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Stanford University
Stanford, California

Medical Director, Adult Emergency Department

Emergency MedicineFull-Time

Listed compensation

$328k-$420k

Listing transparency2 of 6 stated

Ask the employer about the work setting, call expectations and weekend coverage.

Employment & setting
Full-Time
Call expectations
Not specified
Weekends
Not specified
Posted 1h ago · Verified live

Job Description

The Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine seeks an exceptional Board-Certified Emergency Medicine physician to serve as Medical Director of the Adult Emergency Department. This leadership position includes a full-time faculty appointment in the Clinician Educator Line.

Academic rank will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Candidates at the Assistant, Associate, and Professor levels will be considered, with preference for individuals who qualify for appointment at the Associate Professor or Professor level.

Stanford Emergency Medicine is internationally recognized for its commitment to precision emergency medicine, leveraging data, technology, and innovation to improve the care of individual patients and communities. Key areas of focus include advancing access to care, digital health and artificial intelligence, human-centered data science, population and global health, and the redesign of medical education. We seek a physician leader who shares this vision and is committed to advancing the future of emergency care delivery through operational excellence, innovation, and collaboration.

The Adult Medical Director serves as a key member of the Department's Clinical Operations Leadership Team and is responsible for providing physician leadership for Stanford's Adult Emergency Department, a modern 66-bed emergency department with an integrated Clinical Decision Unit located within a state-of-the-art academic medical center. Working closely with the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations, hospital leadership, nursing leaders, quality and informatics teams, and departmental faculty leaders, the Medical Director will help shape the strategic direction of emergency care delivery across Stanford Health Care.

The successful candidate will lead efforts to optimize patient access, flow, capacity management, quality, safety, and patient experience while fostering a culture of physician engagement, professionalism, collaboration, and continuous improvement. The Medical Director will represent Emergency Medicine within interdisciplinary and health system leadership forums and will partner with colleagues across Adult and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Observation Medicine, EMS, Digital Health, and affiliated regional clinical sites to advance an integrated clinical enterprise.

We are particularly interested in candidates with demonstrated expertise in one or more areas relevant to modern emergency care delivery, including emergency department operations, patient flow and throughput, quality and process improvement, clinical informatics, digital health, data science, clinical decision support, innovative care models, artificial intelligence, or health system transformation.

Clinical responsibilities include providing care in the emergency department at Stanford Hospital, a world-renowned academic medical center with approximately 90,000 adult emergency department visits annually. Stanford Emergency Medicine includes more than 120 board-certified emergency physicians with broad scholarly interests and substantial extramural funding. The department sponsors 13 fellowship programs, a four-year residency program, required and advanced medical student clerkships, and a wide range of educational programs across Stanford University.

This position offers an exceptional opportunity to lead one of the nation's premier emergency departments at a time of continued growth, innovation, and transformation in emergency care. We invite you to apply and join us in our mission to shape the future of emergency medicine operations at Stanford University and beyond.

Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Stanford welcomes applications from all who would bring additional dimensions to the University’s research, teaching and clinical missions.

Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact disability.access@stanford.edu [disability.access@stanford.edu].

The university’s central functions of research and education depend on freedom of thought, and expression. The Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, and Stanford University value faculty who will help foster an open and respectful academic environment for colleagues, students, and staff with a wide range of backgrounds, identities, and perspectives. Candidates may choose to include as part of their research and teaching statements a brief discussion about how their work and experience will further these values.

The expected base pay for this position is

Clinical Assistant Professor: $328,000 - $364,000

Clinical Associate Professor: $375,000 - $393,000

Clinical Professor: $405,000 - $420,000

This pay range reflects base pay, which is based on faculty rank and years in rank. It does not include all components of the School of Medicine’s faculty compensation program or pay from participation in departmental incentive compensation programs. For more information about compensation and our wide-range of benefits [https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/benefits-rewards], including housing assistance [https://fsh.stanford.edu/], please contact the hiring department.

Stanford University has provided a pay range representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire. The pay offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors including (but not limited to) the experience and qualifications of the selected candidate including equivalent years in rank, training, and field or discipline; internal equity; and external market pay for comparable jobs.

The major criterion for appointment as Clinician Educators is excellence in the overall mix of clinical care, teaching, administrative and/or scholarship appropriate to the programmatic need the individual is expected to fulfill.

Academic rank and line will be determined by the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate.

Please submit a letter of interest and curriculum vitae to: [FSAT link].

For questions or additional information, please contact John Kendall, MD, at emedacademicaffairs@stanford.edu [emedacademicaffairs@stanford.edu].

Key Responsibilities

The Medical Director provides physician leadership for the Adult Emergency Department, overseeing clinical operations, patient flow, and quality of care. They collaborate with hospital leadership and faculty to advance strategic initiatives in emergency care delivery and medical education.

Requirements

Candidates must be Board-Certified Emergency Medicine physicians eligible for a faculty appointment at the Assistant, Associate, or Professor level. Demonstrated expertise in emergency department operations, quality improvement, or clinical innovation is required.

Qualifications

Experience
10+ years of experience

Certifications

Board Certification

Key Skills

Patient flow managementStrategic planningPopulation health

Emergency Medicine — Physician Career Context

Of the 40 active Emergency Medicine listings this role was benchmarked against, 5% are remote, 88% have no call, 45% require no weekends.

Emergency Medicine pay on WeekdayDoc is up 1.4% vs. the prior quarter (through Aug 2026).

The cost-of-living index for California is 110.7 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)), so the posted ~$374k midpoint carries the purchasing power of roughly $338k in an average-cost state. 63.6% of California clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Top Emergency Medicine Jobs

24 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution24 jobs · 10 employers

4
<$350k
16
$350k-480k
4
$480k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks23 jobs · 10 employers

401k / retirement match
91%
Sign-on bonus
22%
CME allowance
22%
Loan repayment
13%
Relocation assistance
4%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

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Vituity · Sacramento, California

$275k-$900k
#2

Physician - Emergency Medicine - ChristianaCare Hospital - West Grove Campus

Vituity · London Grove Township, Pennsylvania

$275k-$900k
#3

SENTARA NORTHERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL CENTER - EM - STAFF PHYSICIAN

$238-$278/hr
#4

VIRTUA MARLTON HOSPITAL - EM - STAFF PHYSICIAN

$220-$240/hr
+ 22 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

1.5/ 10
Listing-based score

Living in Stanford

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$2,758k
Median resident rent
$1,976/mo
Residents’ average commute
15 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
110.4
State income tax
Up to 13.3%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Aug 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

BEA 2024 · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.