The Associate Director for Education is appointed by and reports to the Director of the Cancer Center. The position is responsible for oversight and coordination of the Center's extensive education and training programs. The Cancer Center offers a wide range of professional education programs including regional and national symposia each year and these are detailed in the Overview section of the application. Public education programs are also organized by this division throughout the year. Intramural programs include weekly Cancer Center Grand Rounds, a weekly Cancer Biology Seminar Series, an annual two day Distinguished Lecturer, annual Berlin Lecture, and an annual Scientific Poster Session. In addition to oversight of education programs, the Associate Director also oversees training activities for the Cancer Center. This includes coordinating the activities of students in the Cancer Biology track of the Integrated Graduate Program on the Chicago Campus, providing oversight for the training grants administered by the Cancer Center and coordinating efforts with other training programs such as the Medical Scientist Training Program and MPH Program. The Associate Director for Education also directs significant philanthropic resources in support of graduate training. This includes $110,000 per year from the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities to support tuition and stipends of graduate trainees in the Cancer Biology track of the Integrated Graduate Program, $100,000 per year of Malkin Scholarships to provide research awards to outstanding graduate trainees, and $10,000 per year for the Katten, Muchin, Rosenman Travel Grant Program for trainees. As a member of the Executive Committee and Leadership Group, the Associate Director for Education also plays a key role in setting strategic direction, policy and priorities for the Cancer Center.

Dr. Mary Kathleen Rundell received her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University, then did postdoctoral training at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. A professor in the department of Microbiology-Immunology, Dr. Rundell has been at Northwestern since 1976 and leads an NCI-funded research program on an important model DNA tumor virus, SV40(NCI RO1 CA 021327; 2002-2007). She has been intensely involved in research and graduate training efforts at Northwestern, and served as an Associate Dean of the Graduate School (50% time) from 1988 through 1994. She served on the NCI Manpower Review Committee (F) which reviews training grants and other career awards from 1995-2001 and is currently a member of NCI's Program Project review committee, NCI-C. At Northwestern, she served as a founding member of the Minority Recruitment Committee for the Life Sciences, and is currently part of the executive committee of a Northwestern University/Chicago State University MS Bridge to the PhD program for underrepresented minority students. She is a member of several advisory committees for Northwestern University shared facilities as well as the Center for Genetic Medicine.

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