CHAPEL HILL - Dr. Lisa Carey, associate professor of medicine and UNC Breast Center medical director, will give the December commencement address at UNC Chapel Hill, Chancellor Holden Thorp announced.

Thorp will preside at the Dec. 20 ceremony at 2 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center.

Thorp chose Carey in consultation with the University's Commencement Speaker Selection Committee, which is made up of an equal number of students and faculty.

"I think that this year, with the North Carolina Cancer Hospital coming on line, it's the perfect opportunity for Lisa, who is a pioneer in the breast cancer field and a great role model, to share her message with our students," Thorp said.

Carey joined the UNC faculty in 1998 and has served as the director of the UNC Breast Center since 2003. After graduating from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1990, Carey was a resident in internal medicine and then a fellow in oncology from 1990 to 1997 at the school.

Her research focuses on breast cancer, particularly why younger, premenopausal, black women are more likely to develop aggressive types of breast cancer. Carey is also involved in evaluating the use of specific tumor markers as predictors of response to new chemotherapy agents. Carey is the author or co-author of more than 70 manuscripts and book chapters.