Frederic Koning: The IRB and the Community It Serves
In this episode of More than Meets the IRB: A Joint Initiative of Washington University in St. Louis and PRIM&R, we speak with Fred Koning, M.Div, Th.M, M.S., about the role of the non-scientist community member on the IRB.\n\nThe non-scientist member (often discussed as the \u201ccommunity member\u201d) role is \u201cnotoriously\u201d difficult to define, and in this episode we discuss with Koning\u2014a longtime non-scientist IRB member and former parish minister\u2014how he perceives the role. \n\nAfter exploring what IRBs owes its community, we discuss how Koning\u2019s own personal background with family members in clinical trials informs his work with the IRB.\n\nThe episode closes with an acknowledgment that \u201cscientific or medical naivet\xe9\u201d on the part of the non-scientist IRB member can open up important lines of ethical inquiry that experts wouldn\u2019t necessarily think to examine.