clinical program
Academic Service (Institutional, Regional & National)
- Lead appropriate committees or groups related to academic activities at DOM level
- Perform outreach to the University and local community
- Hold offices in professional groups at regional level
- Lead or chair major committees in professional medical organizations on a regional basis
Updated 1.13.2025