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PRIM&R Service Award

The PRIM&R Service Award was created by the PRIM&R Board of Directors in 2021 to recognize individuals who have provided significant timely or timeless service to the human subjects protections or animal care and use communities that are at the core of PRIM&R. That service could be in teaching, mentorship, innovation, leadership, engagement, program improvement, or research. The intention of the award is to recognize the many and varied ways that people can have a significant impact on the field—awardees may be recognized for their long-time commitment or for one-time innovations and projects, whether early in their careers or after a lifetime of service.
Heather Pierce, JD, MPH 202 PRIM6&R Service Award Winner

2026 Service Award Winner

Heather Pierce, JD, MPH

Senior Director for Science Policy and Regulatory Counsel, Association of American Medical Colleges PRIM&R is pleased to present the 2026 Service Award to Heather Pierce, JD, MPH, in recognition of her leadership and longstanding service to the research ethics and oversight community, as well as her significant contributions to science policy, human research protections, and the responsible conduct of biomedical research. Pierce has more than two decades of leadership experience at the intersection of science, health, law, and public policy across federal, academic, industry, and nonprofit sectors. A national leader on biomedical research issues, she is regularly invited to speak on matters related to the oversight of federally funded research, including human subject protections, clinical research and the clinical trial workforce, animal research, conflicts of interest, research data sharing, evidence-based regulation, diagnostic test development, and collaborations among industry, government, and academia. Pierce is senior director for science policy and regulatory counsel at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), where she has served since 2010. She also served as AAMC’s acting chief scientific officer from November 2023 to July 2024 and was the inaugural director of policy for the AAMC Center for Health Justice. In her work at AAMC, she advises the organization and its member institutions on federal funding, research integrity, conflicts of interest, bioethics, research security, drug and device development, data sharing, clinical trials, and partnerships across government, academia, and industry.
Among her contributions, Pierce pioneered Convey, AAMC’s global financial interest disclosure system, which has facilitated more than 450,000 disclosures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led AAMC’s activities and guidance related to testing and test development and the regulatory aspects of the approval and distribution of vaccines and treatments. Before joining AAMC, she was an attorney in the health care practice group at Ropes & Gray.
Pierce has also made significant contributions through professional service and organizational leadership. She is chair of the board of directors for the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) and a member of the board of directors for the National Association for Biomedical Research.
Her service to PRIM&R spans many years and leadership roles. Pierce served as chair of the PRIM&R Board of Directors from 2018 to 2019 and has contributed to the organization through the Governance Committee, Public Policy Committee, Strategic Planning Task Force, and, most recently, as chair of the Executive Director Search Committee. Through these roles, she has helped strengthen PRIM&R’s governance, advance alignment between its mission and strategic priorities, and support the organization’s continued leadership in research ethics and oversight.
Pierce is also a widely recognized voice on science and research policy. She is a regular contributor to national news outlets, including NPR, CNN, Science, STAT, The New York Times, and Bloomberg News. Her articles and commentaries have appeared in Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Milbank Quarterly, the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and The American Journal of Bioethics.
Pierce received her law degree from New York University School of Law and her Master of Public Health in health law from Boston University.
It is with great pleasure and immense gratitude for her devoted service to PRIM&R and the research ethics and oversight community that PRIM&R presents Heather Pierce with the 2026 PRIM&R Service Award. Pierce will receive the award at the PRIM&R 2026 Annual Conference, taking place November 16–18, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.