Clinical Faculty Promotions

If you're an anesthesiologist or GP anesthetist who teaches medical students, residents or fellows from the University of Alberta, you should ensure that you have a current Clinical Faculty appointment in the department.

Clinical Faculty vastly outnumber tenured Academics and do most teaching. Almost everything you know was probably passed down to you from a Clinical Faculty teacher, and by doing this valuable work, you're honoring the same tradition. Our training programs simply would not work without Clinical Faculty participation.

Clinical Faculty receive no salary, but teaching stipends are paid by the Postgraduate Medical Education Office (PGME) via the Physician Education Development Grant for active involvement in the Residency Program. Stipends are available for Program Directors and are paid monthly. Annually, Clinical Teaching Faculty are assessed merit ranks based on their teaching involvement and are paid after the end of the academic year. Competence Committee Chairs, Competency Based Medical Education Leads and Academic Advisors receive higher merit rankings based on their administrative duties.

In addition, there are some valuable benefits that as Clinical Faculty, you are encouraged to make use of.

Another way in which the Faculty can recognize your contribution is by promoting you to Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor or Clinical Professor. These titles, which you may use freely in your professional correspondence, tell the outside world that you have made and continue to make a contribution to the advancement of your profession that is recognized by your peers. Promotion is by application. As of 2022, promotion applications are considered by a Faculty-wide committee, which uses these rules to determine eligibility.

Also new from 2022 is a requirement for all Clinical Faculty to undergo reappointment to their current rank every five years. This entails completion of an annual report on at least two occasions, and a face-to-face review by the Chair or delegate during the five-year term. (Most new hires are appointed at Clinical Lecturer level, and assuming satisfactory performance and a single review at 18 months, are promoted to Clinical Assistant Professor on a pro forma basis at three years).

Applying for and retaining a Clinical Faculty appointment therefore requires some effort, and the question of whether or not it is worth the trouble may arise. It should be noted that not having a Clinical Faculty appointment makes a practitioner ineligible to teach, supervise or work with University of Alberta learners of any kind, not least because the necessary liability insurance for so doing is only available to those with such an appointment. Nevertheless, the designation is entirely voluntary.

For any questions about the Clinical Faculty designation, please feel free to contact Lorraine Nowak in the Chair’s office ( lnowak@ualberta.ca), or Dr Ferrante Gragasin (gragasin@ualberta.ca).