CRTEC Leadership

Associate Director

Associate Director, CRTEC

Josh Neman, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery & Physiology and Neuroscience · Keck School of Medicine of USC

Dr. Neman leads CRTEC’s mission to develop cancer researchers across the full career continuum. Under his leadership, CRTEC has grown to more than 26 coordinated programs, including expansion of faculty development programs, curricular collaborations, and outcome tracking. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of brain metastasis and the tumor microenvironment.

yebrahim@usc.edu

Assistant Directors

Clinical Education

Evanthia Roussos Torres, MD PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Oncology · Keck School of Medicine

Leads programs connecting clinical trainees to cancer research, including SORF, SS4PS, and the physician-scientist development portfolio. Research focuses on tumor immunology and immune disparities in breast cancer.

Research Training & Faculty Development

Yves DeClerck, MD

Professor of Pediatrics & Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine · Keck School of Medicine

Leads doctoral and postdoctoral training programs, including the K-R Grant Club. Research focuses on the tumor microenvironment and metastasis.

CRTEC & Workforce Development

Grace Kukuk, MEd

USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

Leads CRTEC strategic communications, reporting, assessment, and program operations across CRTEC programs. She oversees the Educational Partnerships portfolio, which includes American Cancer Society Center for Innovation in Cancer Research Training (CICRT) programs, University of New Mexico, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) collaborations. Research focuses on accountability infrastructure and cancer health disparities training.

gracezam@usc.edu

Internal Advisory Committee

Ten USC Norris faculty providing strategic oversight across all career stages. Each member serves as a program liaison connecting CRTEC to USC Norris research programs, clinical departments, and partner schools.

W. Martin Kast, PhD

K–12

Reginald Hill, PhD

Undergraduate

Anat Epstein, MD PhD

Graduate

Myles Cockburn, PhD

Graduate

Caroline Piatek, MD

Postdoctoral

Yali Dou, PhD

Postdoctoral

Jorge Nieva, MD

Faculty Development

Chanita Hughes Halbert, PhD

Faculty Development

Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, PhD, MPH

Community

Christopher Loertscher, MA

Administration

Research Program Liaisons

One faculty liaison from each of USC Norris’s five research programs connects CRTEC to the full scientific portfolio of the cancer center, ensuring training programs are aligned with current research priorities across all program areas.