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Program Coordinator - Colon and Rectal Surgery
The Program Coordinator - Operating Room Navigator supports the Colon & Rectal Surgical Oncology department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a high-volume, fast-paced clinical environment with a strong culture of teamwork and collaboration. The Program Coordinator - Operating Room Navigator plays a central role in coordinating operating room scheduling, optimizing faculty workflows, managing fellowship program operations, and supporting departmental administrative functions. This role requires close collaboration with faculty, advanced practice providers, surgery scheduling, clinic teams, and administrative partners to ensure efficient and well-coordinated clinical and academic activities.
The Program Coordinator - Operating Room Navigator directly supports this mission by improving surgical access, ensuring effective use of operating room resources, and supporting faculty and trainee programs within Colon & Rectal Surgical Oncology.
The ideal candidate for the Program Coordinator - Operating Room Navigator has experience with operating room scheduling or clinic and procedural scheduling at UT MD Anderson, strong communication skills, and the ability to learn and adapt to the nuances of Colon & Rectal Surgical Oncology clinical practice. This individual is organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing complex, dynamic workflows across scheduling, administrative coordination, and educational program support.
The annual salary range for this position is Minimum $53,000.00 – Midpoint $66,000.00 – Maximum $79,000.00
Why Us?
The Program Coordinator - Operating Room Navigator role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on surgical operations, faculty scheduling, and trainee education within a nationally recognized surgical oncology program. This role supports professional growth through exposure to complex clinical operations, interdisciplinary collaboration, and continuous improvement initiatives while contributing directly to UT MD Anderson’s mission and supporting work-life balance.
• Employer-paid medical coverage starting day one for employees working 30+ hours/week, plus optional group dental, vision, life, AD&D, and disability insurance.
• Accruals for PTO and Extended Illness Bank, plus paid holidays, wellness, childcare, and other leave options.
• Tuition Assistance Program after six months of service and access to extensive wellness, fitness, and employee resource groups.
• Defined-benefit pension through the Teachers Retirement System, voluntary retirement plans, and employer-paid life and reduced salary protection programs.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Operating Room Scheduling and Troubleshooting
• Send daily preliminary operating room schedules three working days prior to block release and eight working days prior to the date of surgery
• Facilitate faculty review of case length, preliminary case times, and room assignments
• Communicate with faculty regarding schedule adjustments to optimize Colon & Rectal Surgery block utilization
• Serve as liaison between faculty, advanced practice providers, and surgery scheduling for case scheduling
• Coordinate frequent schedule changes in a dynamic surgical scheduling environment
Faculty Outages and Availability Tracking
• Build and maintain tools to track faculty outages due to paid time off or conferences using platforms such as Microsoft Teams
• Measure operating room block availability based on faculty outages
• Communicate faculty outages with administrative assistants, faculty, surgery scheduling, and clinic scheduling teams
Operating Room Utilization and Optimization
• Communicate first-start dates with faculty
• Notify faculty of unused block availability prior to block release
• Notify electronic health record analysts to release block time prior to block release dates
• Coordinate cases with Plastic Surgery and other applicable departments
• Assist with switching operating room days among faculty and communicate updates to Surgery Scheduling
• Analyze operating room utilization data to identify opportunities for improvement
Timekeeping and Attendance Management
• Supervise weekly Kronos reporting
• Perform time and attendance audits related to disciplinary actions
• Communicate with Payroll regarding attendance and pay disputes
• Provide Kronos reports to the Department Administrator and or Department Chair as requested
• Design and maintain monthly exception reports for departmental supervisors of non-exempt employees
Fellowship Program and Educational Operations
• Set strategic priorities for the Fellowship Program in collaboration with the Fellowship Program Director
• Manage Fellowship Program operations and associated budgets in alignment with institutional and accreditation requirements
• Maintain and update fellowship website content in coordination with the website manager
• Facilitate trainee outreach, recruitment, interviews, selection, onboarding, and orientation
• Coordinate morbidity and mortality conferences, continuing medical education accreditation, grand rounds, multidisciplinary planning clinics, and educational events
• Manage resident, fellow, medical student, observer, and visitor rotations, schedules, evaluations, and records
• Monitor and reconcile fellowship budgets, grants, and cost centers with the Financial Analyst
• Oversee coordination of departmental educational and fundraising events
Perform other duties as assigned
The OR Navigator role provides scheduling and administrative support to the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery. The scheduling of surgical cases is a dynamic process that requires frequent communication between faculty, advanced practice providers, and schedulers. The OR Navigator serves as a liaison between faculty and surgery scheduling for case scheduling. In addition, this position will manage the department’s fellowship program, time keeping/provider outage, and clinic load-leveling in collaboration with clinic schedulers.
EDUCATION
- Required: Bachelor's Degree Business Administration or related field.
- Preferred: Master's Degree
WORK EXPERIENCE
Required: 3 years Project/program coordination experience. or
1 year Required experience with Master's degree.
May substitute required education degree with additional years of equivalent experience on a one to one basis.
- Preferred: 5 years Administrative experience to include two years in a supervisory or managerial capacity in a patient care environment.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, paid time off, retirement, tuition benefits, educational opportunities, and individual and team recognition.
This position may be responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of critical infrastructure, as defined in Section 113.001(2) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code and therefore may require routine reviews and screening. The ability to satisfy and maintain all requirements necessary to ensure the continued security and integrity of such infrastructure is a condition of hire and continued employment.
It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state, or local laws unless such distinction is required by law.http://www.mdanderson.org/about-us/legal-and-policy/legal-statements/eeo-affirmative-action.html
