Octavia Peck Palmer named president-elect of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Octavia Peck Palmer, associate professor of pathology, critical care medicine, and clinical and translational sciences in the School of Medicine, has been elected to serve on the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) board of directors as president-elect. Following this, she will serve successive terms as the association’s president from August 2023 through July 2024, and as past president from August 2024 through July 2025.

“I am elated that AACC’s membership has elected me to serve as president-elect of the association,” said Peck Palmer. “I look forward to working with AACC’s leadership, staff and members to continue to equip laboratory medicine professionals to successfully adapt to the complex challenges and greater demands in health care today. I strive to build upon the organization’s rich history of raising public awareness of laboratory medicine; providing multifaceted educational resources; advocating for health equity; leading global outreach efforts that empower resource-limited clinical laboratories; and driving advancements in the field that improve patient care.” 

In addition to her faculty appointments at Pitt, Peck Palmer serves as the division director of clinical chemistry and as medical director of UPMC Presbyterian and Shadyside hospitals and automated testing laboratories. She is also the assistant medical director of the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh automated testing laboratory.

An active member of AACC since 2006, Peck Palmer is currently completing a 3-year term as a member of the association’s board of directors. She is chair of the AACC Health Equity and Access Division, which she founded, and chair of the AACC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. She has served in many other roles within the association as well, including as a member of the organizing committee for the 2016 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo; a member of the AACC Education Core Committee; editor of the CLN Daily; and secretary of the AACC Clinical and Translational Sciences Division.