Beth LaPensee, PhD, Named MICHR Institute Managing Director

We are pleased to announce that Beth LaPensee, PhD, has been appointed as the MICHR Institute Managing Director. In this role, LaPensee will partner with the Executive Director, Julie Lumeng, MD, and MICHR’s leadership team to shape and execute MICHR’s strategic vision, oversee the institute-wide portfolio of translational science programs and initiatives, and ensure measurable impact. The Institute Managing Director will provide enterprise leadership for strategy development, process improvement, performance measurement, and cross-program collaboration; build partnerships across U-M and external stakeholders; and operationalize and support current and future Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA) activities.

LaPensee joined MICHR in 2012 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer biology at the University of Michigan. She assumed her current role as Managing Director of Research Strategy in 2022. She has more than a decade of experience in program development and evaluation, team science, and design thinking, which she will continue to leverage to advance MICHR’s translational science priorities and to support the development of cross-disciplinary initiatives.