Professor of thoracic surgery combined with employment as a specialist physician at Uppsala University Hospital - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Surgical Sciences (IKV) is part of the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, has a staff of about 160 and about 200 registered doctoral students, most of whom are doctors and nurses in clinical practise. Research and teaching are pursued at the Department in the first, second and third cycles. Research is conducted in research teams based on various surgical specialities and related disciplines such as anaesthesia and intensive care and radiology. Teaching is delivered in programmes including medicine, nursing, radiology nursing and specialist nursing. Many employees of the department have combined hospital/university posts.

The Department of Thoracic Surgery and Anesthesia at Uppsala University Hospital consists of a dedicated surgery department with five operating rooms, a thoracic ICU and a thoracic surgery ward. The department is one of those at Uppsala University Hospital that has the highest percentage of patients from other counties and thus provides thoracic surgery care to the populations of Uppsala, Dalarna, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Sörmland counties. Cooperation with referrers is firmly established and takes place primarily through weekly MDCs. The department has a staff of about 300, including a physician team consisting of about 40 surgeons and anaesthesiologists.

Annual treatment volumes are about 600 open heart surgeries, about 400 lung cancer surgeries and other general thoracic surgery as well as about 300 TAVI cases, for which care is provided in close cooperation with the Department of Cardiology.

Subject area
Thoracic surgery comprises surgical treatment and care of thoracic disorders, primarily in the heart, lungs and great vessels. Treatment involves open surgery with or without use of a heart-lung machine as well as minimally invasive and transcatheter techniques. The niche activities that are prominent in the department are aortic surgery carried out in close cooperation with the Department of Vascular Surgery within the Uppsala University Hospital Centre of Excellence Aorta, and LVAD surgery for end-stage heart failure. Heart valve surgery for carcinoid heart disease is another established area of care, where Uppsala University Hospital is the only unit in the country authorised to provide this care in accordance with the National Board of Health and Welfare’s National Specialised Medical Care Directive. A significant share of lung cancer surgeries are now performed using minimally invasive VATS and a robotic surgery programme has been initiated.

Thoracic surgery research at Uppsala University Hospital has primarily involved clinical follow-up and evaluation of surgical patients, e.g., in connection with post-operative atrial fibrillation. A significant portion of research activities has been of a basic research nature, with experimental studies of circulation, cardiac function and the effects of ECMO in the large animal laboratory. A translational research profile has been added in recent years with the establishment of the Cardio-Thoracic Translational Medicine Lab, CTTM, which is closely affiliated with the department. New surgical techniques for treatment of aortic conditions and diseases are studied in cooperation with the vascular surgery research group.

Duties
The successful candidate will have overall responsibility for research and doctoral education in the subject area of thoracic surgery as well as supervision and teaching at the third, second and first-cycle levels. Duties include leading an active research team in the subject and contributing to positive development of research and education in the subject in collaboration with other researchers and teachers within the Faculty. Administrative duties and internal and external representative assignments may be required. Duties also include presenting information on research and development work. One-third of the working time will be taken up by clinical practice at Uppsala University Hospital.

Qualifications
A person who has demonstrated both research and teaching skills is considered qualified for employment as a professor (Chapter 4, Section 3, Higher Education Ordinance). According to Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University (AR), a general requirement is that the personal qualities are suitable to perform the duties well (Section 5 AR).

Research skill must have been demonstrated by independent research work and by the fact that the applicant’s activities maintain a high international standard. The applicant must have demonstrated skill in planning, initiating, leading and developing research, have demonstrated the capacity to obtain research funding in competition, and demonstrate well-documented skill in supervising third-cycle students. The applicant’s contributions to the international and national academic community will be assessed on the basis of, among other things, the quality and scope of their academic publications in publishing channels most relevant to the subject. See AR Section 31.

Teaching skill must have been demonstrated by qualifications in education and teaching. Furthermore, the applicant must demonstrate well-documented skill in supervision in the first, second and third cycles. A prerequisite for having demonstrated teaching skill is that applicants have completed teacher training for higher education of relevance to operations at the University, comprising at least ten weeks, or have acquired the equivalent knowledge. If special circumstances apply, this training for teachers in higher education may be completed during the first two years employment. The teacher training must also include third cycle supervision. See AR Sections 22 and 32.

The applicant must have a documented ability to teach in English or Swedish. If special circumstances apply, an applicant who does not have a documented ability to teach in Swedish can be given the opportunity to obtain this ability during the first two years of employment.

A Swedish licence to practice medicine and specialist expertise in thoracic surgery are required to apply for this position. If the applicant is not entered onto the Swedish Specialist Register for nuclear medicine, they must have submitted an application for entry onto the Swedish Specialist Register (thoracic surgery) to the National Board of Health and Welfare by the application deadline for this position. However, the applicant must have obtained Swedish registration as a specialist in thoracic surgery by the date the employment decision is made.

If the person offered the position also meets Uppsala University Hospital’s requirements for employment as a consultant, the applicant will be offered employment combined with the position of consultant.

Assessment criteria
In the assessment of more than one qualified applicant, research expertise will be assigned greater weight than teaching expertise. The assessment criteria will however be co-weighted such that an applicant assessed as having much greater teaching expertise than an applicant who has slightly greater research expertise may be ranked ahead of the latter. Clinical expertise is also significant to the position and will be assigned weight.

In assessing research skill, research quality is the prime consideration. The scope of research, primarily in regard to depth and breadth, must also be afforded consideration. Furthermore, consideration must be given to the capacity to plan, initiate, lead and develop research and research education in the third cycle, the ability to acquire funding for research in competition, as well as the demonstrated capacity to interact with others both within academia and in the wider community. See also Section 3 of Guidelines and Assessment Criteria for Recruiting and Promoting Teachers at the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy (GA) and Section 20 AR.

In assessing teaching skill, teaching quality is the prime consideration. The scope of teaching experience, in terms of both breadth and depth, must also be afforded consideration. Furthermore, consideration must be given to the capacity to plan, initiate, lead and develop teaching instruction, as well as the ability to connect research to teaching in respect to research in the subject at hand, subject didactics, as well as teaching and learning in higher education. The ability to interact concerning issues of teaching and learning in higher education with actors inside and outside the University is also included in teaching skill. See also Section 4 GA and Section 22 AR.

Clinical expertise is demonstrated through clinical work and clinical training, and by participation in clinical development. Clinical development includes measures that have enhanced the quality or efficiency of health and medical care. See Section 24 AR.

Assessment criteria, other expertise
Administrative and leadership skill are significant to the position and will be assigned importance. The ability to collaborate with the surrounding community and to inform the public about research and development will be considered.

Leadership skill is demonstrated through the ability to lead operations and employees, make decisions, assume responsibility and motivate and provide others with the conditions necessary to attain common goals. The ability to coordinate the group and contribute to generating commitment, participation and job satisfaction and the ability to manage conflicts are further examples of demonstrated skill. See Sections 29-30 AR and Section 5 GA.

According to the Appointment Regulations, administrative skill is demonstrated, for example, through the capacity to plan, organize and prioritize work in an efficient and task-related manner, as well as through the ability to assign and observe time frames. Skill includes overall operational planning and the capacity to manage resources in a way that reflects operational priorities, as well as the ability to work in a structured manner based on an awareness of goals and quality. See Sections 27-28 AR and Section 5 GA.

Collaborative skill is significant to the position and will be assigned weight. According to Section 6 GA, the following apply: When assessing collaborative skill, experience with and skill in education and outreach, editorships and other activities related to knowledge exchange between the University and the surrounding community, as well as experience with innovation and entrepreneurship, shall be of significance.

When the University appoints new professors, those applicants must be selected who, following qualitative holistic assessment of their competence and skill, are judged to have the best potential to carry out and develop the relevant duties and to help advance operations. See AR §4.

All qualifications must be documented so that both quality and degree can be assessed. During the evaluation of submitted applications, international referees may be used. In this event, the University may need to send applications that are written in Swedish to a qualified translator.

The gender-equality aspect must be applied in an appointment if it is determined following a qualitative assessment that two applicants of different gender have equal or approximately equal qualifications and if either gender is under-represented (comprises less than 40% within the relevant category of posts and in the relevant workplace).

The applicant’s parental leave, part-time work relating to care of children, or the like, will be regarded as qualifying work experience.

In the event of any disagreement between the English and the Swedish versions of this announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University

Guidelines and assessment criteria for recruiting and promoting teachers at the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy

Career portfolios - Instructions for compiling qualifications and guidelines for qualifications assessment in connection with recruitment of teachers

About the position

Permanent position, full time. Employment will start as agreed. The position is located in Uppsala.

You are welcome to apply no later than 15 February 2023, UFV-PA 2022/2214.

Please do not send offers of recruitment or advertising services.

Please submit your application through Uppsala University's recruitment system.