Charles Gomer, professor of pediatrics and radiation oncology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has been elected vice president (2012-2013) and president-elect (2013-2014) of the USC faculty.

Gomer is a member of the faculty council at the Keck School, one of 20 councils in the Academic Senate representing all USC campuses, schools and libraries. As vice president and president-elect of the USC faculty, he also is a member of the executive board of the Academic Senate.

“I am honored to represent such exceptional educators and to work with the university’s outstanding administrators. The Academic Senate’s role is to further the academic mission of USC and to ensure that faculty rights and interests are always addressed,” he said.

Gomer, vice chair of faculty affairs in the Department of Pediatrics and a cancer research scientist at The Saban Research Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is chair of the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee for the Keck School. He also was co-chair from 2009-2011 of the USC Mellon Mentoring Forum, which promotes mentoring throughout the university. He received the USC Mellon Foundation Culture of Mentoring Award in 2008 and the USC Provost’s Award for Mentoring in 2012.

“I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to have effective mentoring, and this started as a graduate student with an outstanding thesis adviser,” he said. “I feel it is essential to give back by supporting the next generation of academic researchers and physicians.”

For nearly three decades, Gomer has received funding from the National Institutes of Health for his research, which focuses on laser medicine, radiation biology, photodynamic therapy and tumor biology.

His translational investigations at The Saban Research Institute have contributed to the development of protocols now used nationally to treat retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that usually develops in early childhood.