Affiliated clinical faculty. Traditionally, academic health centers have had an abundance of affiliated clinical faculty. These individuals are generally in private practice and are not employed by the institution. They may have limited teaching responsibilities and are not subject to the appointment and promotion requirements of the full-time faculty. The fraction of the institution's clinical activity and teaching provided by these individuals varies depending upon the overall organization of the medical center but in general is not substantial.
Criteria differ among institutions for appointment and promotion of affiliate faculty.
Challenges to Meeting Promotional Requirements for Fully Affiliated Faculty Requisites to be a successful academic cardiologist. Each of these entities requires separate skills, and there is incomplete overlap between them, that is, development of successful research productivity does not necessarily confer excellent clinical skills or teaching proficiency. Success in the research arena, basic or clinical, requires training, creativity and the application of a sufficient fraction of the individual's time to generate data, analyze it and prepare manuscripts reporting the results. Success as a clinician requires sufficient experience to acquire the requisite clinical acumen and skills, an ongoing clinical practice and continuous self-education to maintain and extend proficiency. Success as an educator requires the motivation to teach, in-depth knowledge of the subject and the acquisition of the necessary skills to communicate concepts to students.