Amanda F. Cashen, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named executive chair of the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), 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.
Cashen began her new role May 1. She will serve a four-year renewable term.
“We are delighted Dr. Cashen will be serving in this role,” said Jennifer K. Lodge, PhD, the university’s vice chancellor for research and a professor of molecular microbiology at the School of Medicine. “She has extensive experience in conducting clinical trials of novel therapies for leukemias and lymphomas and has enrolled hundreds of patients in such trials over the past 20 years. Her extraordinary clinical research career and broad knowledge of the IRB process, including the criteria for protocol review and approval, and the regulation for human subjects research make her an excellent choice for this position.”
Cashen was named the IRB executive chair by Lodge, who is also the associate dean for research at the School of Medicine, and Michael A. Kass, MD, the senior associate dean for human research protection and the Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences.