Claire Dunne, Director of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) within the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), is a 2020 recipient of the RIO Champion Award. 

Claire was nominated by:

  • Jon Reuter, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research Integrity & Compliance
  • Misty White, IRB Panel Review Coordinator
  • Douglas Grafel, IRB Admin Review Coordinator

What the Nominators Said About Claire

Claire is deeply committed to her responsibilities in support of human research. Through her openness, approachability, and dedication, she has fostered a culture of respect, program integrity and education. She has also adeptly shaped the evolving state of human research oversight at CU Boulder with a balanced approach, diligence to detail and training outreach. Her positivity and inclusiveness provide a trusted, welcoming environment for engaging conversation. The program experienced many challenges this past year, but Claire's leadership capitalized on these opportunities to strengthen the team and provide continued and timely support for essential research on campus. 

Some of Claire’s key contributions include:

  • Working diligently to help Food and Drug Administration (FDA) auditors understand regulations for medical device research on campus, demonstrating CU Boulder's committment to compliance, recordkeeping and the ethical conduct of human research;
  • Development of efficient workflows and comprehensive cross-training for IRB staff and Board members, identifying opportuities for improvement, standardization and administrative efficiencies;
  • Leading a smooth transition to remote working when COVID-19 halted on-site campus operations;
  • Recognizing staff needs and maintaining a highly flexible, supportive remote work environment, preventing any lapse in approvals for human studies;
  • Supporting time-sensitive COVID-19-related human research protocols and the return of students to CU campuses;
  • Assisting with rapid identification of approaches for navigating FDA emergency use authorization;
  • Sharing research biological test samples across units and expediting review of research protocol for approval of new experimental testing on campus, forming the backbone of the campus fall opening hybrid model; and
  • Annual budget savings due to Claire's management of shared administrative resources.

Claire is a tremendous team player within the Office of Research Integrity. As a trusted team member for help and support, and representing ORI interests int he upcoming office relocation to Pearl Street East, her leadership has been and will continue to be instrumetnal in the smooth transition of personnel across both the Main and East campus to a single facility. Her institutional knoweldge is a benefit to other research compliance offices within RIO (Conflicts of Interest) and campus (OIT InfoEd upgrade and User Acceptance testing, coordination with Wardenburg/CTRC) and assists colleagues and other departments whenever possible. While many are deserving within RIO, Claire's personality, commitment and ethics set her apart and motivate and influence the IRB and ORI teams.