Pediatric oncologist Dr. Anna Hoppmann’s legacy of outstanding investigation demonstrates the power of internal research support at USC. Her career began as an undergraduate studying anthropology in the South Carolina Honors College, under the advisement of professor Ann Kingsolver.
As an anthropology major, Hoppmann received funding through the Magellan Scholar program to conduct community-based participatory research on the need for medical interpretation in clinical settings. Under Magellan, she teamed up with her friend, fellow USC alumni and fluent Spanish-speaker Mary Allison Joseph (B.A. Spanish, 2009). Magellan empowered them to create research questions on their own, with the support of institutional funding and mentorship, and provided opportunities to share research findings publicly and see the impact of their work.
“Through the Magellan program, we applied for funding to support our investigator-initiated questions,” said Hoppmann, “I saw how transformative research could be…to improve care, to improve access to care.”
Following the Magellan experience in Columbia, working with Spanish-speaking populations in clinical setting and assessing the need for medical interpretation, Hoppmann and Joseph helped to kickstart a service learning program through the Honors College. The service learning course, which places Spanish-speaking students as interpreters in the community, is still offered for South Carolina Honors students to enroll in. This transformative experience set Hoppmann on a path towards research and education in the field of public health.
After going on to pursue a master’s public health at Emory, Hoppmann returned to USC for medical school, and is now a clinical pediatric oncologist at Prisma Health in Columbia. She sees her return to clinical medicine as a way to combine her skills in research and clinical care to optimize patient care. She currently serves as the chair of the Childhood Cancer Task Force in South Carolina, which seeks to understand and better serve pediatric cancer patients and survivors throughout the state.
"Something I learned through Magellan is that if you really want to understand something, you have to approach the question from multiple angles and get multiple perspectives to find the closest version to the truth, and that carried forward to my work with the Childhood Cancer Task Force," Hoppmann said.
The Childhood Cancer Task Force recently released a report on the state of childhood cancer in South Carolina with data spanning the past 25 years. This report reveals trends in cancer diagnosis, treatment and survival rates over time, which Hoppmann sees as key to planning support for future patients and survivors.
To build on the data she gathered for the report, Hoppmann is applying for National Institute for Health (NIH) funding to support further research in survivorship care. She is a 2024-2025 cohort member of the Propel Research Mentorship Program which supports faculty in the application process for large national grants from NIH and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through Propel, Hoppmann has found a supportive and rigorous community of researchers, mentees and mentors alike. The program has given her opportunities to expand her grant writing experience and meet with constructive and encouraging feedback.
"Propel has been awesome," said Hoppmann. "I have support from [various] foundations, but have not applied for federal grants, and that's why I sought out Propel to learn more about that process."
With the mentorship of Arnold School of Public Health assistant professor Bridget Armstrong (exercise science), Hoppmann is applying for major funding which will be used to support her research efforts to learn about predictors of engagement in survivorship care for childhood cancer survivors.
Similar to her first major research at USC, Hoppmann is excited to be able to take her own questions and observations for the clinical setting to further investigate and implement improvements to patient care. Her Propel NIH proposal will complement the work she put in on the Childhood Cancer report, in hopes to holistically understand the needs of childhood cancer survivors in South Carolina and beyond.
Hoppmann emphasized that the experience of receiving research funding and mentorship early in her career was invaluable in equipping her with sharp research skills later on; this support helped her to see the long-term impact of clinical research. Her curiosity and empathy continue to lead her towards creating clinical treatment practices that serve patients under her care.
Hoppmann’s time at USC is marked by long-term relationships in the community and with her mentors and the valuable research experiences made possible by the internal research funding opportunities. Her career is an exemplary marker of the intersection between dedication to curiosity and a deep care for people.
"I think there's something very special about the longitudinal relationship between a doctor and a patient, particularly in my case, where the patients are children, facing very serious health issues,” said Hoppmann.
For young researchers and practitioners hoping to follow a similar path, Hoppmann encourages prioritizing long-term connections and following independent curiosity when asking those initial research questions.
“If somebody is thinking about a clinical career, I would encourage them to volunteer or shadow in a way where they can have longitudinal exposure to the doctor patient relationship,” Hoppmann concluded. “Those long-term relationships can also spark inspiration and give rise to clinically meaningful research questions.”
Learn more about Dr. Hoppmann’s impact on South Carolina pediatric oncology