I was very excited to learn of the opportunity to become a member of the Blog Squad for the 2018 Advancing Ethical Research Conference (AER18). I am the Research Director for the Department of the Emergency Medicine and serve as the Vice Chair for the IRB at The Lincoln Medical Center in The Bronx, New York. Initially, I became familiar with the IRB as a Principal Investigator, when I conducted a research project to fulfil the requirement for Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) fellowship training. I quickly realized that research is vitally important to for the advancement of medical science and I also understood that human subjects protections, particularly in children and other vulnerable populations, is critical. As I practiced in a neighborhood of diverse and low-income households, I appreciate the importance that subjects’ rights not be violated, and that they not be unduly coerced to participate in research. It is also important that participants enter into research studies voluntarily and with sufficient information and understanding. Read more