Over their careers, the Learn eCORE Founders have created a number of courses on protecting human research participants to teach the relevant federal regulations and policies. Since 2009, their online human subjects research courses have trained millions of individuals worldwide. They recognize the continued need for accessible, cost-effective, and expert online training on the protection of human research participants and other related research compliance topics which motivated them to launch Learn eCORE.
The Founders of Learn eCORE have decades of experience in public health practice, federal research policy, human subjects research compliance, biomedical research, and training including the development of the former NIH online course “Protecting Human Research Participants (PHRP)” that was offered until 2018. Both are also familiar with the IRB certification process through their membership on federal and academic IRBs.
Sherry Mills, MD, MPH is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health. As a medical epidemiologist, she began her federal career conducting research on tobacco control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and then transitioned to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she served as a Program Officer and Branch Chief at the National Cancer Institute.
She served as the Director of NIH’s Office of Extramural Programs in the NIH Office of the Director, where she led trans-NIH efforts in scientific workforce development, peer review and scientific program policy, research integrity, and human subjects research, including the creation of NIH’s “Protecting Human Research Participants” online training course. While at NIH, Dr. Mills served for 6 years on an Intramural IRB. Dr. Mills also was the Vice President for Public Health Research for Abt Associates from 2000-2004. Since leaving federal service in 2017, she has continued to provide training on clinical research compliance, grantsmanship and also mentors junior faculty at several research institutions.
Ann Hardy, DrPH, CIP is an epidemiologist with expertise in infectious diseases, health survey methods, and human subjects research compliance. She started her federal career at CDC working on HIV/AIDS and then served in various leadership roles at the National Center for Health Statistics. Dr. Hardy came to NIH as a peer review officer for biostatics and epidemiology grant applications.
She subsequently led the NIH Extramural Human Research Protections Program for 9 years where she developed policies to ensure compliance of NIH-funded human subjects research, created human subjects research training programs for NIH staff and extramural investigators, including management of the “Protecting Human Research Participants” course, and directed the NIH Certificates of Confidentiality program. She holds a professional IRB certification (CIP) and currently volunteers her service on an IRB at the George Washington University. Since leaving federal service in 2017, she remains active in human subjects research training including consulting with the federal Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP) and training NIH postdoctoral fellows on research compliance.
Learn eCORE aims to provide accurate, accessible and superior online courses on important compliance and ethics topics in a manner that reinforces learning through realistic examples and case studies, for a reasonable cost to individuals and groups. Our ultimate goal is to be recognized as a premier e-learning program that meets the training needs of varied research communities worldwide.
Learn eCORE understands that teaching complex regulatory and policy requirements for topics like human subjects research requires in depth knowledge and experience to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of course content. Learn eCORE’s courses are created and independently reviewed by subject matter experts so you can be sure that the content is appropriate and correct. Our courses meet training requirements for federal research funding and IRB certification.
Diversity and inclusion are key factors in the development and successful conduct of scientifically sound human subjects research. Thus, it is important that Learn eCORE likewise reflects a commitment to these qualities.
Our courses:
Learn eCORE is committed to building a supporting learning environment for its learners through:
1. Well-designed courses that include realistic exercises, examples, detailed case studies and helpful summary charts and tables.
2. Our unique Learn eCORE Cooperative: Purchase any of our courses and become part of our Cooperative which will provide a growing and timely set of resources such as:
