I am pleased to announce the appointment of Erika Trapl, PhD as Associate Director (AD) for Community Outreach and Engagement for the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC). This newly created role will oversee the broad interests and approaches taken by the Case CCC in all aspects of developing community-oriented engagements that have a goal of reducing the burden of cancer throughout our catchment area. Through Dr. Trapl’s leadership, the cancer center will focus on a very ambitious agenda through our members, research programs and community links to establish and coordinate best practices in cancer risk reduction, cancer prevention education and cancer screening, with special attention to vulnerable populations. We will encourage catchment-related research by our investigators for those cancers and risks that are viewed as excessive in our region.
Erika will chair the Community Advisory Board and expand that group to include representation from social service entities, health departments and other representatives of our rural communities and regional cities including Lorain, Akron and Canton.
Erika is well suited for this Associate Director role. She has served as Co-Program Leader of the Case CCC’s Cancer Prevention, Control and Population Research Program since 2019 and has been a cancer center member since 2013. She is an associate professor of population and quantitative health sciences and in February, was named Director of the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) at Case Western Reserve University, having served as Associate Director since its inception in 2009. Erika is trained in epidemiology with a focus on health behavior and statistical methodology. She has successfully facilitated and collaborated with large, multidisciplinary teams, including research teams, that have engaged community partners for most of her career.
Please join me in wishing Erika congratulations in her new position!
Stan Gerson, MD
Director, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center