Cornelia Ulrich, MS, PhD, has been elected by the members of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) to serve as Vice President/President-Elect of AACI’s Board of Directors. Dr. Ulrich is Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
Cornelia Ulrich, MS, PhD
In her new AACI role, Dr. Ulrich will replace Joann Sweasy, PhD, who will become the association’s President during the AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting, taking place from October 19 to 21, in Washington, DC. AACI’s current President, Robert Winn, MD, FAACR, will transition to Immediate Past President, replacing Caryn Lerman, PhD, who served as AACI President from 2021–2023.
Two new board members were also chosen: Diane M. Simeone, MD, and Barry P. Sleckman, MD, PhD. They will replace outgoing board members Steven D. Leach, MD, and Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD.
Dr. Ulrich is the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah. As Chief Scientific Officer and Cancer Center Executive Director, she oversees Huntsman Cancer Institute’s academic consortium of more than 300 cancer research teams. She is a cancer epidemiologist whose research focuses on lifestyle and biologic factors in cancer prevention and cancer prognosis. Dr. Ulrich has served on numerous advisory committees and in leadership roles, including AACI’s Board of Directors (2021–2023) and Inclusive Excellence Steering Committee, and as Chair of AACI’s 2022 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting Program Committee.
Dr. Simeone is Director of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. She provides the overall strategic and intellectual direction for the center’s research programs, administrative structure, and multidisciplinary cancer clinical care. Prior to her current role, Dr. Simeone served as Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center and was Associate Director of Translational Research at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health.
Dr. Sleckman is Director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). His research focuses on understanding how DNA double-strand breaks are generated and repaired. Dr. Sleckman moved to UAB in January 2020 from Weill Cornell Medicine, where he served as Associate Director of the Meyer Cancer Center. Dr. Sleckman served on the 2024 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting Program Committee and played a key role this year in a U.S. Senate appropriations committee hearing, testifying on behalf of UAB about the benefits of federal investment in cancer research.
AACI extends its deep gratitude to Drs. Leach, Lerman, and Odunsi for their service to AACI. Beyond their roles as board members, each has made significant contributions to AACI’s growth and value to its members. As part of her AACI presidential initiative, Dr. Lerman, Director of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, launched the popular Leadership Development Workshop. She and members of her presidential initiative steering committee also authored a published report, Leadership Diversity and Development in the Nation’s Cancer Centers, in 2022. Dr. Leach, former Director of Dartmouth Cancer Center, served as the 2020 AACI/CCAF Program Committee Chair, and Dr. Odunsi, Director of The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, was an inaugural member of AACI’s Cellular Therapy Initiative Steering Committee and served on Dr. Lerman’s Leadership Development committee.
