I am often asked by individuals at different stages about how I got to where I am. So I will be using this MeO’clock Real TIME platform to discuss my journey, life’s experience and provide what I hope will be helpful tips in personal and professional development. My first entry will be focused on providing you a brief look into my professional background as presented at a recent academic conference.
Dr. Rumala is the Founding Co-Director of Successful Productive Academic Research Careers (SPARC). She participates as a core faculty member for the Building the Next Generation of Academic Medicine Physicians (BNGAP) Initiative, an initiative to increase the number of diverse trainees choosing academic medicine careers. She earned a PhD degree and three Masters degrees from Columbia University, a certificate in Clinical and Translational Science at The Rockefeller University, and participated in research fellowship programs at The National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She has published several articles in leading journals and currently serves as a peer reviewer for several journals. She has been a recipient of a number of awards including the inaugural Satcher research award, named in honor of the former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, Award for Excellent Scholarship in Research and The Civil Rights Commission
Outstanding Community Service award. Her interests are in the areas of health disparities, social determinants of health and education equity, leadership, and organizational change. Dr. Rumala is an invited member of the workforce diversity group of the New York State Minority Health Council and was instrumental in developing a metrics based social determinants of health logic model for the council’s efforts. This logic model has been part of a report she co-authored for the New York State Health Commissioner. As a young ambitious woman, Dr. Rumala is passionate about cultivating the next generation and serves as a mentor for high school, undergraduate, medical and graduate students to encourage their interests in medicine, research, teaching and leadership and has provided talks to audiences both locally and nationally. Her goal is to attain a senior leadership appointment to affect micro and macro policy changes to reduce the health disparities gap. Dr. Rumala feels it is never too late to continue striving, growing, and achieving excellence towards your calling and that is Real TIME.