Job Posting: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Critical Care Medicine Department

Summary

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, invites outstanding Pediatric Intensivist Physicians to apply for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Director of the Clinical Center Critical Care Medicine Department (CCMD). The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is the largest hospital in the world totally dedicated to clinical and translational research. The hospital maintains a 200-bed capacity that supports the intramural research programs of Institutes and Centers across the NIH. The hospital provides care to an extensive range of patients who are research participants with long-standing relationships with their research teams.

The NIH Clinical Center is the nation’s leading clinical research hospital. It has a special role in the federal government because it combines patient care with medical research. Here, care teams and scientists develop and test new treatments to help improve people’s health.

NIH is launching a dedicated pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) that will be staffed and equipped to provide care for children, including infants and toddlers, with complex medical conditions. The unit will incorporate pediatric intensivists, expanded equipment, renovated clinical space, and enhanced pediatric subspecialty coverage. This effort represents a major expansion of NIH’s clinical research infrastructure.

A dedicated PICU will improve safety, monitoring, and continuity of care for pediatric patients at higher clinical risk. It will reduce the need for potentially risky transfers to outside hospitals and ensure that infants, toddlers, and critically ill children can receive specialized care within NIH’s clinical environment. This capability is especially important for children participating in complex research studies or receiving investigational therapies that require intensive monitoring and quick access to pediatric expertise.

The PICU will also strengthen NIH’s ability to conduct pediatric research that previously could not be safely supported in the NIH Clinical Center. It will expand capacity for early-phase and first-in-child studies, support clinical trials for rare diseases and other higher-risk conditions and improve NIH’s ability to partner with pediatric care centers nationally.

This new resource aligns with NIH’s vision for pediatric research by embedding child health across NIH programs, addressing historic gaps in pediatric recruitment and eligibility, and ensuring that major NIH initiatives systematically consider the needs of young children.

Duties

• Clinical research at the center of the NIH mission. The Clinical Center is a leader in innovative research involving both rare diseases and common causes of morbidity and mortality
• Clinical staff at the Clinical Center have unique opportunities for professional development and thus to become national leaders in the development of optimal clinical management and innovative diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic approaches.

• The director of this unit will have the opportunity to build a program where none existed before and to guide its development and growth into a nationally prominent academic department

  What the Director, PICU will lead:

• As Director will the team of providers that delivers outstanding care to Clinical Center patients and advances the field of pediatric critical care
• A team of physicians, mid-level providers and support staff that will enable high-quality care and training.
• Professional staff that will provide direct patient care for all pediatric patients requiring critical care or emergency services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year

Who Can Apply

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

The successful candidate will bring demonstrated executive leadership, strong communication skills, and the ability to lead collaboratively across a complex clinical research environment. Competitive candidates will have:

• Experience in managing complex pediatric critical care patients in an academic setting.
• Experience recruiting physicians and mid-level providers
• Interest in training health care providers at all levels including physicians training in pediatric critical care medicine
• Excellent management and interpersonal skills
• Strong communication skills

Benefits

A career with the U.S. Government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Learn more about federal benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) for federal employees & job applicants.

Standards of Conduct/Financial Disclosure

If selected, you will be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, OGE Form 450 to determine if a conflict or an appearance of a conflict exists between your financial interest and your prospective position with the agency.

Foreign Education

This position has an education requirement. You are strongly encouraged to submit a copy of your transcripts (or a list of your courses including titles, credit hours completed and grades). Unofficial transcripts will be accepted in the application package. Official transcripts will be required from all selectees prior to receiving an official offer. Learn more about Foreign Education.

Reasonable Accommodation

You can request a reasonable accommodation at any time during the application or hiring process or while on the job. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through USAJOBS: https://www.usajobs.gov/ to job announcement number: NIH-GR-DH-27-13067959

Applications will be accepted from Wednesday, October 14, 2026 to Friday, October 23, 2026. Please include a cover letter outlining your interest in the position and your vision for the PICU. In your 2-page CV, include a brief description of your duties, prior appointments, and mentoring experience. For questions, contact OHR CSD Branch E Service Desk at [email protected]