All requests for exemptions will be reviewed along with the initial application submission.

Paul Newton, JD, CIP
IPA IRB Chair & Prisoner Representative

Paul Newton is an Oregon attorney with over 25 years of experience in law and litigation, investigation, trials and appeals, regulatory affairs, ethics and compliance, bioethics, institutional review board oversight (IRB), animal research care and protection (IACUC), intellectual property, and visas.  He first received his professional IRB certificate (CIP) in 2006.  He currently serves as the IRB Chair for IPA, and he is also the HRPP Director and IRB Chair at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon.

Prior to being involved in IRB work, Paul spent fifteen years as a criminal defense lawyer. Since beginning work in the IRB field in 1996, he has served on numerous IRB ethics committees—Oregon Health Division IRB, Oregon Health Sciences University IRB, Legacy Health IRB, Western IRB, Portland State University IRB, Yale IRB, Hummingbird IRB, and IPA IRB.  He has also served as a bioethics advisor to a large pharmaceutical company, served as a clinical ethics consultant for Legacy Health, served on a genetics privacy committee, and conducted countless training sessions for lawyers, investigators, ethicists, IRB members, college students, researchers, and international Fellows.

Michael F. Craft, MA, Evaluation Officer at United Nations Secretariat

Michael F. Craft currently serves as an Evaluation Officer at the Office of Internal Oversight Services where he performs assessment of entities within the United Nations Secretariat. This has included evaluating the advocacy work of the UN related to children and armed conflict as well as conflict-related sexual violence. Prior to his current position, he carried out programmatic and thematic evaluations at the Independent Evaluation Office of the UN Development Programme. He has extensive experience in designing research systems of evaluation functions in the UN system. Mr. Craft has also worked as a consultant for the UN Institute of Training and Research Multilateral Diplomacy Programme and supported local conflict transformation initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Craft holds a dual Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and Sciences Po (Paris).

Niall Keleher, MA, PhD, Director of Data Science and Engineering at IPA

Niall's research experience is in labor economics, social networks, field experiments, causal inference, and machine learning. Niall has spent over 15 years in research and data science across software development, non-profit, and academic institutions. Niall is currently the Director of IPA's Data Science and Engineering team. He has worked to design and carry out more than a dozen research projects in rural finance, agriculture, transportation, and business training. Niall has extensive research experience in the Philippines, Malawi, Liberia, and Afghanistan. Niall holds a PhD in Information Management and Systems from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master's in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University.

Boyla Mainsah, PhD, Research Scientist at Duke University

Boyla Mainsah is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, where she conducts extensive research on signal processing and machine learning with brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Additionally, her MSc in biomedical engineering has influenced her research interests in cochlear implants, heart sound analysis, implanted heart pumps, and non-invasive acoustic diagnostics. Boyla is a peer reviewer for a number of engineering journals and is a review panelist for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s summer research program.  

Kristianna Post, MSc, Program Manager at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Kristianna Post (Kristi) is currently a program manager at the Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Genetics Education in Research (GINGER), where she supports both curriculum development and the execution of various trainings. Before joining GINGER, Kristi worked for many years at Innovations for Poverty Action, first facilitating the implementation of randomized controlled trials in Kenya and later supporting research staff from the United States. In the context of her later work at IPA, she managed IPA’s Research Review Committee (RRC), Global Staff Trainings (GSTs), and Institutional Review Board (IRB). As a member of IPA IRB, Kristi brings her in-depth knowledge of the practicalities, constraints, and opportunities of IPA’s research portfolio.

Yandisa Sikweyiya, PhD, Associate Professor at University of the Witwatersrand (Alternate Board Member)

Yandisa Sikweyiya is a Specialist Scientist at the Gender and Health Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council and provides teaching, post-graduate supervision, and research support as an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand. Yandisa has served on various research ethics committees in South Africa including the University of Pretoria’s Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, the South African Medical Research Council’s Human Research Ethics Committee, and the DMTS Health Research Ethics Committee. He has also served as a member of the National Health Research Ethics Council of South Africa. His research interests include research ethics, gender-based violence, men and masculinities, and social aspects of HIV. He holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master’s degree in Public Health from Umeå University, Sweden, and a post-graduate certificate in research ethics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He obtained his junior degree in Health Promotion from the University of Transkei.

Alexandra Krstic, Research Ethics Analyst for IPA IRB

Alexandra Krstic is the primary IRB administrator for IPA IRB. She has performed preliminary submission reviews for the IRB since 2021, and since 2023 has reviewed/overseen review of all minimal risk submissions to the IRB. She became an alternate member of the IRB in 2023 and was made a full member in 2024. She has previous experience in biomedical and public health research at UC San Diego and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and previously served as a paralegal intern with the nonprofit Legal Services NYC. She holds a BA in Biology from Williams College and is completing an MA in Bioethics at NYU.

Sarah Kabay, PhD, Education Program Director at IPA (Alternate Member)

Sarah is the Director of IPA's Education sector program. She holds a PhD in International Development Education from New York University. Before beginning her doctoral program, she worked with IPA for five years in Uganda, where she managed the implementation and evaluation of a primary school savings program and worked in a variety of roles from 2008-2013. Her research focuses on early childhood and basic education. As an education researcher, she uses mixed methods and interdisciplinary research approaches and is particularly interested in the integration of qualitative research into randomized evaluations. Across different projects, she serves as an internal PI, provides technical support to IPA's Policy and Right-Fit Evidence teams, and directs Education Sector initiatives.

Lindsey Shaughnessy, Director of Global Research and Data Support at IPA (Alternate Member)

Lindsey Shaughnessy leads IPA's Global Research and Data Support team. The team builds protocols, resources, software, and training programs related to research design, research methods, data collection, data quality assurance, data analysis, and data science. Lindsey joined IPA in 2010 as a Research Associate working on a rainfall insurance study in northern Ghana. Since then she has led a series of global initiatives, including digitizing primary data collection, building organizational information systems and data security protocols, training research staff, and overseeing IPA's Institutional Review Board. She holds a B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in Mandarin Chinese, from Carleton College.

David Torres León, Data Specialist, Global Research and Data Support at IPA (Alternate Member)

David is a Data Specialist on IPA's Global Research & Data Support team. In this role, he creates and organizes training materials for internal and external audiences and develops tools to improve data cleaning and quality for the research staff at IPA. He also provides technical support to country offices across various domains. David has experience in the field and phone and WhatsApp collections via Twilio. Previously, at IPA, he supported evaluations related to cash transfer programs, early childhood, entrepreneurship, and migration. David holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and a Bachelor's degree in Public and Government Affairs from the University of Los Andes, and he has a Master's degree in Applied Economics from the same university.

Daniela Carrillo, Data Associate, Global Research and Data Support at IPA (Alternate Member)

Daniela is a Data Associate for IPA's Global Research & Data Support team. Since assuming this role, she has supported the IPA IRB admin team in completing initial submission reviews. Previously, she worked for the Colombia Country Office as a Research Analyst supporting research studies related to the regularization of migrants in Colombia and youth education in soft skills. She holds a BA in Economics with a minor in Public Policy from Universidad del Rosario.

Please download the current IRB fee schedule here. (This fee schedule is effective until February 28, 2025.) 

Important Update: Effective March 1, 2025, IPA IRB will implement an updated fee schedule. For more info, please click here.

Please download this document here.

Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page here.

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