Dr. Cynthia Fuhrmann has more than 17 years of experience directing programs in professional skills training and career planning for early-career biomedical scientists, including at University of California San Francisco (with a focus on future faculty) and at UMassChan. During her ten years as the founding Assistant Dean for Career and Professional Development in the UMass Chan Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, she founded the Center for Biomedical Career Development, dedicated to taking a scholarly approach to innovating and evaluating professional development training for scientists. Dr. Fuhrmann's innovations--several developed to be incorporated directly into the PhD curriculum--have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Dr. Fuhrmann speaks nationally on the incorporation of career and professional development into predoctoral and postdoctoral training, and leads workshops on creating an Individual Development Plan (among other topics). She co-developed and co-authored myIDP, the first interactive career-planning website for scientists. Hosted by AAAS with more than 250,000 users worldwide, myIDP assists early-career scientists with exploring career options, making career decisions, and creating an Individual Development Plan for achieving their goals.

Dr. Fuhrmann has been active in national policy related to the career development of scientists. Her 2011 study on the career interests of biomedical PhD students contributed pre- and post-publication to the growing national dialogue on the training needs of PhD scientists. Dr. Fuhrmann serves on external advisory boards for the Association of American Universities’ PhD Education Initiative, NSF Innovations in Graduate Education Acceleration Hub, and numerous federally-funded training programs, and is active in the Graduate Career Consortium, AAMC GREAT Group, and NIH BEST Consortium. She serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Roundtable on Mentorship, Well-being, and Professional Development. Her engagement with a diverse array of organizations has informed her role leading Professional Development Hub, a national initiative working across stakeholders to advance PhD career development in the sciences.