Anna Sorace, Ph.D., director of the Small Animal Imaging Facility and associate professor in Advanced Medical Imaging Research, will assume the role of division director of Advanced Medical Imaging Research, effective February 1, 2024. 

“I am delighted to step into this role and follow in Dr. Lapi’s fabulous footsteps. This division has grown tremendously under her leadership, and I look forward to maintaining those efforts and continue to grow on the foundation she has laid,” said Sorace. “The Advanced Medical Imaging Research Division has an outstanding group of collaborative and productive scientists and I look forward to my new role within the department.”

Sorace completed her undergraduate training at Mississippi State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Biological Engineering. After, she attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, earning a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, followed by Post-doctoral training at Vanderbilt University, in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science within the Department of Radiology.

Sorace comes from the University of Texas at Austin where she was an assistant professor in the Departments of Diagnostic Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. She joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Radiology in 2019, with a co-appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Additionally, she is an associate scientist for the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sorace was recognized in Birmingham Business Journal’s “Women to Watch” in 2021. Her current grants include NIH R01s and funding from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, with previous funding from NIH S10 and American Cancer Society. She has also received a mentor/mentee Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Grant in 2021 to enhance mentorship and diversity in graduate scientific research.

Her research interests include developing imaging biomarkers of cancer response to therapy. She has expertise in multimodality, non-invasive quantitative imaging to improve detection, monitoring and therapy of cancer in both preclinical animal models and clinical cancer research.

A special thanks to Suzanne Lapi, Ph.D., vice chair of research, director of the Cyclotron Facility, co-leader of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center's Experimental Therapeutics program and professor of Radiology, for her impact as division director of Advanced Medical Imaging Research. She will continue in her other roles and activities.