Heather H. Pierce, JD, MPH

Senior Director, Science Policy Regulatory Counsel, Scientific Affairs
Association of American Medical Colleges

Heather Pierce is Senior Director for Science Policy and Regulatory Counsel at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She serves as AAMC's leader for scientific regulatory issues including human subject protections, clinical research, conflicts of interest, research data sharing, evidence-based regulation, and collaborations between industry, government, and academia in biomedical research. She is the subject matter expert for the AAMC's Forum on Conflict of Interest in Academe and for Convey, the AAMC's global financial interest disclosure system.

Ms. Pierce is Chair of the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), where she has been a regular contributor to in-person programs and webinars for over a decade and has served on the Board since 2014. She regularly speaks at national forums on issues related to the protection of human subjects, regulatory burden, research ethics, biospecimens, scientific misconduct, legislation and policymaking related to research, and research compliance, and has published articles and commentaries on these topics in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The American Journal of Bioethics. She has served on committees, working groups and task forces of organizations including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the National Dialogue on Healthcare Innovation.

Prior to joining AAMC, Ms. Pierce was an attorney in the Health Care Group of the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP in New York. Her regulatory practice focused on medical research and clinical care. She received her law degree from New York University and her MPH in Health Law from Boston University.

Presentation(s):

• A12 - It’s Not as New as You Think: Understanding How to Operationalize the Revised Common Rule

  Thursday, November 15
  1:15 PM – 2:30 PM

• B21 - How to Identify, Navigate, and Manage Conflicts of Interest (COI) at a Small Research Organization

  Thursday, November 15
  3:00 PM – 4:15 PM

• E02 - Two Offices Divided by a Common Goal: Conflict of Interest (COI) and IRB

  Saturday, November 17
  11:30 AM – 12:45 PM