Leann joined UC Merced in January 2012 in the Office of Admissions. She then joined HSRI in September 2014 in a duo role as the Management Services Officer (MSO) and Grants Post-Award Manager. As department MSO, Leann oversees and approves all transactions and manages the operational budgets, as well as supervises the academic and Human Resource personnel hirings. Prior to coming to UC Merced, Leann worked for a non-profit agency as an Accountant II managing grants that support vocational programs, as well as assisting with internal audits.
Leann has lead the Post-Award team in HSRI starting with 15 awards to now managing over 60 awards from funders including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Public Health, Cancer Research Coordinating Committee, Department of Army Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, as well as the Medical Education Program. Leann and her post-award team has established an excellent working relationship with faculty in providing them with the customer service and administrative support to alleviate as much of the administration burden so that the Principal Investigators can strictly focus on their research.
She has received certificates of completion in Financial Management through the Society of Research Administrators International, Supervisory Certificate Program at UC Merced, Risk Management, and received the Staff Award of Excellence in Customer Service and Job Performance in 2018. Leann holds a degree in Accounting and Business Management which lead her to a career in the Governmental Accounting field, and now Research Administration.
