Chief Clinical Officer
VCU Health · Richmond, VA
Posted October 5, 2026
VCU Medical Center · 1250 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA, US, 23298
The Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) VCU Health System serves as the senior executive leader responsible for leading the organizations clinical strategy overseeing advancement of clinical excellence, patient safety, and quality of care. This role integrates clinical operations with the institutions academic mission, ensuring alignment between patient care, education, and research. The CCO partners with executive leadership, faculty, and clinical staff to foster innovation, evidence-based practice, and continuous improvement in clinical outcomes.
Essential Job Statements
- Provides strategic oversight of all clinical services, ensuring delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care. Sets the clinical vision, develops new programs and aligns clinical operations with organizational goals.
- Leads system-wide initiatives to improve patient safety, clinical effectiveness including standardization of clinical care across the entire enterprise, and regulatory compliance. Establishes metrics and accountability structures for continuous improvement.
- Collaborates with deans, department chairs, and faculty to champion the tripartite mission aligning clinical operations with teaching and research. Promotes scholarly activities to advance innovations in quality improvement and patient care.
- Partners with Senior Leadership to optimize clinical workflows, resource utilization, and financial stewardship
- Builds strong relationships with Nursing, Allied Health, and Administrative Leadership to promote integrated patient care delivery.
- Champions adoption of new technologies and evidence-based practices to enhance patient outcomes and system efficiency.
- Ensures compliance with accreditation standards (e.g., Joint Commission), federal and state regulations (e.g., HIPPA, CMS), and professional guidelines.
Employment Qualifications
Education Required:
- Medical degree (MD, DO, or equivalent) with board certification in a medical or surgical specialty
- Education Preferred:
- Clinical leadership training. MHA, MPH, MSHA, MBA or a related graduate degree.
- Licensure Required:
- Current license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth or Virginia (MD or DO)
Minimum Qualifications
Years and Type of Experience Required:
- 12 years of progressive leadership experience in an academic health system or large integrated healthcare organization
- Years and Type of Experience Preferred:
- 15 years of related leadership experience to include executive level experience in an academic health system or large integrated healthcare organization
Other Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
- Demonstrated success in clinical operations, quality improvement, and patient safety initiatives.
- Strong record of collaboration with academic leaders and experience supporting medical education and research.
- Exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and change management skills.
- Strong business skills, including executive presentation skills and healthcare financial acumen.
- Academic group practice prior experience as a practicing clinician.
- Working knowledge of population health strategies.
- Expertise in funds flow design and execution
- Prior experience leading teams to improve processes. Familiarity with performance improvement processes and change management concepts. Experience in implementing standardization of clinical practice.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to interface with all levels and departments effectively on a formal, informal, written, and verbal basis.
Other Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Preferred:
- Academic medical center experience.
- Strong metrics and analytics experience
Working Conditions
- Periods of high stress and fluctuating workloads may occur.
- General office environment.
- Required to car travel to off-site locations, occasionally in adverse weather conditions.
Physical Requirements
- Physical Demands: Lifting/ Carrying (0-50 lbs.), Push/ Pull (0-50 lbs.), Stoop, Kneel, Squat, Balance, Bending
- Work Position: Sitting, Walking, Standing
Additional Physical Requirements/ Hazards
Physical Requirements: Manual dexterity (eye/hand coordination), Hear alarms/telephone/tape recorder, Repetitive arm/hand movements
Mental/Sensory -Emotional
- Mental / Sensory: Strong Recall, Reasoning, Problem Solving, Hearing, Speak Clearly, Write Legibly, Reading, Logical Thinking
- Emotional: Fast-paced environment, Able to Handle Multiple Priorities, Able to Adapt to Frequent Change
Salary range: $726,000 - $1,088,000
Actual salary offers will be based on several key factors, including relevant work experience, credentials, and qualifications.
EEO Employer/Disabled/Protected Veteran
Employer
VCU Health
VCU Health | MCV Physicians is the medical practice of Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and part of VCU's School of Medicine. More than 900 physicians across 19 clinical departments provide patient care, teach the next generation of physicians and conduct important research at sites across Virginia, including VCU Medical Center in Richmond, the only comprehensive Level I Trauma Center in the state verified in adult, pediatric and burn trauma care, and VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill.
VCU Health traces its roots to 1838, when Hampden-Sydney College created a medical department that became the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in 1854. U.S. News & World Report has recognized VCU Medical Center as the No. 1 hospital in the Richmond metro area for nine consecutive years, with high-performing adult specialties in nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics and urology, and the medical center has twice achieved Magnet designation. MCV Physicians has reimagined its physician organization around a physician-driven, patient-centered care model that empowers providers to be agents of change, embrace autonomy, and build a culture of camaraderie, engagement and accomplishment.
Physicians at VCU genuinely like, value and respect one another, in a collegial environment built on connectedness, communication and transparency. They are well compensated, whether they focus on patient care or also pursue research and teaching, with the freedom to imagine new innovations and lead their own programs.
Central Virginia offers natural beauty, heritage and culture, from historic battlefields, crystal-clear lakes and the James River (Outside magazine's Best River Town in America) to the Blue Ridge Mountains, wineries, museums and more than 1,500 restaurants. Housing options span urban, suburban and rural settings, schools are excellent, living costs are low and quality of life is high.