Sudip Parikh is to be the next CEO of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the organization has announced. He is to take the helm of AAAS and its suite of journals early next year.
Parikh currently serves as the senior vice president of the Drug Information Association and prior to joining DIA, he held a series of roles at Battelle, including vice president and general manager of health and consumer solutions and vice president of health policy.
Parikh notes at ScienceInsider, which AAAS publishes, that there are challenges facing mission-driven member organizations like AAAS, including declining enrolment. Still, he notes that AAAS is a large organization with "considerable weight" though he wants to ensure that its voice remains loud in advocacy. On the matter of open access to journals, Parikh says that while he hasn't yet seen the issue from the inside, he notes the world is changing.
"If we don't disrupt ourselves, somebody else will disrupt us," he tells ScienceInsider.
Parikh is to succeed Alan Leshner, who has been the interim CEO of AAAS after earlier leading the organization from 2001 and 2015. Rush Holt then served as CEO until he retired in September.