I have friend who I met through PRIM&R many years ago. She, like me, is an IRB Coordinator; no one close to her really understands her job description either. She told me once, “My mom tells people that I make investigational drugs. I just roll my eyes and try to explain to her one more time what my job includes.”

This very thing is what I love the most about PRIM&R’s Advancing Ethical Research (AER) Conferences. For five glorious days, everyone understands your career choice, your job responsibilities, and what the heck you’re talking about. You can use the phrase “New Rule” in a sentence without your kids thinking things will be changing in your household. You have the freedom to use acronyms like FDA, 510(k), HUD, and IND without anyone missing your point.

The other thing I love is the networking I get to do with all of those people who have participated in the CIP Facebook page. If I’m being honest, I love to hear all the affirmations of gratitude and how the program helped them in their studying and passing of the exam. I love to hear how the CIP credential has changed their lives and how certification has strengthened their confidence in their career.

Participating as a member of the Blog Squad gives me an additional opportunity to bring the AER17 conference to those who couldn’t attend but are interested in what information was presented. I want those individuals to read this information and feel as if they were right there in San Antonio with the rest of us. I want to give them the information and knowledge they can pass on to their IRB members and/or staff.

For many years, I’ve been very thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had to attend AER conferences. Being on the blog squad provides me the pathway to pay that gratitude forward and show my thanks to PRIM&R for providing all of the opportunities they have given to me over the years.

DeEtte Burns, CIP, started in the industry 18 years ago after applying to work in the medical records department of The Iowa Heart Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Eventually her career moved her to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines then to the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and she now works for Ascension Wisconsin as the senior IRB Coordinator. Her passion is helping prepare her colleagues for the CIP exam and she has been overseeing the CIP Facebook page for 6 years.