Summary

The Administrator of the Center for Space Medicine (CSM) serves as the administrative leader and senior management advisor to the Center Director at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). This position is critical to the Center’s long-term success through active leadership and oversight of the strategic planning activities.

The primary responsibilities of this position are to generate, manage, and interpret strategic priorities; provide fiscal management and accountability for all Center resources; and to provide administrative infrastructure for faculty, staff, and trainees. These responsibilities cover the College’s missions and financial and compliance oversight of research awards, including a major NASA Cooperative Agreement between BCM and Johnson Space Center. This role is visible and dynamic, providing administrative leadership in multiple BCM entities beyond the Center, including accessibility at the College and NASA for in-person meetings and collaborative work.

All operational activity for CSM flows through this position. Whether directly performed, assigned to divisions, or delivered by operational partners, all Center operations are the responsibility of the Center Administrator. The Administrator reports to the CSM Director and Chief Operating Officer of the College with a dotted line report to the NASA Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) Principal Investigator.

The Organizations

CSM was established in 2008 to be a world academic leader in space biomedical research and education and to translate the advances in knowledge and technology to benefit life on Earth. BCM & CSM have a long history of working closely with NASA to solve the health and performance challenges of astronauts exploring space. BCM was awarded two prestigious cooperative agreements: the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) from 1997 to 2017, and the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), which was awarded in 2016 and will continue to 2028. Further information is available at Space Medicine | BCM.

Job Duties

Strategic Planning and Implementation

• Develops and directs short and long-term strategic business plans for CSM in alignment with overall College and federal sponsor priorities, while actively serving as the senior financial and administrative manager.
• Drives continuous improvement in all domains and participates in College-wide and sponsor-driven efforts.
• Leads/develops financial planning/implementation for all NASA sponsored activity. Works directly with NASA financial/technical personnel to meet the cooperative agreement financial goals.
• Provides financial stewardship for 100+ institutions funded by TRISH as subawardees to the cooperative agreement. Oversee financial performance results and compliance for 180+ principal investigators.

People Management

• Refines and develops a cost-effective administrative structure that provides the necessary level of support services needed for CSM’s continued success and strategic growth.
• Responsible for the oversight and direction of Human Resources activities across the Center.
• Partners with the Center Director and the TRISH Director in faculty and staff recruitment activity and salary negotiations.

Budget and Financial Management

• Strategically manages financial resources for CSM to achieve optimal utilization, including financial planning, budgeting, and accounting functions.
• Advocates for high standards and holds staff and faculty accountable to financial management policies involving personnel/payroll, purchasing, budget management, and travel.
• Provides fiscal guidance and counsel to faculty and staff to help facilitate leadership's ability toachieve scientific and educational goals.
• Leads the process for the allocation of funding for faculty and staff salaries.
• Oversees financial audit inquiries for CSM including annual Single Audits and periodic Office of Inspector Audits.
• Builds/maintains financial models to manage 100+ institutions associated with NASA biomedical research. Oversight for all CSM federal compliance and reporting to NASA.
• Provides financial leadership/management of NASA sponsored resources. Responsible for cash management/reconciliation of CSM’s NASA funding within BCM and at the agency.
• Presents financial performance on a weekly/quarterly/annual basis to CSM Director, TRISH executive team, and NASA personnel. Implements cost savings initiatives and curates NASA operational metrics ensuring efficiencies are visible/recognized.

Job Duties Continued

Research Administration Management

• Manages faculty salary distribution on research fund codes, effort, and the distribution of faculty total professional effort.
• Leads research administration to support the needs of faculty and staff operations and support of the Center's resources.
• Oversees the analytical review of monthly budget reports to satisfy requirements of sponsor agency, institution, and investigators for planning, budgeting, auditing, and oversight purposes.
• Partners with Research Mission leadership to effectively manage resources.
• Ensures TRISH research solicitations, peer reviews, award and funding allotments are compliant with federal policies/guidelines.
• Reviews and edits all research solicitations to ensure clarity, accuracy and compliance with federal regulations, cooperative agreement, and sponsor guidelines.
• Prepares/writes financial management reports to be included in the NASA Cooperative Agreement Annual Report.

Educational Program Management

• Oversees all administrative aspects of educational programs in the CSM.
• Ensures that BCM programs stay in compliance with all accreditation standards and regulations.
• Oversees staffing of faculty and administrative FTE to carry out the spectrum of educational duties and accreditation requirements.

Physical Space and Facilities Administration

• Develops and executes functional physical space plans and coordinates necessary support services for operations.
• Analyzes physical space and equipment, and prepares timely annual space and capital reporting to the appropriate College personnel.
• Performs other job duties as required.
  

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• Five years of relevant experience including prior experience in a management role.

Department Specific Criteria

• Strong leadership skills and ability to gain the confidence of internal as well as external stakeholders.
• Finance/accounting proficiency: Ability to comprehend financial statement (cash/balance sheet/income statement) impact/implications driven by business decisions.
• Intellectual ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, and develop resolutions; able to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions and deal with abstract and concrete variables.
• Extensive exposure to federal government contracts, compliance issues, regulated environment, and research solicitations.
• Proven initiative to anticipate problems, develop unique and novel solutions, and implement new procedures and best practices that lead to quantifiable savings and improved results.
• Proven ability to develop, analyze, organize, and carry-out project objectives to achieve organizational goals and implement strategic objectives while balancing stakeholder needs.
• Exhibit energy level that can sustain periods of intense work. Adaptability to continually changing work priorities and business methods.
• A high degree of professionalism and accountability. The confidence, wisdom, and collaborative skills necessary to gain the trust of faculty, staff, and funding entities.
• Excellent negotiation skills. Demonstrated counseling techniques with the ability to act as a facilitator, exercise diplomacy, professionalism, responsiveness, a high degree of flexibility, and resolve concerns and conflicts between individuals and among multiple members of a group in a fair and equitable manner.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills. Ability to influence/persuade others through written/oral presentations in positive or negative circumstances.
• Ability to work independently and follow through on assignments with minimal direction and full accountability.
  

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA.
• Experience in an academic medicine organization as an operational leader.
• Experience with federal grants/contracts/cooperative agreements.
• Demonstrated accounting and financial management expertise.