Carolyn Best

Carolyn Best, PhD has a diverse work experience in the field of research and program management. Currently, they are serving as the Program Operations Chief at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where they oversee the entire life cycle of operations for PCORI program funding activities. Prior to this, they worked as the Director of Research at the American Urological Association (AUA) for seven years, where they managed AUA and Urology Care Foundation efforts in urologic research. Before joining AUA, Carolyn was a Program Manager and Science Officer for the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) at the Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). In this role, they executed the entire program life cycle and led a team of scientists and administrators. Carolyn also had experience as a Scientific Review Manager at SRA International, where they managed the scientific peer review process for the DoD Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). Carolyn started their career as a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where they conducted research in different labs over a period of seven years.

Carolyn Best, PhD, began their education at William & Mary, where they completed their Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Psychology from 1989 to 1991. Carolyn then went on to pursue their Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) from 1992 to 1999. Their PhD was focused on Pathology/Experimental Pathology, specifically Cancer Biology.