UofL researcher chosen for executive program

Diane M. Harper one of only 54 women selected

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 18, 2015) — University of Louisville Family and Geriatric Medicine Chair Diane M. Harper, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., has been selected as a member of the 2015-2016 class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program. Harper is one of only 54 women in the nation selected for the program.

ELAM is a year-long fellowship for women faculty in schools of medicine, dentistry and public health. The program develops professional and personal skills required for leadership and management in health care. More than 800 ELAM alumnae hold leadership positions in institutions around the world.

Harper was named the Rowntree Endowed Chair and professor in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the UofL School of Medicine in 2013. She is an award-winning clinician, educator and researcher with a background in family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as chemical engineering.

Harper was the U.S. principal investigator who designed the global trials to understand the efficacy of both of the prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to control cervical cancer. She was a lead author in multiple Lancet publications, New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, and co-author of more than 140 additional articles on cervical cancer prevention. She also has consulted for and published with the World Health Organization on the use of prophylactic HPV vaccines. Harper is a member of the NIH’s Population Sciences and Epidemiology Integrated Review Group of the Epidemiology of Cancer Study Section, as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Special Emphasis Panel on HPV Vaccine Impact among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and Serosorting and Other Seroadaptive Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) in the US.

In ELAM’s 20-year history, 16 faculty members from UofL have completed the fellowship, including UofL School of Medicine Dean, Toni M. Ganzel, M.D., M.B.A., who participated in 2003-2004.