Facilitating Research Support and Grant Proposals

Allison Cholewa is a research administrator within the Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM). 

She started at Feinberg as a financial assistant and quickly found herself embedded in research administration and support. In her current role, she creates grant proposals and manages existing grants and contracts. 

Where is your hometown?  

I grew up in La Grange, Illinois – it is a western suburb of Chicago, about 30 minutes outside of the city. I now reside in Lincoln Park with my fiancé and our eight-year-old dog and have lived here for the past six years. 

What led you to Northwestern?  

Since I have lived in the Chicagoland area my whole life, I have always been familiar with the University and its prestigious reputation, but after college I moved back to Chicago and was seeking opportunities to work with numbers in the city, and this led me to a financial assistant position in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. The job description for this position required you to work with both the University and Hospital side of Northwestern, which was intriguing to me since I never knew much about the hospital side, so I was eager to accept and learn more about this iconic institution — and that I did.  

What are you currently working on?  

As a research administrator, I am always working on at least one grant proposal, reviewing and preparing it for submission. Right now, that includes multiple National Institute of Health proposals, including a complex P01 multi-project proposal with 10+ subcontracts that I am working on for the director of the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research (CHSOR). I am also constantly monitoring and confirming that all the grants I manage are compliant with sponsor policies and are not overspent, by updating monthly projections for all my assigned faculty’s grant portfolios. 

How does your work support the research enterprise at Feinberg?  

The main objective of my role at the University is to support our assigned faculty in any way we can when it comes to their research. This can include anything from proposal submission, grant management, effort reporting, progress reports, financial reports, grant projections and forecasting, salary distribution management and payroll monitoring, etc. By taking on majority of the administrative burden of these tasks allows the faculty to focus on the groundbreaking science their research is exploring, which makes up the Feinberg research enterprise.  

Why do you enjoy working at Northwestern?

I enjoy working at Northwestern or many reasons, a few being the support, the mission and the community that is offered. I have now been here full-time for eight years and have filled four different roles, and in each role, I have had a manager or mentor that I trust, and I know would always support me. Along my journey at Northwestern, it has been clear that one crucial part of their mission is to promote personal and intellectual growth, and since growth in my career is something I strive for and value tremendously, I also value an employer that promotes the success of their employees. Lastly, I never feel alone at Northwestern, the community of research administrators is incredibly supportive, and I truly feel lucky to be a part of it!