Options to Enhance Your Career
Learn about other faculty appointments at the University of Michigan Medical School, including adjunct, joint and visiting appointments.
Increased collaboration between the University and private industry has resulted in requests for faculty appointments in the Medical School from qualified employees of industrial companies. These appointments should enhance the Medical School’s instructional programs and foster research collaboration with industry. Adjunct appointments are appropriate for individuals with special talents to provide this industrial interface. People whose primary employer is a for-profit organization should be appointed only as adjunct faculty.
In 1990, the Medical School Executive Committee compiled procedures, privileges, and restrictions for adjunct faculty whose primary employment is with private industry. At the time of appointment, there must be full disclosure of all details of employment status so that any potential for conflict of interest can be prospectively addressed. Ownership of intellectual property must be thoroughly addressed and disclosed: the nominating chair should define claims to patent ownership and royalties and should identify eligibility to publish and present findings.
Appointment of adjunct faculty as principal investigators on University extramural grants will not occur under ordinary circumstances. Any University space, for example, must be requested by the department chair of the prospective adjunct faculty and must be used primarily for the academic benefit of the department and the Medical School.
Adjunct faculty are not eligible for clinical privileges at U-M Health or VAMC. Adjunct faculty may be involved in medical education, graduate medical education, or clinical research in the clinical setting at U-M Health, but they should not be the attending of record or responsible for the delivery of patient care. Rare exceptions may be made only in extraordinary circumstances.
Adjunct faculty are not voting members of the Executive Faculty of the Medical School, may not serve on the Executive Committee of the Medical School, are not members of the University Senate, nor participate in the election of representatives to the University Senate Assembly.
Adjunct Tenure Faculty appointments are used to supplement teaching in a specific field; to facilitate in-depth research collaboration that otherwise would not exist with individuals in other units of the School or University, with individuals at other educational or health care institutions, or with scientists employed by industry; or to permit faculty or trainees who are leaving the University to complete ongoing educational or research responsibilities.
Adjunct Research Faculty appointments are made when an individual’s primary employment responsibilities lie outside the Medical School. This appointment indicates that the individual is working for a limited portion of his/her time (part-time) on a research project housed in the Medical School. This appointment would be used to facilitate collaboration that otherwise would not exist. Adjunct appointments may be made at any research faculty rank but must be consistent with the individual’s professional qualifications as specified in this document.
Adjunct Clinical Track faculty are usually in the private practice of medicine outside the Medical School; in other words, the University is not the sole employer. These appointments are at 0% to 49% effort, are for no longer than one year, are renewable, and are without tenure. Ranks in the Adjunct Clinical Track follow the same guidelines mentioned above and must have sufficient involvement in the educational program of the department which is defined as a minimum of 50 hours of direct participation in clinical education per year or an equivalent contribution to the academic mission of the Medical School, as documented by the department chair or unit leader. Even though appointments in this track are not mandated to follow the Affirmative Action procedures of the University, it is the policy of the Medical School to seek as diverse a group of people as possible as teachers and role models for students.
Adjunct Physician Instructor faculty are physicians who are credentialed at healthcare facilities other than at the University of Michigan and who do not have effort (dry appointment). These faculty provide less than 50 hours of direct participation in clinical and/or didactic education per year within the context of University of Michigan Medical School clerkships, courses, rotations, or electives.
A non-faculty title given to a health care provider under special circumstances by the Medical School to provide health care in university settings. Adjunct Clinical Associates are usually community physicians.
Joint appointments are implemented in a secondary or tertiary department for instances of substantial and ongoing academic or clinical collaboration beyond routine collegial interactions.
Visiting faculty spend specified lengths of time at the University, usually before returning to their home institution. This title may be used in conjunction with all track titles.
Appointees to this title must have employment responsibilities with another institution of higher education and are usually on leave from that institution (e.g. a professor from UCSF who is here for a 6-month sabbatical).
If you are a current U-M Medical School faculty or staff member looking for additional information, please visit the Office of Faculty Affairs intranet site.
