Mission Statement 

Our mission is to provide comprehensive financial planning, budgeting, operations, and analysis support that upholds the highest standards of excellence. In partnership with SOM Departments, Centers and Institutes, we are dedicated to facilitating the missions of clinical care, research, and teaching by ensuring optimal resource allocation and financial sustainability. Through precise analysis and strategic planning, we aim to address and solve fundamental financial challenges, thereby enabling our organization to deliver outstanding clinical care, advance groundbreaking research, and foster exceptional teaching and learning environments. 

Our Team 

Leadership 

Cathy Wood, Vice Dean Finance & Administration 
Stacey Baldwin, Executive Director, Financial Planning & Operations
Amanda VanderZyl, Executive Director, Faculty Practice Finance 
Lisa Campbell, Executive Director, Research Finance 
Ken Lee, Senior Director, Finance Analytics 

Financial Planning & Operations

The Financial Planning and Operations (FP&O) team, with the Executive Director acting as the Assistant Divisional Business Officer (DBO) for the School of Medicine (SOM), manages several critical functions: 

• Budget Planning (includes Capital): Developing and overseeing both operational and capital budgets.
• Portfolio Model Budget Preparation: Preparing budget models for various portfolios within the SOM. 
• Forecasting & Variance Reporting: Conducting financial forecasting and variance analysis to monitor and report on financial performance.
• Monthly Close: Managing the monthly financial close process to ensure accurate and timely financial reporting.
• Position Management: Managing faculty and staff positions to ensure optimal resource allocation.
• Financial Statements: Preparing and producing financial statements.
• Endowments/Gifts: Overseeing the financial management of endowments and gifts.
• Funds Management: Developing, monitoring, and enforcing policies related to funds management.
• Internal Controls: Implementing and monitoring internal controls to minimize financial risk.
• Student Accounts & Financial Aid: Overseeing student accounts and financial aid processes. 
• Training: Providing training to ensure consistent financial practices and policies across the SOM.

Faculty Practice Finance

The Faculty Practice Finance team is responsible for a range of critical functions that support our SOM faculty, the financial health and operational efficiency for each department and, clinical revenue flowing through the Clinical Practice Association (CPA). These functions include:

• Oversight of Compensation Plans: Ensure faculty are paid in accordance with approved compensation plans and manage regular review of plans to support market-competitive compensation.
• Faculty Recruitment: Support the financial aspects of recruiting new faculty members, including business plan development and review and annual budgeting.
• Productivity Reporting: Track and report faculty productivity metrics.
• Semi-monthly Faculty Payroll: Manage all requests to change individual faculty pay. Review and approve all payroll changes.
• Clinical Service Contracts: Review and approve all non-sponsored contracts related to clinical services provided by SOM physicians, advanced practice providers and staff outside of the CPA.
• Preparation of Clinical Revenue Budget: Collaborate with Financial Planning & Analysis and each clinical department to build and confirm clinical volumes and contracted rate adjustments to build annual clinical revenue assumptions
• Epic Revenue Reporting: Routinely track and report on all CPA clinical activities
• Strategic Pricing and Payor Contract Management: Review and maintain all payor contracts, fee schedules, and payment rules. Conduct payor fee schedule impact analyses and routinely publish data such as low charge reports to assist the departments manage professional revenue.

Research Finance

The Research Finance team manages several key functions to support the financial operations of research within the School of Medicine:

• Pre/Post Award Contracted Support
  • Pre-Award: Focus on proposal preparation, budget development, and compliance with sponsor guidelines.
  • Post-Award: Manage award administration, financial reporting, and compliance monitoring.
• Research Finance Operations
  • Policy Development: Create clear, concise policies that align with sponsor requirements and institutional goals.
  • Best Practices: Implement industry standards and regular reviews to ensure efficiency and compliance.
  • Monitoring: Establish routine checks and audits to ensure adherence to policies and regulations.
• Subawards
  • Management: Oversee the financial management and monitoring of subawards, ensuring compliance with both institutional and sponsor requirements.
• Training
  • Development: Design and implement training programs for staff on financial management, compliance, and best practices.
  • Regular Updates: Provide ongoing education to keep up with changes in regulations and processes.
• Research Risk Monitoring and Mitigation
  • Risk Assessment: Regularly assess and identify potential financial and compliance risks.
  • Mitigation Strategies: Develop and implement strategies to address identified risks and minimize their impact.
• Service Centers
  • Finance Management: Oversee the financial operations of service centers, including budgeting, cost allocation, and financial reporting.
  • Efficiency: Ensure service centers operate efficiently and are financially sustainable.

Finance Analytics

The Finance Analytics team is a shared resource for central and department-based finance stakeholders. Its primary responsibilities are:

• Data Collection and Integration: Gathering data from various sources, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Electronic Medical Records (EMR), and other systems, and integrating it into a unified data model.
• Data Cleaning and Preparation: Ensuring data quality by cleaning, filtering, and transforming data to make it suitable for analysis.
• Data Exploration and Visualization: Analyzing data to uncover patterns, trends, and correlations. Creating visualizations and dashboards to communicate insights.
• Statistical Analysis: Applying statistical methods to interpret data, identify relationships, and make inferences.
• Predictive Modeling: Developing and deploying predictive models to forecast outcomes.
• Business Intelligence: Creating and maintaining reports, dashboards, and other tools to provide near real-time insights and support business decisions.
• Data Integrity and Security: Implementing policies and procedures to ensure data integrity and appropriate user access.
• Performance Metrics and KPIs: Defining and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure business performance and efficiency.
• Collaboration and Stakeholder Communication: Working closely with SOM Central Finance and Department stakeholders to understand their data needs and provide actionable insights. Collaborating with JHU financial reporting team to align efforts.
• Data Strategy and Roadmap: Developing a data strategy and roadmap to align data initiatives with the organization's overall goals and objectives.

Administrative Support

• Quesha Edmond, Finance Projects & Administrative Specialist
• Kathy Dodson, Sr. Administrative Coordinator 
• Kishay Sanders, Sr. Administrative Coordinator

Location

Office Address 

Edward D. Miller Research Building 
733 N. Broadway, Suite 131 
Baltimore, MD 21205