Associate Vice President for Research Security and Compliance

Old Dominion University (ODU) invites applications and nominations for its Associate Vice President for Research Security and Compliance (AVP-RSC) and Chief Research Compliance Officer. This is an important opportunity to join Virginia’s forward focused, public R1 doctoral research institution in this inaugural role, newly created to manage compliance structures across a growing research ecosystem. ODU seeks a research compliance subject matter and best practice expert to serve as a trusted advisor and counsel to university and research leadership and individual investigators. The AVP-RSC will lead a growing research compliance office, joining an institution that is currently developing a new academic medical center to continue its already impressive growth trajectory.

Reporting to the Vice President for Research and serving as the University’s Chief Research Compliance Officer, the AVP-RSC will play a critical role within the Division of Research and across the University. They will be charged with developing and maintaining a best-in-class research compliance program, ensuring that policies, processes, and procedures are responsive and supportive of faculty and evolve with changing sponsor and regulatory imperatives. The AVP-RSC will supervise the Assistant Vice President for Research Security and the Director of Research Compliance and a total current team of eight. They will lead policy and administrative support for the University-wide and College-specific committees that provide compliance reviews of research protocols, including IRB, IACUC, IBC, and College Human Subjects Review Committees. In 2023, ODU engaged in more than $73 million in total research and development. The Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), a separate organization with $22 million in sponsored research, will integrate with ODU effective July 1, 2024. In this context, the AVP-RSC will be an important university stakeholder in ensuring successful integration from a research compliance perspective.

Successful candidates will have progressive experience developing and administering a best-in-practice research compliance function in an academic research setting, preferably with an academic medical component. They will have a collaborative leadership style and a customer service focus with investigators and colleagues. The AVP will be an engaged administrator, proactive in safeguarding the university's best interests within an ever-changing regulatory landscape.

Old Dominion University has retained the national executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to conduct this critical search. Please direct all confidential inquiries, nominations, and applications to the firm as indicated at the end of this document.