Faculty, Premedicine Completion Program Program, Northwestern University School of Professional Studies: School of Professional Studies

Premedicine Faculty

Erin Cable

Erin Cable completed her B.S. in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Michigan in 2010. Following her undergraduate work, she completed her PhD in Psychology with a focus on Integrative Neuroscience from the University of Chicago in 2016. Her research primarily focused on the neural mechanisms by which circadian disruption affects the function of the reproductive and immune systems. During her graduate education, Erin worked as a lecturer at the University of Chicago in the Department of Psychology, and as a Preceptor for the Career Advancement Office at the University of Chicago. Following completion of her doctorate, Erin began her current role at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies as an Academic and Career Adviser and Lecturer in Biology and Psychology courses.

Roberto Lopez-Rosado

Roberto Lopez-Rosado is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences and Northwestern University Prosthetics and Orthotics Center. His job has three components:
1) Teaching. Instructor of Gross Anatomy, Neuroscience, Physiology, and Clinical Skills for two graduate programs. Roberto also teaches undergraduates and post-baccalaureate students at the School of Professional Studies. He holds visiting professor appointments with Rocky Mountain University in Utah, and Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, Florida.
2) Research. Roberto researches in the area of biomechanics of the lower extremity for post-stroke individuals to prevent falls and improve their walking ability, as well as health services and outcomes research.
3) Service. Roberto is the Chair of Diversity and Inclusion at the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences. Additionally, he works in the recruitment and retention of students and promotes physical therapy as a viable health care profession by reaching out to underserved areas in Chicago.

Michele McDonough

Michele McDonough is the Assistant Chair in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Professor McDonough joined the Northwestern faculty in 2008 and has been teaching with SPS for the last ten years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Cornell University and earned her PhD in Biochemistry while studying signaling pathways regulating cytoskeleton rearrangements at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Derek Nelson

Derek Nelson is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Chemistry Department. He received a BS in Chemistry from Miami University in Ohio. He then earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry (focusing on physical organic chemistry and mechanistic studies) from the University of Minnesota. After postdoctoral experience in asymmetric catalysis and molecular recognition at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, he started an academic career at Loyola University in Chicago. His research at Loyola focused on organic synthesis and fluorine chemistry. He later worked at Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie as a medicinal chemist developing novel pain therapies. Upon retiring from AbbVie in 2014, he returned to academia as a member of the instructional faculty in the Chemistry Department of Northwestern University.

Charles Rudick

Charles Rudick is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Northwestern University School of Professional Studies. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology from the University of Michigan. In 2005 at Northwestern University, he earned the Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience, followed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the Departments of Physiology and Urology. He currently teaches Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience to both undergraduate and medical students.

Kate Schultz

Kate Schultz is the Senior Program Manager for AI/ML and Analytics Education at Mayo Clinic in the Center for Digital Health. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic in 2022, she spent 10 years on staff at Northwestern University in multiple roles, including 5.5 years as the assistant director for the speech-language pathology clinical doctorate and master's programs in the School of Communication. Previously, she worked as the academic advisor and program manager for the SPS Professional Health Careers program, where she developed the Professional Health Proseminar I and II courses that she teaches in the SPS program. In addition to teaching in the Professional Health programs at SPS, she is the faculty director for the online B.S. in Health Sciences program launching at SPS in Fall 2024. She has also served as a health professions education consultant, working with admissions offices for medical schools and other health professions programs and adjunct teaching in graduate-level health professions programs. Kate completed a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.S. in Higher Education Administration and Policy at Northwestern University. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Health Sciences with a focus in health professions education at Northern Illinois University, which she will be completing in May 2023.

Brian Shea

Brian Shea has been a tenured Professor at Northwestern since 1988, serving in the Department of Cell & Molecular Biology until 2018, and subsequently joining the Feinberg Medical School Department of Medical Education. He was trained in biological anthropology and anatomy at Harvard College (A.B., 1975) and Duke University (PhD,1982), and has been teaching human gross anatomy to medical and dental students since 1983. He has also taught courses in human anatomy and evolutionary biology in SPS for many years, to students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare as well as others with more general interests in the structure, function, and evolution of the human body. He continues his research interest and publication focus on the growth and evolutionary anatomy of the musculoskeletal system of humans and their primate relatives.

Thomas Volpe

Thomas Volpe has been teaching science for over 20 years. His graduate research on cell cycle regulation in budding yeast was performed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. After earning his Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook in 2000 he stayed on at Cold Spring Harbor as a post-doc studying gene silencing in fission yeast. He moved to the Midwest to continue his research on gene regulation at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. His current interests include developing new approaches to STEM education, game design and promoting science outreach in the Chicago area. Tom has been teaching at the School of Professional studies since 2014.