Pierce named associate provost

Dr. Lori Pierce, a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology who has served as residency director and as director of the clinical division, has been named associate provost for academic and faculty affairs. Her appointment, announced last week by former Provost Paul N. Courant, was effective Aug. 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents.

(Photo courtesy Department Of Radiation Oncology)

In her new role, Pierce will hold a part-time appointment in the Office of the Provost and will remain active on a part-time basis in the Medical School.

"Dr. Pierce was appointed as senior counselor to the provost for medical affairs in 2004, and was outstanding in that role," Courant says. "As associate provost, she will be responsible for a broad range of faculty issues, including promotion and tenure, family-friendly policies affecting faculty, and oversight of the Museum of Art."

Courant says during the past year, Pierce worked with the provost's office on a variety of subjects, particularly on a review of promotion and hiring in the medical school and the sciences.

"In this work, she consistently showed excellent judgment and performance, and I am confident in her administrative ability," he adds.

Pierce received her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and earned her medical degree from Duke University in 1985. She was resident and chief resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1986-89. Pierce was a senior investigator in the Radiation Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute and joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at U-M in 1992.

Pierce has published more than 60 papers and book chapters on aspects of radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer, and her work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense Funds for Breast Cancer Research, and through private industry.

Her research focuses on the use of radiotherapy in the multi-modality treatment of breast cancer, with emphasis upon contemporary radiotherapy treatment planning techniques and the use of radiation in women with breast cancer who harbor a breast cancer susceptibility gene. She currently is funded for her research by NIH and is a recipient of an Estée Lauder Breast Cancer Research Foundation Award.

Honors awarded to Pierce include travel grants from the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology; a Lifetime Achievement Award for the treatment of breast cancer from the Sister's Network; American Cancer Society Excellence in Teaching award; and yearly listings as one of "America's Top Doctors," "Who's Who in Medical Sciences Education" and "Best Doctors in America."