January 14, 2016
Cheryl Doerr hired as associate vice president for research compliance
Cheryl Doerr will join K-State as associate vice president for research compliance starting on April 10, 2016. She will replace Jerry Jaax, who will retire in May.
According to Peter Dorhout, interim vice president for research, Doerr brings a wealth of research and regulatory compliance experience to K-State.
"Cheryl Doerr understands the complex and dynamic environment of regulatory compliance in government and academic settings," Dorhout said. "We are very excited to have someone with her background joining us at K-State."
Doerr's current position is as a compliance assurance program manager for the Department of Homeland Security, where she is responsible for ensuring departmentwide compliance with policies and regulations governing laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, select agent and toxin security, animal care and use and human subject research, dual use research of concern, and chemical and biological weapons treaty arms control. She also has served as a biological weapons arms control and health security subject matter expert for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense and spent eight years as an associate research professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at National Defense University, where her research focused on security implications of emerging infectious diseases, continuity of operations pandemic planning and military force health protection. She is the author of numerous books, papers, policy briefings and reports on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, health security and medical preparedness and response.
As associate vice president for research compliance, Doerr will be responsible for regulatory oversight and compliance of university research and teaching programs with applicable federal, state, local, and organizational rules, regulations, policies and guidelines. She will ensure responsible conduct of research and oversee post-approval monitoring, compliance training, animal care and use, occupational health programs and aspects of export control compliance. Doerr will provide oversight and leadership for the University Research Compliance Office and will operate the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Review Board, Institutional Biosafety Committee and Dual Use Research of Concern Committee. She also will administer the select agent program.
Doerr is pleased to be joining K-State. "Right now I write the policies the universities implement, so actually going on the front line and working with academics and students and the people who do the research day to day is an exciting challenge," she said.
Doerr sees many opportunities for K-State. "Compliance at this university is an exciting opportunity because of the 2025 strategic plan. The regulatory world is changing, and I can help K-State be at the forefront of biosafety and biosecurity," she said.
Dorhout agrees that Doerr's experience will benefit K-State by both ensuring safety and fostering workforce development.
"Compliance with policies and procedures isn't just about following the rules, it's about setting a tone for safe working environments for our students, faculty, and staff and training the next generations of researchers. Companies and government and academic labs should look to K-State and our alumni when they want to hire the very best to become their employees, their leaders," Dorhout said.
"With Cheryl here, our compliance office will be positioned to continue to help our programs with training and developing safe procedures," he said.