National Library of Medicine Fellow Joins UNM Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center

Allison Cruise, MLIS, has joined The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center (HSLIC) as a visiting fellow.

Cruise’s fellowship will focus on revitalizing HSLIC’s outreach and community engagement program. Her focus is on intentional, appropriate outreach and engagement that addresses health inequities. She hopes to help HSLIC reconnect with community partners throughout New Mexico.

“I am honored to be hosted by UNM HSLIC for my second year,” Cruise said. “The alignment between HSLIC’s commitment to serving New Mexico’s communities and my passion for community engagement and outreach presented an incredible opportunity to develop partnerships and collaborations with the state’s many dedicated libraries, academic centers and community organizations.”

Cruise received her master’s degree in library and information science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to her fellowship, she worked as an intern and then a full-time research associate at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. She holds a bachelor of science in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Being able to come to New Mexico, with its diverse, rich cultures, natural beauty and unique experiences, has been a gift for me both in my career as a librarian, and in my personal life,” Cruise said. “Growing up in a rural area of North Carolina, I appreciate New Mexico’s beautiful rural areas, as well as the welcoming, bustling city of Albuquerque!”

The fellowship is part of the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Associate Fellows program, which introduces early-career librarians to the NLM and its impact both nationally and internationally on the fields of biomedicine, informatics and information policy.

Fellows spend their first year in residence at NLM in Bethesda, Md., working on projects and taking advantage of the wealth of professional development opportunities the organization has to offer.

Cruise’s class of fellows then had the option of completing a second year at an academic health sciences library to focus on a particular area of librarianship. Her fellowship at HSLIC will run through August 2022.