Caryn Lerman, PhD, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the organization announced Monday. 

Lerman, who’s also a professor of Psychiatry & the Behavioral Sciences, the H. Leslie Hoffman and Elaine S. Hoffman Chair in Cancer Research, and associate dean for cancer programs, begins her two-year term in October during the AACI annual meeting.

Prior to taking over at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center on March 15, Lerman served as associate dean for cancer programs at Keck School of Medicine of USC. She also was senior deputy director of the Abramson Cancer Center and vice dean for strategic initiatives in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is recognized for her cancer prevention research that bridges the fields of neuroscience, genomics, pharmacology, and population science.

Lerman joined AACI’s board of directors in 2019. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and has served as a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors, the National Human Genome Research Advisory Council, and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse Advisory Council.

The AACI also announced that Cornelia Ulrich, MS, PhD, and Robert Winn, MD, have been elected as new board members, and Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, has been appointed to fill the remainder of Dr. Lerman’s term as a regular board member. Drs. Ulrich and Winn will replace outgoing board members Gerold Bepler, MD, PhD, and Timothy L. Ratliff, PhD.