Shift of Leadership in Board of Directors at the American Association of Anatomists

BETHESDA, Md. - April 7, 2015 - PRLog -- The Board of Directors of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kimberly S. Topp, PT, Ph.D., FAAA as the new President of the Association. Dr. Topp is Professor and Chair of the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science Department at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She has been a member of AAA since 1994 and has held various leadership roles within the society including Chair of the Professional Development Committee and the Membership Committee, and she has received the designation of Fellow of the American Association of Anatomists. Dr. Topp earned her B.S. in Physical Therapy, and then quickly decided to pursue her Ph.D. in anatomy and cell biology at the University of California, Davis. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology at UCSF before joining the faculty in 1993 and later accepting the role as Chair of the Physical Therapy Program. Through this position she has had the opportunity to build academic programs and advance education in healthcare. Her current research is focused on characterization and treatment for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.

As President of AAA, Dr. Topp will lead the Association in a continued path of expansion while also working to increase member retention and build collaborative initiatives with other scientific member organizations. “Reflecting on my role as the new President, I want to see our individual members thrive in their scholarly work --- garnering extramural funding, innovating in anatomical science, and building bridges to connect fields of inquiry. I want to see us positively influence science policy, increase literacy in biology, and improve health. These goals will be addressed in part by maintaining the high quality of our journals, and in part by fostering respectful discussion and debate about foundational knowledge and recent discoveries,” said Dr. Topp.  Dr. Topp’s term as President will last from 2015-2017.

About AAA: The American Association of Anatomists (AAA) was founded by Joseph Leidy in Washington, D.C. in 1888 for the “advancement of anatomical science.” Today, via research, education and professional development activities, AAA serves as the professional home for an international community of biomedical researchers and educators focusing on the structural foundation of health and disease.