Rasmussen-Torvik to Co-Direct Center for Education and Career Development
The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute has named Laura Rasmussen-Torvik, PhD, chief of Epidemiology in the Department of Preventive Medicine, as co-director of its Center for Education and Career Development (CECD), effective September 1. Rasmussen-Torvik succeeds Mercedes Carnethon, PhD, who has been named chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine.
Rasmussen-Torvik is already part of the Institute’s KL2 (now K12) Career Development Award Executive Leadership Committee and co-directs Research Design Analysis Methods Program (RAMP) Mentors, which pairs K12 awardees and diversity supplement awardees with methodologic mentors to create high-functioning research teams.
“I’m excited to continue to support these programs — which played such a key role in my own professional development — and also to develop new initiatives that support translational research careers,” says Rasmussen-Torvik, who is also a KL2 scholar alumna. “I relied on CECD programs as a junior investigator and, more recently, led initiatives overseen by the Center. In this new role, I look forward to continuing to support faculty and staff at Northwestern.”
Rasmussen-Torvik joins the CECD leadership team alongside Co-Director Ravi Kalhan, MD, MSSCI, Feinberg’s Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and the Louis A. Simpson Professor of Pulmonary Medicine. She will play a pivotal role in shaping education and career development initiatives within NUCATS and provide strategic oversight to continuously enhancing the development of staff, Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) investigators (faculty and trainees), and the broader CTS workforce.
Established in 2008, CECD collaborates across Northwestern and its clinical partners to train the entire spectrum of the CTS workforce. The CECD includes the Multidisciplinary Mentored Career Development Program (K12), a multi-disciplinary post-doctoral training program (TL1), the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) program, a robust Mentor Development Program, workshops for early career faculty at Northwestern, and training programs for clinical research coordinators and study site staff.
Rasmussen-Torvik is a genetic epidemiologist interested in the identification of genetic risk factors for chronic diseases and the implementation of genomics into clinical care. She is also interested in the use of electronic health records in clinical and epidemiological research. She completed her KL2 scholarship in 2015 and shortly after was named co-lead of the Institute’s “Succeeding with Your K Award” program alongside the late William Schnaper, MD.
“Although I was technically a co-leader, it was a tremendous opportunity for me to learn by observing one of the great faculty mentors at Northwestern,” says Rasmussen-Torvik. “Later, I expanded my work with CECD and NUCATS when I partnered with Leah Welty to co-direct the RAMP mentors program.”
The NUCATS Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, grant numbers UL1TR001422, KL2TR001424, and TL1TR001423.
Written by Roger Anderson
