Family Medicine’s Diane Harper elected to the Association of American Physicians

AAP recognizes HPV physician-researcher for her outstanding accomplishments to transform primary care.

Professor Diane Harper, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., of the Department of Family Medicine, has been elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP). She was inducted at a formal ceremony on Saturday, April 22, 2023, in Chicago.

Dr. Diane Harper Photo credit: Michigan Medicine

Election to the AAP is considered a top honor in science and medicine as it recognizes researchers who have made impactful contributions to improve patient care through the advancement of physician-led research. New members are chosen in a competitive process by current members.

Harper — who holds additional appointments in the departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Biomedical Engineering, and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan — is an internationally recognized expert in HPV-associated diseases. Her work has significantly advanced efforts in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of HPV and cervical cancers. Throughout her career she has widely published on HPV vaccine efficacy in top-tier journals, with a landmark paper in the Lancet providing critical evidence to bolster the global roll-out of HPV vaccines in the mid-2000’s. Dr. Harper has retained an active presence in the global health community, advocating for increased research and rollout of cervical cancer related treatments. She currently leads a clinical enrollment site as part of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cervical Cancer Last Mile Initiative.

Additionally, Harper has a strong interest in public health, epidemiology, and health behaviors — all fields in which she is widely published. As a consultant to both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), she has shaped global guidelines and policies related to cervical cancer screening and prevention efforts in low- and middle-income countries. These efforts have included several studies focused on high-quality, non-surgical treatment options for HPV and cancer precursors. She has also been appointed to the NCI’s Enduring Guidelines Committee, a consensus committee of experts tasked with the review of emerging evidence from population-based and other studies related to cervical cancer screening and case management.

In the United States, Harper has long worked as a passionate advocate for the advancement of physician researchers in primary care, serving in leadership roles on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP), and the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG). As president of NAPCRG in 2022, she worked to build career pathways for young researcher-physicians, as well as increasing NAPCRG membership nationally and globally.

“I am truly excited to work with fellow AAP members to advance research, particularly primary care and family medicine research, and to serve as a role model for future biomedical scientists,” Harper said.