L. Michelle Bennett PhD’93 Is Catalyzing Research Collaboration
L. Michelle Bennett PhD’93, started her career as a molecular oncologist working at the laboratory bench at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research. Over time she shifted focus to the use of collaborative approaches to maximize team and organizational effectiveness and catalyze partnerships. She is passionate about working at the leading edge of transdisciplinary research endeavors through consulting, facilitation, and as a team science architect. Michelle was the founding director of the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Research Strategy, a role she relished until 2021. In that time, she worked with countless teams across different professions and coauthored Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide, which serves as a primer for investigators and staff who are building, participating in, or supporting collaborative research teams and institutions. Michelle departed from the National Institutes of Health in 2022 to start her own company and reconnected with collaborators to write How to Succeed at Collaborative Research: A Practical Guide for Teams, released in November 2025 by Bristol University Press.
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