Assistant Dean, Marketing and Communications - Lewis Katz School of Medicine

Position Summary

The Assistant Dean of Marketing and Communications for the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (Katz), under the direction of the Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications and the Chief of Staff and Associate Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives of the Medical School, serves as the school's senior marketing and communications leader. The Assistant Dean will create, lead, and direct a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy to strengthen and advance the school's reputation, visibility, and engagement with key stakeholders. As a strategic advisor to the Dean, the Assistant Dean works closely with the Dean and senior leadership team to advance the school's priorities, strengthen its brand, and enhance its institutional reputation.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree and at least 10 years of directly related experience.
• Experience in leading effective marketing/communications functions, preferably within an academic medical center.
• Experience in working with marketing and communications tools and operationalizing best practices.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master's degree in communications, marketing, or a related field preferred.
• Experience in healthcare and/or academic medicine marketing leadership strongly preferred.

Essential Functions

• Strategic Leadership & Alignment:
• Serve as the senior leader responsible for marketing and communications strategy for Katz, with accountability to both the Chief of Staff and Associate Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives at Katz and the Vice President for Strategic Marketing & Communications for the University.
• Partner closely with the Assistant Dean for Development & Alumni Relations to ensure seamless integration of philanthropic messaging, donor engagement communications, and campaign-related marketing.
• Collaborate with Temple Health's marketing and communications teams to ensure aligned messaging, coordinated storytelling, and consistent brand experiences across clinical, academic, and research environments.
• Provide strategic counsel to school leadership on reputation-building, issues management, media strategy, and institutional positioning.
• Advocate for Katz's priorities while ensuring alignment with the university's brand architecture, standards, and communications strategy.
• Brand Reputation, Messaging & Content Strategy:
• Shape, refine, and steward Katz's brand narrative across all platforms, ensuring a cohesive and compelling story that highlights the school's mission, impact, and differentiation.
• Lead a multi-platform content strategy-including web, digital, print, social media, executive communications, video, and campaign materials-that supports strategic objectives across education, research, clinical care, and advancement.
• Develop and maintain key message platforms and communications frameworks that support school-wide priorities, including research visibility, faculty accomplishments, student success, and community engagement.
• Build a dashboard of KPIs to measure marketing effectiveness, brand perception, audience engagement, and ROI.
• Communications & Media Relations:
• Provide direction and oversight for internal and external communications and content strategy. Collaborate with SMC on proactive and reactive earned media strategies to enhance and protect the reputation of Katz, serving as the school-based lead on crisis/issues communications.
• Oversee the production of high-quality print, digital, and multimedia assets-including newsletters, magazines, annual reports, event collateral, web content, and marketing campaigns.
• Ensure proactive storytelling to elevate Katz's clinical, research, and educational leadership locally, nationally, and globally.
• Development and Alumni Communications:
• Support philanthropic initiatives through compelling storytelling, donor engagement materials, campaign messaging, impact reports, solicitations, acknowledgments, and stewardship communications.
• Strengthen alumni engagement through strategic communications, digital outreach, and signature publications.
• Executive Communications:
• Provide strategic direction for all executive communications for the Dean, ensuring messages reflect institutional priorities, tone, and brand standards.
• Oversee and guide the Senior Associate Director of Executive and Internal Communications in developing speeches, remarks, presentations, and written communications on behalf of the Dean. Review, refine, and approve executive-level content to ensure clarity, accuracy, and alignment with the Dean's voice and the school's strategic objectives.
• Prioritize coordination with SMC to ensure the Dean's communications are aligned with broader institutional messaging and initiatives.
• Team Leadership & Operations:
• Direct, mentor, and evaluate a team of communications and marketing professionals.
• Manage external partners including writers, designers, photographers, agencies, and consultants.
• Oversee budget planning, resource allocation, and long-term strategic planning for the marketing and communications function.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated leadership and supervisory skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and build productive relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Fluency in editorial, marketing, and academic/research communications.
• Superlative written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex ideas into content that is engaging to lay audiences.
• Demonstrated understanding of principles, strategy, and methods in the areas of communications, fundraising, marketing, event planning, brand management, advertising, and public relations.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and manage editorial operations.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to work successfully across multiple departments and effectively collaborate with others.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Strong attention to detail and organization skills with a proven ability to multi-task and manage deadlines.
• In-depth knowledge of crisis communication management.
• Demonstrated budget management experience.
• Familiarity with trends in higher education communications and marketing.