The Human Subjects Research Office is pleased to announce that Erin Venza, staff member of Dr. Chapman’s lab, has been selected as the recipient of the Summer 2022 HIVE Award! The HIVE award is a way to recognize UTD students and staff exhibiting positive Habits, Ideals, Values, and Ethics in human subjects research. 

Erin graduated from UTD with a Master’s in Cognitive Communication Disorders. She discovered the Center for BrainHealth (CBH) while she was a student and applied for a Student Research Assistant position at CBH. “A research clinician from The Center for BrainHealth gave a guest lecture in one of my classes, and I was so fascinated by her work, that I immediately applied as a research assistant and have been there ever since.” Erin has been involved with CBH since 2013 and currently serves as the Head of Clinical Operations.

Erin received the Friends of BrainHealth Distinguished New Scientist Award in 2016 and 2018. Her research has primarily focused on cognition, specifically cognitive training. Erin and others in Dr. Chapman’s lab “examine a strategy-based cognitive training to improve brain performance across the lifespan in health, injury and disease.” Erin has experience working with participants, completing IRB (Institutional Review Board) submissions, and creating training content and educational materials. She currently provides regulatory oversight for the BrainHealth Project, which is a longitudinal online study that aims to improve brain health and performance. The goal of the study is to collect data from 100,000 participants over the next decade.

Erin shared that the most important thing she has learned about human subjects research is “Continuously prioritizing the safety & respect of the participant and applying that perspective from high-level study planning all the way down to the details of the consent form.”

When asked if the work she is doing is what she imagined as a child, Erin stated “While I couldn’t have conceptualized then the position I have now, it brings together a number of skills that I love – research, teaching, creating, and writing – and no day looks the same as another.” She hopes to continue her current work with the goal of expanding the training to clinical settings.

The Human Subjects Research Office is proud to include Erin Venza as a member of the HIVE!