Congratulations to Erin Fogarty, recently promoted to Assistant Dean for Research Administration. In this complex new role, she provides strategic leadership in identifying, developing and implementing policies and procedures related to research grants, contracts and other sponsored projects, while ensuring compliance with all federal, state, and private sponsor requirements. In addition, she will provide strategic leadership in leading a new ad-hoc committee of faculty and chairs with the goal of retaining and expanding funding for large, interdisciplinary grant applications. Meanwhile, she will continue to lead the School of Medicine Grants and Contracts Office.
Prior to joining the School of Medicine as Senior Director for the Office of Grants and Contracts in 2017, Fogarty led the pre-award office at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington D.C. She has a wide breadth of experience in multiple research institutions, serving in leadership roles at Montefiore Medical Center and community outreach programs in the Bronx, New York, and Youngstown, Ohio, and in IT cybersecurity relative to research and clinical data.
At the School of Medicine, Fogarty works with central research administration, officials at the National Institutes of Health, peers at other institutions of higher education, and other external funding agencies, foundations, and industry to ensure proposals are responsive to sponsors specifications and awards are set up appropriately prepared. Fostering a culture of respect, collaboration and support, she directs an expert team of specialists who keep abreast of the ever-changing funding and compliance landscape and support efforts to secure funding for our research.
Additionally, since March 2020, she has co-led the administration of CWRU’s COVID Research Task Force to enhance collaboration around SARS CoV-2 research. This included creating and managing working groups, establishing websites and communication hubs, developing grants and sourcing funding opportunities, and promoting safety for the entire research community while transitioning herself and her team to working remotely. With her team’s support, proposals for millions of dollars in new grants were submitted and millions awarded on very short timelines.
The recipient of the Staff STAR Award in December 2020, Fogarty’s nomination highlighted the teamwork, enthusiasm and grace with which she operates. Under her leadership, collaboration and appreciation between the Office of Grants and Contracts and the departments submitting grants increased 100-fold. Supportive of her team whose workdays often run into late evenings and weekends due to federal deadlines, she has created a welcoming environment, while at the same time, worked to modernize and create new efficiencies within the office.