The School of Medicine’s Office of Faculty offers a yearly leadership series for early career faculty.  The goal of the ECFLS is to support faculty at this critical time in their careers and specifically to provide opportunities to (a) develop foundational career and leadership skills; (b) think proactively about their future roles as leaders in academic medicine; (c) build a network of supportive peers and potential collaborators; and (d) develop strategies for maintaining satisfaction, wellness and resilience.

The series consists of ten, 90-minute sessions held from January to June virtually via Zoom.

Who May Enroll

Early career faculty members who are at the level of Instructor or Assistant Professor and at rank more than one year but less than five years are eligible to participate. Participants must be able to attend 8 of the 10 sessions.

What to Expect

Interactive large and small group sessions focused on critical skills and behaviors for successfully navigating a career in academic medicine by exploring your core values and emerging leadership identity.

Learn from peers and experts using reflection and case-based discussions. Build and practice skills in negotiation, coaching, conflict mediation and self-promotion. Opportunities to build community and network with other early career faculty.

What are Past Participants Saying About the ECLS

The Early Career Faculty Leadership Series helped me develop essential skills, while uncovering old habits that no longer serve me as a medical professional. I really appreciated the personalized approach with activities ahead of time to ensure I was optimizing my experience. By working with other junior faculty over time, I learned from others simultaneously with group-oriented insights and thought-provoking discussions. The curriculum utilizes several essential, foundational leadership concepts and skills that can be built upon throughout your career. I am more prepared because of an increased sense of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, conflict resolution and adaptability. I am grateful for this program, and I recommend it to any young professional. 
Danielle Mercurio, D.O., F.A.A.P., F.A.C.E.P.
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital

After spending more than a decade training, I joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In this new role, I was quickly surprised by how many hats I needed to wear and rather alarmed by how little training I received to wear them all. The ECFLS was an excellent training series aimed to help fill the gaps in training regarding general leadership principles, mentor/mentee relationships, negotiating and communicating effectively, and managing my own career goals. In particular, the series is extraordinarily effective at demystifying the academic promotions process. I highly recommend the series to early career faculty who wish to become more effective and adaptable mentors and have an interest in developing strong leadership skills.
Jonathan B. Coulter, PhD, MHS
Assistant Professor
Department of Urology

The Early Career Faculty Leadership Series was an enriching opportunity with a comprehensive curriculum that cultivated and honed my leadership skills and offered practical tools for navigating leadership in professional settings. The curriculum, designed for activated learners with different experience and expertise, provided the opportunity to connect with a diverse cohort of peers within the program. This connection and the semi-personalized guidance provided through mentorship was beneficial in developing a roadmap for achieving my professional goals and navigating career opportunities in academic medicine.
Kimberly R. Smith, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Psychiatric Neuroimaging
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Recurring Session Topics 

Core content includes leadership competencies and skills, values clarification, strategies for career success, navigation professional relationships and organizational savvy, negotiation and conflict mediation skills, mentorship, and interpersonal skills. Yearly themes explore emerging trends in leadership and academic medicine. See recurring topics below.

• Introduction to Core Leadership Competencies, Rachel Levine, MD, MPH, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. In this session, we will define leadership both broadly and specifically for junior faculty members. We will review the JHU Leadership Competency Matrix, think about our values and develop our personal mission statement
• Coaching for Leadership, Rachel Levine, MD, MPH, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. In this session, we will discover the power of coaching to develop your leadership vision and skills. We will practice using coaching principles to address common challenges faced in academia and identify a path forward.
• Mapping-Out Your Career, Rachel Levine, MD, MPH, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. In this session, we will guide you in the framing of your career goals and objectives, including reflecting on your values and personal mission statement. Identifying specific development gaps and needs. Participants will work in small groups to review and refine goals and objectives and create an individual development plan. Strategies and habits for academic life and leadership will be shared.
• Organizational Savvy, Rachel Levine, MD, MPH, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. In this session, we will learn to recognize how institutional strategic priorities, professional relationships, power and influence align with your own goals to create opportunities for career growth and leadership opportunities and advancement
• Using and Understanding Your MBTI Personality Type to be More Influential, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH. In this session, we will present a basic theoretical framework from the behavioral sciences including personality and motivational styles and how they influence communication, conflict, and decision-making. The focus is on ‘knowing yourself to better manage yourself and other
• Making the Most of the Mentee/Mentor and Sponsor Experience, Jennifer Haythornthwaite, PhD. In this session, you will explore how to institutional strategic priorities professional relationships power and influence align with your own goals to create opportunities for career growth leadership opportunities and advancement.
• Negotiation Essentials, Stacey Lee, JD. In this session, we will find how can you negotiate more productively to get what you need without creating conflict with others or damaging relationships? This highly interactive workshop will help you "grow your pie" and "get your fair share without alienating important relationships. Participants will understand and apply a systematic approach to preparing for structuring, and engaging in a variety of negotiations.
• Presenting Yourself as a Leader, Steven Cohen, PhD. You’ve worked hard on your presentation - your delivery should do it justice. Captivate your audience with the important information you’ve prepared. In this session, you will learn research-based strategies to make every presentation relevant and impactful. You will cultivate your personal presentation style while honing your leadership and speaking skills through hands-on exercises
• Managing and Mediating Conflict, Kimberly Skarupski, PhD. In this session, we will start with the essentials of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and uses the Thomas-Kilmann model to understand options for handling conflict. Participants will practice identifying potential conflicts, resolving, and managing conflict at various levels. Participants will also be exposed to the fundamentals of transformative conflict mediation.
• Knowing Yourself, Valuing Others, Demere Woolway, PhD. In this session, we will discuss how race, class, sexual orientation, gender, national origin, ability, religion, other identities shape our campus experience. Participants will also consider how being aware of one’s own privilege can help one support others, both here at Hopkins and in the wider world. Participants will identify concrete steps that we can take to build a welcoming educational environment for all.

Contact [email protected] with any questions or assistance with registration.

Tracie Norman
Program Coordinator
Email: [email protected]

Office of Faculty: Faculty Development
Johns Hopkins University - School of Medicine