Who We Are

Jeffrey Cohen, PH.D., CIP President Cheryl Savini, CIP Vice President Associates: Mary Adams, BA, CIP John Mather, MD, CIP Christina Palleschi, MA David Perlman, MA, Ph.D Patricia Scannell, BA Anil Sharma, MD, MBA, CIP

		Jeffrey M. Cohen, Ph.D., CIP President Dr. Cohen served for two years as Associate Dean, Responsible Conduct of Research at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Prior to his service at Weill Medical College, Dr. Cohen served as Director, Division of Education and Development in Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) in the US Department of Health and Human Services for four years. At OHRP, Dr. Cohen was responsible for OHRP’s human subjects education program. This included coordination of a national program of educational workshops, the development and dissemination of educational materials, making presentations and conducting training sessions for institutions and professional organizations, and the development of on-line training materials. Dr. Cohen received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Northern Illinois University in 1974. For twenty years Dr. Cohen served in the Office for Research at the University at Albany, State University of New York. As Associate Director for Research Compliance and Information Management he was responsible for ensuring that all research activities at the university were in compliance with Federal regulations, administered the IRB and the IACUC, and served as Director of the Laboratory Animal Facility. Dr. Cohen has been an active contributor to national discussion of human subjects issues since 1979, is a highly visible participant at national meetings such as those sponsored by PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) and is a past President of ARENA (The Applied Research Ethics National Association). Dr. Cohen is also a Certified IRB Professional.

Cheryl Savini, CIP
Vice President

Ms. Savini has over 20 years of experience in human research protections, in both the biomedical and social and behavioral fields, serving in both civilian and military arenas.

She has held the position of Acting Research Compliance Officer at the University at Albany for both human research protections and the animal welfare programs; Director, Human Subjects Research Office at the University of Miami; and Quality Assurance Manager for the Human Subjects Research Office at the US Department of the Navy.

She has also worked for independent IRB and medical academic institutions, and served as an IRB member.

Ms. Savini's expertise spans from IRB administration to policy development, program oversight and monitoring, and protocol auditing. She was a member of the State University of New York's Human Subject's Forum and has also been an invited presenter at such venues as PRIM&R, and the Research Foundation of the State University of New York.

She has been trained by now-former members of the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) to conduct QA/QI Assessments and to develop human subject protection programs.

Ms. Savini has been a member of the nationally and internationally acclaimed Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) web-based training program since 2002, serving on the social and behavioral developers, editors, and contributor's groups.

Ms. Savini has been honored with several distinguished awards, including the University Presidential Award, the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Professional Service, and the Initiatives for Women Award.

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