Former Utah governor Michael Leavitt appointed the U’s associate vice president of research integrity, Jeffery Botkin, to work on the human services panel to protect human research subjects last month.
The panel, known as the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP), has 11 members and is dedicated to protecting human subjects in biomedical and behavioral research projects.
“The expertise of these individuals will help HHS (Human Health Services) maintain the? highest standards of ethical human research,” Leavitt said in a written statement. “Their contributions will strengthen and enhance the network of protections for all who take part in HHS-related research studies.”
Botkin was appointed to a sub-committee of SACHRP that focuses on medical research involving children as the subjects.
“This is a great opportunity to have an impact on national policy governing the policy of human subjects in research,” Botkin said. “The committee is doing important work. There is a real need to update the old policies to help reduce the regulatory burdens on the investigators.”
The SACHRP committee meets three times per year in Washington, D.C. Appointees serve a term of four years on the panel.
Currently a pediatrician at University Hospital, Botkin is a medical ethics expert and a professor of pediatrics and medical ethics with more than 20 years of clinical experience.
For the past 15 years, Botkin has conducted extensive research and writing about the ethical, legal and social implications of genetic testing.
Botkin received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his master’s degree from the University of Pittsburg. He received a master’s of public health at Johns Hopkins University and a fellow of law, ethics and health in affiliation with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown.