Dr. Rachel Shelton Promoted to Full Professor

The Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research is proud to announce that Rachel Shelton, ScD, MPH, has been promoted to full professor in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, effective January 1, 2025.

Dr. Shelton is a distinguished cancer researcher and social and behavioral scientist with over 15 years of experience leading NIH-funded research on advancing the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based interventions to address health inequities in cancer and chronic diseases. She currently holds multiple key leadership roles across the university, including Deputy Chair of Research Strategy and Faculty Development in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Associate Director of Research at the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, and Co-Director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and Director of its Implementation Science Initiative. 

In a recent study published in the Implementation Science Journal, Dr. Shelton was identified as one of the top 10 dissemination and implementation experts nationally. The study surveyed D&I researchers in the US and Canada, asking them to identify “up to 10 people from whom they sought and/or gave advice on D&I research.” The list of individuals named by respondents was gathered in Table 7, indicating the prominent “advice givers” and their different areas of “advice type.”

As the Co-director of the Irving Institute, Dr. Shelton has been instrumental in expanding dissemination and implementation science activities across the institute’s programs, fostering innovation and collaboration, and advancing its mission. Her leadership, mentorship, and dedication to both implementation science and health equity are widely recognized both within Columbia and internationally.

Congratulations to Dr. Shelton on this well-deserved promotion and her continued contributions to translational research and public health!