U-M Depression Center Member Dr. Stephen Taylor Appointed New IRBMED Vice Chair
Raymond J. Hutchinson, M.S., M.D., Associate Dean for Regulatory Affairs, Medical School, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Stephan Taylor, who joins Drs. Macdonald Dick, William Ensminger, Alan Sugar, and Helen Tamer in his new role as Vice Chair for the Medical School Institutional Review Board (IRBMED), effective October 5, 2008.
Dr. Taylor, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, brings to the IRBMED considerable clinical research experience in the study of psychiatric medicine. His research interests include the study of cognitive and affective neuroscience, schizophrenia, functional neuroimaging, obsessive compulsive disorder depression, and deep brain stimulation.
Dr. Taylor received his M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1988 and completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of Michigan in 1993. He joined the University as a lecturer in 1993, became an assistant professor in 1995 and an associate professor in 2003. Dr. Taylor is also board-certified in Psychiatry. In addition to maintaining membership in several professional and scientific societies, Dr. Taylor serves as a peer reviewer for over a dozen prominent journals, including the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Neuroscience, and Brain Research. Prior to appointment as IRBMED Vice Chair, Dr. Taylor served as a regular member of the IRBMED for six years.
Upon his appointment, Dr. Taylor was quoted as saying, “Of course, the job of the IRB is to protect people in research studies, and a very important part of this job involves working with investigators to help them develop the good research practices that protect subjects. In IRBMED, most of the protocols we review have something to do with addressing the origins and treatment of disease, so investigators usually have some motivation to help people through their research. We all grumble about the paperwork, and it is easy to lose sight of these important shared values. I think the value that the IRB members can bring to the process is to help investigators see that protecting subject rights, doing research, and helping patients are not incompatible efforts.”
The Dean’s Office thanks Dr. Taylor for taking on this important role and for his continued dedication to the protection of human subjects who participate in research at the University of Michigan.
