Staff Profile: Elizabeth Garcia, CRU Financial Coordinator
As financial coordinator for Northwestern Medicine’s Clinical Research Unit (CRU), a student, and full-time mom, Elizabeth Garcia has become adept at managing change. Soon, she’ll have earned a degree to punctuate that point.
Raised on the city’s South Side, Garcia attended a Chicagoland community college before transferring to Northwestern University in 2015. She considered the move a fresh start, and despite some minor setbacks, Garcia is on track to graduate this year with a bachelor’s degree in Organization Behavior.
“During my time as a student, I have learned so much from my professors and classmates,” Garcia says. “Every individual has had different experiences but all with the same goal: learning and growing.”
Following her bachelor’s degree, Garcia plans to pursue a master’s in Learning and Organizational Change.
Parallel to her educational path, Garcia has thrived at the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, as well.
Prior to her roles at Northwestern, Garcia worked as a medical assistant at an outpatient surgical facility for more than a decade. She started at Northwestern in 2012 as a temporary data assistant, and within three months, she had been promoted to a permanent position, after reducing charge entry errors by more than 30 percent.
I take pride in evaluating policies to ensure they are useful, compliant, and efficient. Our workplace culture comes with trust, communication, and excellent employee engagement.”
Today, as CRU’s financial coordinator, she is responsible for everything from mentoring staff members to analyzing financial data.
“I take pride in evaluating policies to ensure they are useful, compliant, and efficient,” she says. “Our workplace culture comes with trust, communication, and excellent employee engagement. We work towards greatness every day because we want to represent the importance of research.”
Although much of her work happens “behind the scenes,” Garcia’s role is vital to ensuring that investigators can access the resources they need to conduct life-changing research. She works with both Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital to coordinate data management systems and to evaluate revenue in order to best serve CRU’s mission of providing resources and guidance.
“It’s exciting to see the effect that my work has on patients and researchers alike,” she says. “Reviewing a study from start-up to billing means that I have the opportunity to enforce policy compliance and make the research process safer and more efficient for everyone involved.”
When she isn’t doing homework or overseeing financial operations, Garcia loves cooking and completing DIY projects with her family. She also finds peace in nature and can’t wait until it’s safe again to take a trip to the beach.
Since arriving at Northwestern, Garcia has earned a University Circle Awards Scholarship and two Service Excellence awards, all while maintaining a 3.8 grade-point-average. She remains excited to earn her bachelor’s degree this year, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college.
“It hasn’t been easy juggling work, home, kids, and school, but the support and love I’ve received from my coworkers and family members has made it possible for me to accomplish my goals,” she says. “I’m so proud of how far I’ve come, but I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Written by Morgan Frost
