As The University of Arizona's first assistant vice president for research compliance and policy, Elizabeth Boyd is tasked with bringing together the various compliance offices around campus while helping make the UA a leader in research ethics.

Boyd, who was a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, before coming to the UA, is overseeing eight units – from animal care to radiation control – in a position she said was created in response to the growing complexity of research compliance.

"I think it shows the vice president for research's commitment to making this area highly visible," Boyd said of the creation of her position by Leslie Tolbert, vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development.

"Dr. Tolbert had a vision for someone a step removed to think about how all these pieces and units can fit and work together," Boyd said.

Boyd will carry out duties previously assigned to the University's research compliance officer and, additionally, will have other responsibilities such as writing new policy.

"Elizabeth will review and evaluate research policies and compliance practices across the campus and then knit our various compliance units together into a comprehensive program that is readily accessible to UA researchers and that leads the way in the ethical conduct of research," Tolbert wrote in a letter to the campus community.

After being a researcher for several years, Boyd said she is excited to be able to bring a faculty perspective to an administrative position.

"I know what it's like," she said about being an investigator going through the approval process.

As the assistant vice president for research compliance and policy, Boyd said it's her job to encourage and support UA investigators while meeting the rules and regulations associated with research at the same time.

"We want to be more visible to the research community and be somewhere they can turn for help," she said. "We're here as resources and people need to know that."

Boyd earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1983 and a master's degree in communication from Stanford University in 1985. She earned a doctoral degree in medical sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1997.

She did post-doctoral work in health policy at UC-San Francisco and was a researcher there until February.