Rita Effros, a UCLA professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, has been installed as president of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging.
Efrros, who is based in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, assumed the leadership position at the 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the GSA recently held in Washington, D.C.
She serves as the co-director of the Aging and HIV Program Area of the UCLA AIDS Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania and was one of the first investigators to document similarities between age-related immune alterations and those associated with HIV/AIDS.
This is not the first honor for Effros in the field of gerontology; in 2001 she was named to the Plott Endowed Chair in Gerontology, and in 2007 she was awarded the Robert W. Kleemeier Award by the Gerontological Society of America.
The GSA, which boasts more than 5,500 members, is also the oldest gerontological society in the country and aims to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers and the public.