Ruth Masterson Creber and Dodi Meyer Named Co-Directors of the Irving Institute’s Community Engagement Core Resource, in partnership with VP&S Office of Community Health

Ruth Masterson Creber, PhD, MSc, RN, FAAN, FAHA, Mary Crawford Professor of Nursing at the Columbia University School of Nursing (CUSON), and Dodi Meyer, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S), have been named Co-Directors of the Community Engagement Core Resource (CECR) at the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. Drs. Masterson Creber and Meyer now join Olajide A. Williams, MD, MS, Professor of Neurology and Rafael A. Lantigua, MD, Professor of Medicine, as part of a growing collaboration between CECR leadership and the newly established VP&S Office of Community Health. 

This leadership transition is in tandem with Dr. Williams’ recent appointment as Vice Dean for Community Health at VP&S, leading the Office of Community Health to advance the health and wellbeing of our local geographic communities. In his new role, Dr. Williams works to integrate community engagement across clinical, education, and research missions of VP&S.   

Dr. Meyer is an expert in community engagement across training, service, and research for the purpose of improving the health and wellbeing of pediatric populations. Dr. Meyer has led a hospital-based initiative to address social determinants of health, as well as developed a two-generation approach to healthcare for mother and baby dyads in primary care settings. Dr. Meyer is Vice Chair of Community Health in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), and Medical Director of New York Presbyterian’s (NYP) Division of Community and Population Health. 

Dr. Masterson Creber is a health services researcher with expertise in community and stakeholder engaged research. Dr. Masterson Creber’s program of research focuses on evidence-based healthcare delivery interventions to address health inequities and improve the quality of life of patients with cardiac disease globally. Dr. Masterson Creber is the Mary Crawford Professor of Nursing and she co-leads the Patient Decision Support lab in the Center for Community-Engaged Health Informatics and Data Science at CUSON.  

Dr. Williams will continue to synergize CECR activities along with Drs. Masterson Creber and Meyer to ensure alignment and integration of community engaged research activities and resources across the Office for Community Health, the Irving Institute, CUIMC, and NYP. They will work with long-standing CECR team members, Dr. Elizabeth G. Cohn, Community Engagement Research Liaison, and Dr. Alejandra N. Aguirre, Assistant Vice Dean for Community Health and Assistant Professor for Community Health Initiatives in Medical Humanities and Ethics. Drs. Cohn and Aguirre in collaboration with our new CECR Co-Directors will expand our community consultation model, as well as extend our workforce development opportunities in community engagement. Dr. Cohn is Vice President for Health Equity Research and the Iris and Saul Katz Chair in Women’s Health Research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. 

Along with these new leadership changes Dr. Rachel Shelton,Professor of Sociomedical Science, will transition from Co-Director of CECR to a new role as Co-Director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, joining Director, Dr. Muredach Reilly, and Co-Directors Drs. Harold Pincus and Daichi Shimbo. Her expertise in implementation science, health equity, and community engagement will strengthen the collective efforts of the Irving Institute to ensure that these priorities are integrated into clinical and translational research, workforce development, and community partnerships across CUIMC. 

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Meyer and Dr. Masterson Creber to the Irving Institute and for the pivotal partnership with the Office of Community Health to lead community engagement in translational research.