Rhonda Oilepo
Full Name
Rhonda Oilepo
Job Title
Assistant Vice President for Human Research Administration
Company
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Speaker Bio
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. She is a certified IRB professional (CIP) and is also certified in Healthcare Research Compliance (CHRC) and Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC). 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 was an IRB member for 14 years which included the responsibility of reviewing expedited IRB submissions. Over the years, Ms. Oilepo has been responsible for expanding the scope of the IRB office to include overall human research protections which included developing comprehensive policy and procedure manuals, implementing a QA and monitoring program, implementing IRB reliance, participant advocacy, and regulatory support programs. She was also responsible for modifying electronic IRB systems, implementing document version control measures, and streamlining IRB reviews resulting in compliant, timely reviews while minimizing regulatory burden on researchers. She successfully implemented changes in response to the 2018 revised common rule with no disruption to researchers and simultaneously led her institution to achieve first time AAHRPP accreditation.