Division Vice President, Scientific Publications & Guidelines

The American College of Cardiology is seeking an exceptional leader to guide its scientific publications and clinical guidelines through a period of significant change in how medical knowledge is created, shared, and used.

This is both a stewardship and a building role. The DVP, Scientific Publications & Guidelines will lead some of ACC’s most important and trusted scientific assets, including the JACC Journals and ACC/AHA clinical guidelines. Working closely with the JACC Editors-in-Chief, physician leaders, authors, reviewers, and ACC staff, this leader will build on the strength and reputation of these programs while helping shape their future and advance global cardiovascular health.
There are few roles in medicine where one person and a good team can change how knowledge reaches an entire field. This is one of them.

The DVP, Scientific Publications & Guidelines will provide strategic oversight and direction for the scientific content development and production activities of the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) premier suite of medical journals as well as its joint Guidelines, developed in partnership with the American Heart Association (AHA), and the ACC’s Scientific Statements and Competency & Advanced Training Statements. These activities include optimizing impact and revenues across digital and traditional publishing products, development of next-generation knowledge products across print, digital, mobile and social media-based channels, enhancing the quality and prestige of ACC content as well as the international dissemination of ACC services and products.

Specifically, the DVP, Scientific Publications & Guidelines will oversee ACC’s peer-reviewed Editorial Publishing Department, drive the strategic direction of ACC’s joint clinical policy efforts, direct advertising across print and online platforms, and collaborate on industry training and related content commercialization and direct sponsored content on ACC.org and JACC.org. The DVP will safeguard the editorial and guideline independence of ACC scientific publications and clinical policy, maintaining clear firewalls between scientific decision-making and commercial, advertising, sponsored-content, and revenue activities. 

The DVP works in close collaboration with several member committees: ACC’s Scientific Publications Committee, the ACC/AHA Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines, and the ACC’s Competency Management Committee.

The DVP will manage the operational considerations of selected product lines, seeking production efficiencies and synergies between associated publishing efforts, expanding their current reach, and developing new products and delivery methods to meet evolving institutional needs. This includes collaborating with key opinion leaders to align editorial strategy with business goals and pursue partnerships across multiple platforms both in the United States and globally. The DVP will also partner closely with, support, and help recruit Editors-in-Chief across the JACC family, while respecting their editorial independence.

Responsibilities

• Assume primary P&L responsibility for developing, implementing, and evaluating the Division budget and meeting or exceeding performance goals.
• Lead the Division in a “Digital First” approach to content creation and distribution, working across the College to integrate ACC’s publications into the overarching digital strategy, and providing thought leadership in the expansion of online and mobile content distributionDrive strategy for ACC’s clinical policy, including scientific statements and clinical Guideline modernization and optimization efforts
• Shape and lead ACC’s strategic partnership with its publisher, Elsevier, working together to advance the reach, impact, innovation, and long-term value of ACC scientific content while ensuring strong performance across the relationship.
• Cultivate a proactive, ownership-driven team culture, empowering staff and cross-functional partners to anticipate emerging opportunities and act on them ahead of market or institutional need
• Identify, structure, and lead novel strategic partnerships with data, technology, and AI-enabled platforms that extend the reach, relevance, and commercial value of ACC's scientific content
• Represent the ACC in the national and international scholarly publishing community
• Actively monitor and anticipate changing usage models in medical content dissemination and consumption
• Lead utilization of an agile, iterative Product Management framework in digital product and platform development for the JACC Journals and ACC clinical policy documents
• Provide guidance to publishing team to develop a multi-channel approach, creating and marketing an integrated suite of offerings (self-learning courses, webinars, journal subscription and other offerings) to target customer interests
• Help lead ACC’s response to the transformation of scholarly communication in the AI era, including strategy and policy for AI-assisted submissions and peer review, content licensing to model developers, and the evolving role of journals and guidelines as clinicians increasingly use AI to find and apply medical knowledge.
• Ensure excellence in publishing functions across multiple platforms and forms
• Develop and maintain relationships with key external stakeholders and leaders
• Coach and mentor a high-performing team while establishing clear direction of responsibilities, objectives and goals
• Set and monitor financial performance goals and targets for product lines relative to budgeting, expenses and forecasting
• Protect and advance scientific integrity across ACC publications and clinical policy, including peer-review quality, publication ethics, conflict-of-interest management, data-sharing expectations, and research-integrity standards.
• Develop and evolve policies and practices that preserve editorial and guideline independence and ensure appropriate separation from commercial and sponsored-content activities.
• Partner with and support the Editors-in-Chief of the JACC family, including helping ACC recruit and sustain exceptional editorial leadership and enabling editors to succeed while preserving editorial independence. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; graduate degree preferred

• Senior-level experience in scholarly publishing, informatics, digital health, data platforms, scientific communication, or a related field, with demonstrated ability to lead the evolution of trusted knowledge products

• Demonstrated senior leadership and management experience, including leading high-performing teams and managing significant budgets, business relationships, and organizational change

• Experience with print and digital publishing

• Experience with successfully launching digital knowledge products

• Experience with mobile platforms and social media

• Experience in coaching and mentoring staff

• Experience building effective teams and building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders

• Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and effectively manage member relationships

• Strong business acumen and strategic planning experience

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and environments

• Demonstrated track record of originating and executing innovative strategic partnerships, including with technology and AI-enabled platforms, that expand organizational reach and impact

• Proven ability to build and empower a proactive, accountable team culture that anticipates opportunities and executes with a strong work ethic

• Experience working with highly motivated member volunteers and leaders, preferred

• Demonstrated understanding of emerging issues in AI-enabled scholarly communication, scientific integrity, publication ethics, and the changing ways clinicians discover and use medical knowledge