Mission Critical: Reimagining Promotion for Clinician-Educators

Academic clinician-educators who teach health professions trainees and lead educational programs have been penalized by the mismatch between their daily contributions to the academic mission and traditional promotion criteria focused on peer-reviewed publications and external reputation. Despite two decades of incremental approaches, inconsistency and inequity persist in the promotion process for clinician-educators. The authors propose five steps to mark a new approach to academic advancement for clinician-educators: (1) elevate the scholarly approach to teaching over peer-reviewed publications; (2) allow clinician-educators to identify an area of focus; (3) broaden the evidence for educational excellence; (4) prioritize internal referees; and (5) increase clinician-educator representation on promotion committees. Achieving meaningful change requires transforming entrenched traditions and policies at multiple levels. Changes that advance equity are necessary to retain academic faculty members who train the next generation of health professionals.