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When Past President Kimberly S. Topp, PT, PhD, FAAA, was told that she was the 2020 recipient of the A.J. Ladman Exemplary Service Award, she was surprised and delighted. She also promptly turned around and donated the money back to the association that has given her so much.
“I asked immediately how we can figure out how to give it back,” she said. “My thought was to use it for increasing the number of individuals who are able to attend the annual meeting. As a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, I recognize that we have a number of people we want to bring into the organization who don’t have the means to attend the meeting.” (Topp hopes to bring this plan to fruition after the pandemic when the annual meeting can again be in-person.)
The Ladman Award is presented periodically to an AAA member distinguished in the field of anatomical sciences who has provided exceptional service to the association and/or mentorship in the discipline. The honor itself is “humbling,” said Topp, professor and chair emeritus of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). “I am just one of many who serve the AAA.”
“To me, it was recognition for service, obviously, but it acknowledged that service is actually valued,” she said. “Sometimes awards go to the best educators or the best scientists, but this one being for service really makes people realize that service is useful to others, and it was nice to have peers acknowledge the service that I was able to contribute within the AAA.”
Topp joined the AAA in 1994 when she became a UCSF faculty member, first in anatomy, then in physical therapy. She got more and more involved, eventually serving as AAA president in 2015–2017.
Topp — who says she has served on nearly every committee within the AAA — was first tapped by a colleague to join what was then the Advisory Committee for Young Anatomists, now known as the Committee for Early-Career Anatomists. “Through that group, I got to know a few of the future leaders in the organization and then went on to Nominating Committee, Membership Committee.”
In 2007, she became an AAA board member, which allowed her “to understand the workings of the organization at that time,” she said. After her board service, she became the inaugural chair of the Professional Development Committee when Kathryn Jones, PhD, was president. Topp said Jones and the board at the time wanted to create a new committee focused on helping the next generation of anatomists. They recognized that the AAA could provide education in career skills that many anatomists weren’t getting at their universities as anatomy departments were being incorporated into multi-disciplinary departments.
“Because of that, we thought that there were skills for running meetings, learning to chair meetings, learning to be a good colleague, learning to communicate, how to negotiate, things like that, that could be offered to members,” Topp said. “I was pleased to be able to be the inaugural chair of that committee, which is still going and doing an amazing job, particularly during the pandemic, in providing webinars to support the professional development of current and new members.”
Topp also gained an appreciation of the history of the AAA through her work on the association’s 125th Anniversary Task Force, chaired by Lynne Opperman, PhD. Going through years and years of meeting minutes “gave me a real sense of the history that I was now part of,” she said. “I really valued that experience and getting to know who built the organization; 125 years is a long time to remain an impactful and cohesive group.”
In that role, she enjoyed learning about the remarkable and different contributions other anatomists gave to the organization over the decades. “Some people were exceptional scientists, some people were exceptional educators, other people made big changes in the organization. It’s fascinating. That was interesting and fun.”
Topp later served a six-year stint as AAA president-elect, president and past president. “That was a really great experience for me,” she said.
Topp is passionate about mentoring other scientists. She aims to help people identify and embrace their own strengths. Her mentoring includes encouraging anatomists to get involved in the AAA, which can be so beneficial to their career.
“Early-career faculty members need to learn how to be contributing members of committees and organizations so that they’ll be tasked to run the next committee,” she explained. “Those are the things that improve their science and teaching and advance them in their careers. They make important connections, gain respect from their peers, and they can actually make a difference in the system by learning those softer skills.”
“AAA is the most welcoming family; it’s truly a family,” she continued. “People are willing to not only mentor you, but help you with networking, introduce you to people that you need to know, try to find collaborators for your science, give you people to bounce ideas off of for education. There are no other organizations, at least that I’m a part of, that are that collegial, that you feel like you can call up the president of the organization and get some advice.”