About the PHRC

The Partners Human Research Committee (PHRC) is the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Partners Research Management. The PHRC must approve all human-subject research conducted by a Partners-affiliated investigator. Human-subject research is a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge where an investigator obtains data on individuals either through direct intervention/interaction or through the use of identifiable private information (medical records) or specimens. Research limited to the use of non-identifiable patient information may qualify for exemption from full IRB review, however all exemptions must be determined or granted by the Human Research Office.

Elizabeth L. Hohmann, M.D. is Chair and Director of the Partners Human Research Committee. She is a member of both MGH and BWH panels of the Human Research Committees and is responsible for direction and oversight of scientific and medical policies and operations of the IRB processes at the Partners institutions. Dr. Hohmann is an infectious disease specialist at MGH and has research interests in Salmonella, Listeria, and clinical studies of live attenuated bacterial vaccines and vectors.

Melissa Abraham, Ph.D., M.S. is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Abraham is a clinical psychologist on faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute for Health Policy at MGH. She received an M.S. in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and completed a fellowship in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Abraham is interested in applied research ethics and ethical issues in mental health research.

Diane L. Carroll, RN, Ph.D. is a Chair the Partners Human Research Committee. Involved with clinical research since the 1970s, Dr. Diane Carroll completed a diploma in Nursing at the MGH School of Nursing and a BSN from Boston College. She has had positions in the MGH as a staff nurse and research nurse, and currently is a Clinical Nurse Specialist. Dr. Carroll received her PhD in Nursing from Boston College and was the Yvonne Munn post-doctoral fellow within Patient Care Services at the MGH in 2002. She is a Visiting Scholar to Boston College where she teaches research methods on the graduate level. Her current NIH-funded research has a focus on interventions to reduce vulnerability in older adults with a variety of cardiovascular diseases.

Melissa Frumin, M.D., M.S. is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. She is a neuropsychiatrist in the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at BWH. Dr. Frumin specializes in the psychiatric sequelae of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, dementia, mental retardation and other neurological disorders. She has research interests in the early identification of psychosis in adolescents and young adults.

Allan Goldstein, M.D. is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. He completed his undergraduate education at Yale and then attended Harvard Medical School where he obtained his M.D. degree in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). He completed his residency in general surgery at MGH and then moved to New York for a pediatric surgery fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He returned to Boston in 2002 and is currently on staff in the Division of Pediatric Surgery. His research and clinical focus are on the development of the enteric nervous system and the management of children with intestinal dysmotility.

Marc Kaufman, PhD is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Kaufman has expertise in pharmacology, magnetic resonance imaging, and therapeutic drug development. He is Director of the Translational Imaging Laboratory at McLean Hospital.

Judith M. Scheer, S.M., R.N. is Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Ms. Scheer has greater than 25 years experience as a research nurse, project manager, and educator in clinical research. Her interests include education and public awareness/perception of clinical research.

Julian L. Seifter, M.D. is Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Seifter is a nephrologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and director of the Training Programs in Nephrology. He has clinical and research interests in renal failure and diabetes, and is Director of the Renal Stone Clinic. Dr. Seifter is also Director of Physiology and Pathophysiology courses at Harvard Medical School.

A. Robert Schleipman, CNMT, MHSA, MSc, is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Previously a long-time member of the Radiology Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he is also a member of BWH IRB Panel B and the Committee on Human Studies at Harvard Medical School. His training includes biology and nuclear medicine technology, and graduate degrees in both health care administration and clinical investigation. Robert has been an adjunct faculty member at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences and the MGH Institute of Health Professions. He is currently attending the Law and Public Policy Program at Northeastern University, specializing in health policy.

Benjamin Silverman, M.D. is Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Silverman graduated from college and medical school at the Johns Hopkins University and subsequently completed his psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Residency Training program. Dr. Silverman obtained sub-specialty training by completing fellowship training in addiction psychiatry through the Partners HealthCare System (McLean Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital), as well as fellowship training with the Division of Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Silverman is interested in the ethical dilemmas that emerging information technologies, such as the Internet, present to clinicians, as well as ethical issues in mental health research.

David B. Smith M.D. is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Smith has been affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital for 20 years. He has expertise in breast cancer, benign and malignant hematology and palliative care. Dr. Smith works at the Gillette Center for Women's Cancers and the General Hematology/Oncology Clinic at MGH.

Lawrence C. Tsen, MD is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Lawrence Tsen completed his undergraduate and medical school training at Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, respectively. Following his internship, residency, and chief residency years in Chicago at Michael Reese Hospital, Dr. Tsen moved to Boston for an obstetric anesthesia fellowship at BWH. Currently an Associate Professor in Anesthesia at HMS and the Director of Anesthesia for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), BWH, Dr. Tsen's research and clinical interests focus on the pharmacologic and physiologic implications of ART-induced hormonal changes and the impact of anesthetic and analgesic agents throughout pregnancy.

Stephen J. Vacirca, M.D. is a Chair of the Partners Human Research Committee. Dr. Vacirca is a diagnostic radiologist. He completed residency and fellowship programs at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.