Earlier this month, a group of nineteen academic health leaders at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) convened in Newark for the first session of the year-long Academic Leadership Program at RBHS (ALP-RBHS).

Three members of the SC&I community and the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership—Distinguished Professor of Communication and Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership Brent Ruben, SC&I part-time faculty member and Director of Leadership Development and Research at Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership Ralph Gigliotti, and doctoral student and Senior Program Administrator of the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership Christine Goldthwaite—worked in collaboration with senior leaders and faculty from RBHS to develop ALP-RBHS, a program designed to provide academic health leaders from across the university with an integrated orientation to leadership, managerial, and organizational concepts and competencies.

At the first meeting, RBHS Chancellor, Brian Strom; Jeffrey Carson, RBHS-New Brunswick Provost; Vicente Gracias, RBHS-Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs; and Joseph Barone, Dean, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy spoke to participants about their own leadership experiences and the challenges and opportunities leaders face in the academic health context. Their presence and participation underscored their commitment to the program.

“Although experts in their disciplines, academic health leaders typically have less expertise concerning the principles and practices of effective leadership and communication in complex organizations,” Ruben said, “That’s something they often must learn on the job.” The goal of this program is to help participants develop a better understanding of leadership theory and practice to increase their effectiveness as leaders. Nineteen individuals representing all eight RBHS schools have been nominated by their deans for participation in the inaugural program.

Additionally, the program represents a networking opportunity for RBHS members to share their expertise and meet to discuss larger issues in health communication and management. 

The goals of the program include enhancing participants’ leadership knowledge and capacity for advancing RBHS and individual units, creating a culture of leadership more broadly, and cultivating inter-professional leadership networks across RBHS that will inevitably contribute to strengthening research, teaching, and clinical practice at RBHS.

Those interested in learning more about ALP-RBHS can visit the Center’s website for more information.