CLEVELAND -- Joyce Jentoft of Case Western Reserve University is one of 10 experts appointed to a group that will help the National Institutes of Health identify and resolve excessive burdens that federal regulations may place on researchers nationwide.
Jentoft is vice provost, dean of graduate studies, and interim director of research administration at CWRU. She also is professor of biochemistry in CWRU's School of Medicine.
"When the NIH writes up its agency regulations, this group will have the opportunity to give input with their suggestions on ways to keep regulations as clear, simple, and easy-to-implement as possible," Jentoft said.
"I'm pleased and honored to be selected for the advisory group," she added. Given her growing interest in public policy, "this is a really good opportunity to learn more and to become actively engaged in the process."
The NIH formed this new advisory group in response to a recommendation in a report issued earlier this year entitled "NIH Initiative to Reduce Regulatory Burdens -- Identification of Issues and Potential Solutions." The report is available online at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/regulatoryburden/index.htm .
This NIH initiative reviewed how federal regulations affect the nation's scientific community. Areas examined were financial conflict of interest, research misconduct, human subjects protections, animal care and use, and disposal of non-radioactive hazardous wastes.
Jentoft served on the work group which examined how conflict-of-interest regulations affect researchers and their institutions.
The NIH's Office of Extramural Research announced the appointments to the new advisory committee December 8. The group's first meeting will be January 21 at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
"These regulations are an outgrowth of our responsibility to ensure that research is done safely, responsibly, ethically, and with adequate regard to the safety and welfare of human and animal subjects," said Wendy Baldwin, the NIH's deputy director for extramural research, in inviting Jentoft to join the advisory group. "The concern, however, is that while recognizing that the protections afforded by these regulations are essential, the regulations do not themselves constitute an excessive and costly burden to the research community."
In addition to Jentoft, the following will serve on the advisory committee:
- Melanie Dreher, dean and professor, College of Nursing, University of Iowa
- Geoffrey Grant, associate vice president for research administration, Stanford University
- Janet Greger, associate dean for research, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School
- Cora B. Marrett, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- Linda G. Martin, president, Population Council
- Robert R. Rich, executive associate dean, Emory University School of Medicine
- Ada Sue Selwitz, director, sponsored program development, University of Kentucky
- Peter Theran, vice president, health and hospitals, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- John L. VandeBerg, director, Southwest Regional Primate Research Center, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research