The RESI leverages Pitt’s intellectual resources to provide curricular, consultative and analytical support on the ethical, legal and social issues arising in the full range of Pitt’s research activities. Pitt Research charged the University’s Center for Bioethics & Health Law, with its experience in the health sciences, to develop this initiative addressing ethical issues in the full range of Pitt research.
RESI Director
RESI Programming Director
RESI Program Coordinator
Research Ethics Consultation Service Members
Robert M. Arnold, MD
Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine
Social science, behavioral, intervention, and educational research
Michael Deem, PhD
Associate Professor of Bioethics and Human Genetics
Clinical, genetic/genomic, pediatric, and public health research
Brenda Diergaarde, PhD
Associate Professor of Human Genetics
Research involving human subjects (observational and clinical trials) and/or biological samples, epidemiology, basic/laboratory science (including research involving nonhuman animals
Jonathan Fuller, Ph, MD
Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Clinical trials and communicating results; death, disorders of consciousness, and dementia research; medical research and medical education research; research during pandemics or involving pandemic-potential pathogens
Bridget Keown, PhD
Lecturer in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
Programming Coordinator, RESI
Bias in research, archival research, oral history research
Paula Leslie, PhD, MA
Consultant Scholar
Health services, qualitative, survey, behavioral, and basic science research
Jennifer Hagerty Lingler, MA, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair for Research in Health & Community Systems, School of Nursing
Qualitative research, clinical trial design, informed consent for research, research with cognitively impaired participants and/or caregivers, and research on dementia and issues in aging
Judith Navratil, MA
Coordinator, The Pittsburgh Study, Department of Pediatrics Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
Pediatric, community-engaged, behavioral, or health services research; research with vulnerable subjects or prisoners; informed consent for research; and complex issues in IRB protocols
Lisa Nelson, PhD, JD
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Research involving data privacy or social media, or research on those topics
Melissa Ratajeski, MLIS, AHIP, RLAT
Assistant Director for Data and Publishing Services, Health Sciences Library System
Data management and sharing, nonhuman animal welfare
Jennifer Burgher Seaman, PhD
Assistant Professor of Acute & Tertiary Care, School of Nursing
Behavioral, critical care, qualitative, and survey research, and clinical trials
Valerie Swigart, PhD, RN, CRNP
Professor Emeritus of Health Promotion & Development, School of Nursing
Qualitative and mixed method research
Ritu Thamman, MD
Clinical Instructor in Medicine
Research relating to COVID-19 and/or cardiovascular diseases, and outcome trials
Mark Wicclair, PhD
Center for Bioethics & Health Law
Research involving the recently deceased
Jamie Zelazny, PhD, MPH, RN
Assistant Professor of Health & Community Systems, School of Nursing
Psychiatric/mental health (pediatric and adult), epidemiology, survey, and behavioral research; suicide, social media, eHealth, and clinical trials
Research Ethics Advisory Board Members
Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH
Clinical Professor of Population Health, Department of Health Systems and Population Health Sciences, Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, and previously the founding dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Houston
Jeremy Berg, PhD
Associate Senior Vice Chancellor for Science Strategy and Planning in the Schools of Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
C. K. (Tina) Gunsalus, JD
Director of the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics; Professor Emerita of Business and Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Eric Hirschhorn, JD
Former Under Secretary for Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce
Michael Holland, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and Research Strategies at the University of Pittsburgh
Adam Lee, PhD
Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the School of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh
Audrey Murrell, PhD
Professor of Business Administration, Psychology, Public and International Affairs and Senior Research Fellow for the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership within Pitt Business, University of Pittsburgh