Dr. Gwen Lomberk Named Director of the MCW Precision Medicine Graduate Education Program
As the MCW Precision Medicine MS degree and certificate program (PM ED) looks ahead to its fourth year, we celebrate the program’s accomplishments, the remarkable leadership of Program Director John Meurer, MD, MBA, and the transference of the Program Directorship role to Gwen Lomberk, PhD, on July 1.
Dr. Meurer is a tenured Professor and Director of the MCW Institute for Health & Equity and founding Director of the Precision Medicine. With Dean Kerschner’s vision and Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin support, Dr. Meurer recruited 18 faculty to develop Master’s level precision medicine courses in the Graduate School. During the pandemic, the program quickly moved to Zoom-based class discussions to complement the online learning experience.
Dr. Meurer directed the introductory course and taught about precision public health. The program has benefitted from the outstanding education program coordination of Kellie LeGrave.
Dr. Lomberk is a tenured Professor and the Joel and Arlene Lee Endowed Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research in the MCW Department of Surgery with a joint appointment in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She also serves as the Chief of the Division of Research and Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Surgery.
Her career has focused on genomics and epigenomics in cancer, with significant involvement in the Precision Medicine graduate education program since its inception. She has a long history of developing and teaching courses related to precision medicine and has played a key role in curriculum design of various courses throughout her career. Additionally, she has organized relevant journal clubs and seminars and mentored individuals at various career stages from high school and undergraduate students through faculty. She is deeply grateful for Dr. Meurer’s invaluable leadership, which has created the flourishing Precision Medicine Education program.
Building on this strong foundation, Dr. Lomberk looks forward to advancing the program further, educating and inspiring the next generation of precision medicine professionals and expanding our institutional impact in the field.
The Precision Medicine graduate education program is grateful for its faculty expertise stemming from MCW, Froedtert Health, Children’s Wisconsin, and Zablocki VA Medical Center as well as partnerships with the MCW Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine as well as the School of Graduate Studies, the School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy.
The program continues to enhance its reputation with the goal of disseminating new knowledge in precision medicine to clinicians and researchers locally and nationally. The program is proud of the partnerships formed with neighboring programs and universities. Through institutional and external collaboration, the PM ED program has been able to offer a variety of electives to students including Bioethics for Precision Medicine through the MCW MS Genetic Counseling program and Introduction to Health Care Informatics at UW Milwaukee.
In the fall 2023, the PM ED program launched an online semiannual AMA-certified 10-hour Precision Medicine CME and CEU program series as an offshoot of the PM introductory course for busy clinicians interested in learning the basics of precision medicine. The program will later be transformed into an online selective course for the MCW School of Medicine.
The PM ED Program has had 14 enrolled students and has celebrated the success of three graduates, two earning a certificate and one an MS degree in precision medicine. The program looks forward to many more successes to come with Dr Lomberk as faculty leader!