The Human Investigation Committee (HIC), Wayne State University, has named Linda Herskovitz as Community Liaison to organize and initiate a community relations and outreach program regarding the protection of human participants in research. In this position, she will design, coordinate and present formal instructional sessions to community, neighborhood, faith-based and health-related groups in the Greater Detroit Metropolitan area. Additionally, she will follow up on concerns raised at public hearings and report back to the HIC and investigators about the public’s perceptions of the use of human participants in research.

Ms. Herskovitz joins the staff of the HIC after a brief retirement, having left her position as Program Director, Survey Research, Center for Urban Studies (CUS) at Wayne State University in April 2004. From 1993-1999 she was the Assistant Program Director for Survey and Evaluation Services, CUS, stepping into the directorship of Survey Research in February 1999. As Program Director, Ms. Herskovitz was responsible for survey data collection, including project design, budget construction, proposal writing, and all phases of data collection. She interacted regularly with WSU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and is familiar with a wide variety of federal regulations and institutional policies and procedures related to the protection of human participants in research.

In addition to her research responsibilities, Ms. Herskovitz annually taught a graduate level seminar in survey research methodology for the College of Urban and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA) and the Departments of Sociology and Political Science. She is the author of a number of articles, conference papers and reports.

Ms. Herskovitz earned a M.A. in applied sociology from W.S.U. in 1984 and joined CUS after conducting survey research in both the private and public sectors for over 15 years, including four years as Manager of Market Research for the Detroit Medical Center.

For more information, how to set up an in-person meeting or arrange a presentation, call Ms. Linda Herskovitz, Community Liaison, Human Investigation Committee, Wayne State University at 313-577-1628 or e-mail linda.herskovitz@wayne.edu .