IRB session on confidentiality and law to feature professor who is former judge

Purdue's Institutional Review Board on June 16 will present a new outreach session that examines legal issues of human subject protection and confidentiality, featuring Linda Chezem, who continues as a Purdue faculty member after completing 22 years as a judge in Indiana.

The discussion is designed to be particularly useful to those conducting surveys and interviews that gather sensitive data. In the session, titled "The Delicate Conundrum: Data and Confidentiality and the Law," Chezem will explore the legal requirements to protect study subjects and patients as an integral part of writing the study protocol.

The session will be at 10-11 a.m. June 16 in the Biochemistry Building, Room 105. Registration is encouraged at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_etyIyfxsQrUd1vT to assist with planning.

IRB intends for this event to lead off a series to help top Purdue principal investigators, other researchers and research students keep abreast of thinking about important research issues.

Chezem, who was the second woman to serve on the Indiana Court of Appeals, now focuses on policy issues as professor of 4-H youth in the Department of Youth Development and Agricultural Education as well as adjunct professor in the Indiana University School of Medicine. From this base she works on federal, state and local policy on agriculture, alcohol, and related rural health issues. Chezem has been particularly interested in the protection of law and the needs of research in which sensitive personal information is collected about the study subject or patient.

She received LL.B. and J.D. degrees in law at Indiana University Bloomington and practice law in Paoli, Indiana. She then was appointed to the Lawrence County Court, the Lawrence Circuit Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals. She was the first woman appointed to a circuit court in Indiana.

Among Chezem's current service involvements are the U. S. Interagency Coordinating Council on FASD, Justice Issues Workgroup; National Institute of Justice Peer Review Panel; Indiana Juvenile Justice State Advisory Group (chair); and Indiana Office of Women’s Health, Advisory Board.

Chezem has served on the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institutes of Health. She consults with the U.S. Department of Justice and its Office of Justice Programs and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. She also has served as a board member or officer for a large number of health and other organizations in the state and nation.

Chezem owns and operates her family grain and beef farm in Clay County, Indiana. Her husband owns and operates his family grain farms in Clinton County and Carroll County. Their daughter operates their Scott County farm.