Elizabeth Harrington's dedication and commitment have earned her the 2024 Faculty Award for Advising & Mentoring.
Beyond the confines of her laboratory, Harrington has spearheaded institutional training grants, fostering a nurturing environment that has propelled a cohort of trainees toward successful academic careers. Drawing praise from her peers, she has seamlessly integrated Brown's academic community with faculty from local hospitals, fostering a collaborative atmosphere for research training and mentorship.
Harrington serves as principal investigator (PI) on four pivotal training grants, each catering to diverse strata of academic advancement, ranging from undergraduates to postdoctoral scholars. Her responsibilities span the entirety of the grant lifecycle, from crafting compelling applications to overseeing mentor-mentee relationships, organizing professional development events, managing budgets, and delivering comprehensive annual reports detailing the progress of these initiatives.
Two of the grants she manages, the Short-Term Training to Increase Diversity in Biomedical Research and the Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD) offer mentored research experiences for students from underrepresented groups. She has led the Biomedical Research grant through three successful renewals and received a perfect score on its last review.
IMSD is a collaborative program providing stipends and professional development support for doctoral students in the STEM disciplines. Harrington, who has been a multi-PI, stepped in as lead PI for the program in 2023 to ensure a seamless transition when former Dean of the Graduate School, Andrew Campbell, retired.
As an active mentor, Harrington facilitates discussion of short and long-term career goals with scholars. One mentee attributed her successful doctoral application and current postdoctoral role at Rhode Island Hospital to Harrington's unwavering support and encouragement.
Harrington “personifies all the characteristics of an outstanding mentor and adviser, providing support in both the professional and personal aspects of a career in academia. Without doubt, I, and many others who have been mentored by Beth, would not have reached our professional goals and successes without her mentorship and support,” shares Havovi Chichger, Associate Professor in Biomedical Science at Anglia Ruskin University and former postdoctoral researcher at Brown.
Harrington's trainees and mentees have been honored by external grant support from organizations such as the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. They have also gone on to successful careers at institutions across the U.S. and around the world.
Harrington joined Brown University in 1997 as a research instructor and was promoted through faculty ranks to Professor in 2015. Her research on endothelial cell signaling has been continuously supported by federal funding from the VA and/or the NIH since 1998. She has authored 60 original contributions in the area of lung endothelial cell biology, in addition to book chapters and reviews. Harrington has served on national committees for the American Thoracic Society, the American Heart Association, and numerous review panels for the NIH.
Faculty members Elizabeth O. Harrington, Daniel E. Ibarra, Susan L. Moffitt, and Candace Rice received the Graduate School’s Faculty Award for Advising & Mentoring at the University Awards Ceremony on May 1, 2024.