Assistant Vice President for Human Research Administration
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Rhonda Oilepo is the Assistant Vice President for Human Research Administration and Director of the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Ms. Oilepo has over 20 years' experience in research, research administration, and research compliance and serves as a site visitor for the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP). She is a certified IRB professional (CIP) and is also certified in Healthcare Research Compliance (CHRC) and Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC). She served as an IRB member for 14 years and was a designated Expedited Reviewer during that time. Over the years, Ms. Oilepo has been responsible for expanding the scope of the IRB office to include overall human research protections which includes establishing a Quality Assurance and Regulatory Monitoring Office, a Regulatory Support Office, and a mandatory clinical research coordinator onboarding training program. Her expertise in Human Subjects Research Administration spans both biomedical and social behavioral research and includes IRB requirements, Regulatory Compliance, HIPAA Privacy, Data Sharing requirements, IRB Reliance and Single IRB requirements, Researcher Education, and Sponsor-Investigator responsibilities (FDA and ClinicalTrials.gov requirements).