Ethics in Research Lunch and Learn Series

History of Unethical Human Experimentation: Where Do We Go From Here?

• Dr. Quincy Byrdsong, WellStar Research Institute
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    Dr. Quincy Byrdsong serves as Associate Vice President for Research Administration at the WellStar Research Institute for WellStar Health System, the largest health system in Georgia.  Dr. Byrdsong has extensive expertise in providing strategic vision, operational organization, and programmatic infrastructure to complex institutions of higher education and healthcare systems.  Currently, he functions as the Chief Research Administration Officer with operational oversight of all research administration activity.  In this role, Dr. Byrdsong analyzes, evaluates, and develops metrics for mission alignment and informs the organizational agenda for research.  He continues to speak to national audiences in the areas of responsible conduct of research, conflicts of interest, research ethics, and human subjects protections. 

    Dr. Byrdsong received his bachelor and master’s degrees in biology from Middle Tennessee State University where he became part of the institution’s first cohort of Patricia Roberts Harris Fellows in Biology.  He received his Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Tennessee State University.  He is a Certified IRB Professional (CIP) as well as a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP).  He is the President-Elect for the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA). 

You Work for Them?! - How Not to Be the Mentor Students Avoid

• Dr. Kristine Nowak and Scott Nowak, Kennesaw State University
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    Dr. Kristine Nowak is Director of Research Compliance at Kennesaw State University as well as Lecturer of Anatomy & Physiology, teaching various biology courses in the College of Science and Mathematics at KSU. A native of suburban Philadelphia, Dr. Nowak received a B.S. in Biology from Harvey Mudd College followed by earning a Ph.D. in Biology from Johns Hopkins University, working in the laboratory of Richard McCarty on the regulation of ATP synthesis in chloroplasts. Dr. Nowak completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University, conducting research on aspects of immune biology in atherosclerosis. She then spent three years teaching biology and algebra at The Kew-Forest School, an independent K-12 school in Forest Hills, New York.

    After moving to the Kennesaw area in 2011, Dr. Nowak worked in two different labs within KSU’s biology program (with Dr. Susan M.E. Smith and the late Dr. John Salerno) before joining the full-time faculty in 2015. She began her current administrative position in the Office of Research in May 2019. As Director of Research Compliance, she facilitates and monitors institution-wide compliance of research activities at KSU to ensure responsible and ethical conduct in research as outlined by federal and state regulations and university policies and procedures.

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    Dr. Scott J. Nowak is the John C. Salerno Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Kennesaw State University.  Dr. Nowak has been at KSU since 2011, and maintains a federally funded research laboratory studying the embryonic development of both skeletal and cardiac muscle.  To date, Dr. Nowak has mentored and supervised two graduate students and 48 undergraduate student researchers, with a significant majority continuing on in STEM careers.

    Dr. Nowak received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1997.  He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Molecular Biology at The Johns Hopkins University in 2003. Following graduate school, he completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at the New York University Langone Medical School, and at the Sloan-Kettering Institute of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  

Intellectual Property Issues in Academia

• Mr. Michael J. Riesen, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
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    Mr. Riesen is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP and serves as Executive Director of SGR Labs.  He focuses his practice on intellectual property (IP), including portfolio management and diligence, domestic and international patent prosecution, agreements, patent litigation, trademark prosecution, copyright, and open source issues. Mr. Riesen uses his technical background in material science, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science to assist a variety of clients in IP matters, and works with clients to quickly assess their cases and develop effective strategies. A former high school and college physics teacher, Mr. Riesen capitalizes on his ability to understand complex and high-level scientific concepts and to effectively convey such concepts to inventors, counsel, judges, juries and examiners.

    Mr. Riesen graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and obtained a Masters (M.S.E.) in Engineering from the University of Toledo with a focus in Artificial and Machine Learning. He graduated from the University of Toledo College of Law, cum laude, where he served as President of the Intellectual Property Section and the Student Bar Association.