Joan Packenham

Joan P. Packenham, Ph.D., is the Director of the Office of Human Research Compliance in the Clinical Research Branch (CRB), Division of Intramural Research (DIR) at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). She served as a member of the NIEHS IRB for over 16 years, with fourteen years serving as vice-chair. Currently she is a member of the NIH IRB. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Carolina Central University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in experimental and cellular pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine. Dr. Packenham trained as an Intramural Research Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis in DIR at NIEHS. Additionally, she received training as a staff scientist at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH. Dr. Packenham served as a senior science advisor for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), being selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional and Science Policy Fellow. She also served as an expert on the National EPA Advisory Committee concerning the evaluation and revamping of the US EPA’s Human Research Protection Program. For the NIH Human Research Protection Program, Dr. Packenham played a pivotal role in assisting the NIH in obtaining accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP). She has an extensive career in both the Intramural and Extramural Research Divisions of NIEHS. Her research and scientific administrative portfolios include expertise in clinical research, translational research, environmental toxicology, mouse genetics, cancer research and women’s environmental health. In 2015, Dr. Packenham joined the NIH/NIEHS Disaster Research Team (DR2) and is leading the NIEHS’s efforts on the IRB review of disaster-related research and the national IRB preparedness program. She has received many awards of merit for her work, two of which she is extremely proud of: the National Women of Color in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Award for Career Achievement in Government, and the NIH Director’s Award for her work with the DR2 Initiative.