Derek E. Byers, MD, PhD, has been named executive chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Washington University in St. Louis. He will begin in his new role Aug. 1.
The IRB is the multidisciplinary group that reviews and approves protocols for research studies that involve human subjects. The group is responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of anyone participating in a research study conducted by Washington University investigators.
Byers is a professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and an associate director of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS). His clinical efforts are focused on lung transplantation, and his research interests on translational studies of chronic lung disease and transplant complications.
He has more than 10 years’ experience in the oversight of clinical research on the university’s IRB, serving as a chair for 10 years and alternate executive chair for four years, as well as six years as a physician reviewer for Advarra, a central, independent institutional review board.
As Washington University’s IRB executive chair, Byers will be the leader responsible for IRB review and approval of human subject research, in accordance with current guidelines, institutional policies, and federal and state regulations governing human subject protections.