As New City of Hope Vice Provost, Arti Hurria Wants to Give Back

Arti Hurria, MD

City of Hope physician Arti Hurria knows what it is like to be a young faculty member balancing life as a doctor, researcher and parent.

Finding that equilibrium can be a challenge at times, but also extremely rewarding. There are opportunities to provide care to patients during the most difficult times in their lives, as well as to lead research which can help those patients and others worldwide.

“I spent most of my formative years at City of Hope, and I was very fortunate,” said Hurria, M.D., a geriatrician and oncologist who’s been at City of Hope 10 years. “I had mentors who helped me along the way, and joined programs that fostered my growth and development as a researcher and helped prepare me to lead a research team.”

Now, Hurria wants to focus her efforts on helping others in her profession achieve their career goals. She’s in a great position to do just that as the new vice provost for clinical faculty for City of Hope. Her position will focus on City of Hope’s approximately 200 medical doctors.

Hurria will have primary oversight of academic and faculty affairs for physicians in the clinical professor series. She supports City of Hope’s mission to increase the diversity of clinical faculty, and is responsible for designing, implementing and assessing various programs to address faculty diversity, recruitment, retention and advancement. She will also join the City of Hope leadership team.

“The position will expand the spectrum of career development for our faculty and initiate programs that help support their growth,” said Hurria, who is also director of City of Hope’s Cancer and Aging Research Program and inaugural director of the Center on Cancer and Aging.

Can you share some of the ideas you have for fostering faculty development and growth at City of Hope?

Here, Hurria answers a few questions about her new position and her vision.We want to develop pilot grant awards for junior faculty and help teach junior faculty how to write those grants. We also want to coach them on how to best present their research. One of the first things we’ve done is invite a senior physician who was a previous editor at a medical journal to provide advice on how to write a good manuscript, which is an essential skill for every doctor in academic medicine.

For women’s professional development, we’re establishing a quarterly meeting where we invite women leaders in the field (from City of Hope as well as outside institutions) to share their experiences and advice with our female faculty.

We will seek feedback from our faculty on which programs they think will help support their professional growth. What do they view as opportunities — as well as barriers – to their advancement, and how can we help? Also, we will focus on programs aimed at fostering physician wellness and balance.

How does your research intersect with this position?

Can you share what helped you succeed in your career?

I want to recognize our faculty who are strong mentors and celebrate them at City of Hope.City of Hope has been an incredible place for me to grow from an assistant professor to a full professor. I really want to pass along what I’ve learned, and to help those faculty that are at City of Hope achieve their dreams. Our goal is to advance each faculty member’s career development by thinking strategically and structuring programs to help make that happen. I will work to make sure our faculty are also aware of career development opportunities outside City of Hope, such as through the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), that help faculty members advance in their field.As the daughter of Indian immigrants and doctors, I am particularly passionate about ensuring that diverse voices are represented at the table. One of the opportunities that truly helped me grow was serving as chair of the ASCO Professional Development Committee, where I was able to strategically plan professional development activities for members. I realized just how many opportunities there are within our own field to help foster the careers of individuals within our own profession. As vice provost, I will work to bring those opportunities to City of Hope and develop programs that can foster the career development for all of our faculty members.