Nov. 1, 2012 – Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has named University of Utah medical ethicist and physician Jeffrey Botkin as chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections.

“This committee provides recommendations on changes in the regulations and guidance regarding research with human subjects,” says Botkin, a professor pediatrics and medical ethics and University of Utah associate vice president for research.

His term began Oct. 15, 2012 and will end Oct. 15, 2016.

Since 2009, Botkin also has chaired a National Institutes of Health panel that reviews scientists’ requests to conduct government-funded research using embryonic stem cells left over from couples who had babies using test-tube fertilization.

As an associate vice president for research at the University of Utah, Botkin’s duties include oversight of the conflict-of-interest policy, institutional review boards that review human and animal research, evaluations of research misconduct allegations and adherence to biosafety rules involving research with microbes and toxins.