Mariana C. Stern, PhD., is the Associate Director for Population Sciences at USC Norris and Professor of Preventive Medicine and Urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Stern received her undergraduate degree in Biology in 1992 from the University of Buenos Aires, School of Science, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She obtained a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, in 1997 and completed postdoctoral training in Epidemiology in 2001 at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. She has been on the faculty in Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC since 2001 and joined the department of Urology in 2016.

Dr. Stern’s research in cancer epidemiology covers a broad range of interests, from etiological to clinical epidemiological studies. A common thread is her interest in cancer health disparities and focus on minority populations, mostly Latinos/as and Blacks, and she collaborates with investigators in the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, conducting studies of cancer patterns among minority populations. Dr. Stern has applied her cross-training in cancer biology and carcinogenesis and population sciences to evaluating the role of environmental sources of carcinogenic exposures on cancer risk, with special emphasis on dietary exposures

Dr. Stern currently serves as co-director and co-Principal Investigator for the Florida-California Cancer Research Education and Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity Center, an NCI-funded partnership between the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the University of Florida, and Florida A&M University. Dr. Stern is also a member of the Minorities in Cancer Research Council of the American Association of Cancer Research.