For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C., August 3, 2001-The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has announced the appointment of Marjorie Speers, Ph.D., as its new executive director. Dr. Speers currently serves as the acting executive director at the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, on detail from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and will begin her new position at AAHRPP in Rockville, Md., on October 1.

AAHRPP, a new national accrediting entity formally announced in May, is developing a voluntary, peer-driven, educationally focused accreditation program for human research protection, using a site visit model that employs a rigorous set of performance standards and outcome measures. AAHRPP's founding member organizations are the Association of American Medical Colleges, Association of American Universities, Consortium of Social Science Associations, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, National Health Council, and Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research. Representatives from each organization served on the search committee for the executive director.

"We are very fortunate to have someone of Dr. Speers' caliber to lead this new organization," said David Korn, M.D., senior vice president for biomedical and health sciences research at the Association of American Medical Colleges. "Dr. Speers' experience as a researcher and administrator-which runs the gamut from behavioral and social sciences to public health-combined with her background in human research protection makes her ideally suited for the job."

Dr. Speers joined the National Bioethics Advisory Committee (NBAC) in 1999 as project director for a comprehensive report on human subjects protection in the United States. From 1995-2000, she was deputy associate director for science at the CDC in Atlanta, where she oversaw all domestic and international research. From 1991-1995 she served as director of the Division of Chronic Disease Control and Community Intervention at CDC. Dr. Speers holds doctoral degrees in psychology and epidemiology from Yale University, and has held teaching positions at the University of Connecticut and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

"I can't think of a better choice for this position," said Thomas Murray, Ph.D., president of the Hastings Center, who collaborated with Dr. Speers on the NBAC report. "Marjorie understands the virtues and problems of human participants research, and has as clear a vision of the future of human participant protection as anyone I know. Her leadership style emphasizes collaboration, and she somehow manages to make certain that everything gets done, and on schedule."

AAHRPP has already commissioned a new set of draft accreditation standards, which are under revision and will be released in September for public review and comment. These standards have been prepared to conform to the recommendations of the April report from the Institute of Medicine, "Preserving Public Trust: Accreditation and Human Research Participant Protection Programs." AAHRPP has contracted to conduct one pilot site visit, and additional visits to public and private research entities will be completed this fall. Informed by the results of the pilot site visits and comments received on the draft standards, accreditation visits will begin in earnest in early 2002.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing over 100,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.

The Association of American Universities (AAU) was founded in 1900 by a group of 14 universities offering the Ph.D. degree. The AAU currently consists of 61 American universities and two Canadian universities; approximately half are public institutions and half are private. The AAU serves its members by assisting them in developing national policy positions on issues that relate to academic research and graduate and professional education, and by providing them with a forum for discussing a broad range of other institutional issues.

The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) is an advocacy organization whose mission is to promote attention to and federal funding for the social and behavioral sciences. COSSA is supported by more than 100 professional associations, scientific societies, universities, and research institutes. COSSA serves as a bridge between the academic research community and the Washington policymaking community.

Founded in 1912, The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is comprised of 21 societies with more than 60,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. FASEB's mission is to enhance the ability of biomedical and life scientists to improve, through their research, the health, well-being, and productivity of all people. FASEB serves the interests of these scientists, particularly in those areas related to public policy.

Founded in 1887, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) is the nation's oldest higher education association. A voluntary association of public universities, land-grant institutions and many of the nation's public university systems, NASULGC campuses are located in all 50 states, the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Dedicated to supporting excellence in teaching, research, and public service, NASULGC has been in the forefront of educational leadership nationally for over a century.

The National Health Council is a nonprofit, umbrella organization whose members are 112 national health-related organizations, with a core constituency of almost 50 leading patient organizations representing approximately 100 million people with chronic diseases and/or disabilities. The Council's three goals are to promote quality health care for all people; to promote the importance of medical research; and to promote the role of voluntary health agencies, or patient-based organizations.

Since its founding in 1974, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) has been committed to the advancement of strong research programs and to the consistent application of ethical precepts in both medicine and research. Through national conferences and published reports thereon, it has addressed a broad range of issues in biomedical and behavioral research, clinical practice, ethics, and the law.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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