Kimberly K. Summers, Pharm.D.

Kimberly Summers, PharmD is the Director of Research Protection Programs at the University of Texas Health San Antonio (UT Health SA). Dr. Summers has direct oversight of the functions and responsibilities of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Office of Clinical Research (OCR), and the administrative offices that support them. Dr. Summers received her PharmD degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed a residency and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at UT Health and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) in San Antonio. Her research and early publications looked at the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic actions of antifungals, antivirals, and antimicrobial agents. Dr. Summers has contributed to the scientific literature describing antiretroviral therapeutic approaches and collaborated with several national and international groups in the development of recommended treatment strategies for HIV infected individuals. Dr. Summers has been serving in leadership roles in human subject protections and research oversight since 2007. In her current position, she has been able to successfully implement several IRB authorization agreements in which UT Health SA has served as either the reviewing IRB or a relying institution for multi-site collaborative research. She has developed an institutional review and oversight process which has worked for each external IRBs unique structure and function. This has given her critical insight into the importance of institutional oversight for human research protections and the challenges of implementing signal IRB review. As a SMART IRB Ambassador for Texas, she is currently working with national groups to implement the policies and practices for NIH single IRB review for clinical trials. This role includes membership on the SMART IRB Harmonization Steering Committee (HSC), and serving as the co-lead for the SMART IRB HSC Local/State Requirements ad-hoc Committee.