David Rábago, has been named co-director of Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Translational Science Fellowship (TSF) program. The TSF program seeks to identify and develop promising medical and doctoral graduate students, with a wide variety of research interests, and across departments and campuses, who are interested in translational research.

In this role, Rábago will work closely with co-director Cara Exten to plan the TSF program curriculum, arrange for guest speakers and assist with the facilitation of workshops. Additionally, Rábago will be instrumental in recruiting and selecting fellows, and identifying, scheduling and evaluating facilitators for sessions.

Rábago is professor and vice chair for faculty development in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Penn State Health/Penn State College of Medicine. He is a family medicine physician-scientist with clinical and research expertise in complementary and integrative health (CIH) therapies for two public health challenges: chronic upper respiratory symptoms and chronic pain. 

“With current and active engagement across all four missions of the college, I am thrilled to help lead this essential training program,” says Rábago. “I look forward to engaging with students from multiple disciplines across Penn State to enhance their knowledge and perspective of translational research in a supportive and collaborative environment.”

Rábago is an active teacher and mentor. He began his professional life as a middle- and high-school teacher in Milwaukee and Chicago. After a nine-year teaching career, he transitioned to medicine, but retained roots in education. He has taught at the medical school, residency and post-doc fellow levels in clinical and research-related topics. He is the program director of Penn State’s T32 Primary Care Research Fellowship: "Addressing Community Health Needs, Eliminating Disparities," providing outreach and synergy among clinical translational science training endeavors across the University.