Clinician Emeritus
A Clinician Emeritus is a special designation that can be given to distinguished IRP physician Staff Clinicians or Senior Clinicians (hereafter referred to as ‘Clinician’) who are retired but wish to maintain an ongoing working relationship at NIH. The Clinician should be recently retired (no more than 2 years ago) from the NIH IRP and retired from any biomedically-related employment. The Clinician must be eligible for an appointment as a Special Volunteer and comply with the requirements of that appointment. Senior Clinicians are also included in the Scientist Emeritus Sourcebook policy and may be nominated for either Clinician Emeritus or Scientist Emeritus, but not both.
A Clinician Emeritus should be an IRP Physician Clinician, or in some cases a clinical Ph.D., at the NIH who has been committed to the highest quality of clinical care, demonstrated outstanding clinical acumen, prioritized patient safety, and demonstrated excellence in medical educational and training innovation and/or innovative administrative leadership throughout their career. Of note, while IRP Clinicians may also have a research focus, demonstrating an impact through research is not required for the Clinician Emeritus special designation. While the general principles of high-quality clinical care and significant impact to the NIH IRP and/or wider medical community are universal, their detailed examples and application may differ in various clinical disciplines and circumstances.
Approvals (Process)
The recommendation request is initiated by a recommending memorandum, including curriculum vitae, from the Institute or Center (IC) Clinical Director (CD), and then submitted for preliminary peer review by the Staff Clinician Title Review Committee and subsequently approved by the DDICR. The recommending memorandum should specify the resources that would be provided to the Clinician Emeritus, if any. The Clinician Emeritus case is then submitted by the DDICR to the Chair of the Medical Executive Committee (MEC) for scheduling at a MEC Meeting. At the meeting the case is presented by the recommending CD, voted upon by the full MEC, and, if highly recommended, approved by signature of the DDICR.
Check Sheets / Checklists
Below are the check sheets and checklists that have been developed and approved by the DDIR for the Clinician Emeritus designation.
Individual ICs may have additional requirements and check sheets. Please contact your Administrative Officer (AO) or HR Specialist for additional guidance.
Ethics
Intramural Clinicians at the NIH should be committed to high-quality clinical care and patient safety. All clinical staff in the Intramural Research Program should maintain exemplary standards of patient care, medical education and training, and administrative leadership, as befits the leadership role of the NIH.
Within the NIH IRP, the ethical conduct of clinical providers is governed by the policies for the NIH Clinical Center Medical Executive Committee (MEC) and the following three disciplines:
Ethics information may also be available through your specific IC. Please contact your Ethics Counselor for additional guidance.
Pay / Compensation
A Clinician Emeritus receives no pay or compensation.
Recruitment Process / Appointment Mechanisms
A Clinician Emeritus is traditionally appointed as a Special Volunteer. Duration of the initial appointment is for a period of 1 year. A Clinician Emeritus is not a Full-Time Equivalent Employment (FTE) position.
For information regarding appointment mechanisms, please visit:
Renewals
One-year extensions of the Special Volunteer status may be granted at the option of the CD.
Resources
The Clinician Emeritus may be granted additional resources (e.g., office space and a parking pass) by their IC, but it is not guaranteed. Check with your CD and Administrative Officer (AO) for additional guidance.
Termination
Termination of a Special Volunteer status is made at the discretion of the CD.
This page was last updated on Friday, May 29, 2026