Liza Dawson, PhD, MA

Liza Dawson, PhD, MA, is Chief of Bioethics, IRB chair, and Research Integrity officer at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in Silver Spring, MD.  WRAIR is a DOD-funded research institution conducting research in infectious diseases and brain and behavioral health in the US and at multiple international sites.  Dr. Dawson leads a bioethics consultation service at WRAIR to assist researchers and leaders grappling with ethical issues in research, and provides training and education on Responsible Conduct of Research for WRAIR investigators and research staff.  In 2020, Dr. Dawson’s team initiated a Community Engagement program for WRAIR in the DC metropolitan area in conjunction with COVID-19 related research conducted at the institute.  Within bioethics, Dr. Dawson’s main interests and publications are in the area of clinical trial design, community engagement, intersection of research and public health activities, and oversight of human research.  She is co-editor of a case series in the American Journal of Bioethics, with Dr. Liza Johnson, on challenging cases in research ethics consultation.

Prior to joining WRAIR in 2019, Dr. Dawson worked at the National Institutes of Health, including eleven years at the NIAID Division of AIDS (DAIDS) and three years in the NIH Office of Science Policy.  While at DAIDS, she spearheaded a unique grant program for bioethics scholarship in research which funded grants from 2012 to 2016, as well as serving as a bioethics consultant for the Division.  She previously worked as a faculty Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics, focusing on international research ethics and ethical issues arising in novel scientific areas such as stem cell research.  Dr. Dawson studied molecular microbiology and public health and received a PhD at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Social Policy from George Washington University.