Sheila Garrity, JD., MPH, MBA
Director, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity

Before coming to ORI, Ms. Garrity served as Associate Vice President of Research Integrity at George Washington University (GW) from 2014 to 2023 where she oversaw operations of the Office of Laboratory and Radiation Safety, Office of Human Research, Office of Animal Research, Office of Research Integrity and Regulatory Affairs and served as the institutional Research Integrity Officer (RIO). At GW Garrity was responsible for policy development, informational sessions, and development of educational modules to assist investigators with understanding their ethical and fiduciary responsibilities regarding their research.

Prior to that, Ms. Garrity spent more than 20 years at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she served as the director of the Division of Research Integrity and Research Integrity Officer (RIO). She is a founding member and first president of the Association for Research Integrity Officers (ARIO, founded 2013). Ms. Garrity was in the first group of teaching RIOs when ORI launched its first series of RIO Bootcamps in the early 2000’s.

Ms. Garrity earned her JD from the University of Maryland School of Law and her MBA and MPH at Johns Hopkins where she also received a certificate in Health and Human Rights.  

Michael S. Lauer, M.D.,
Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Michael S. Lauer is the Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he serves as the principal scientific leader and advisor to the Director of the NIH on all matters relating to the substance, quality, and effectiveness of the NIH extramural research program and administration. He spent 14 years at Cleveland Clinic as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics. During his tenure at the Clinic, he led a federally funded internationally renowned clinical epidemiology program that applied big data from large-scale electronic health platforms to questions regarding the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. From 2007 to 2015 he served as a Division Director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), where promoted efforts to leverage big data infrastructure to enable high-efficiency population and clinical research and efforts to adopt a research funding culture that reflected data-driven policy. He has received numerous awards including the NIH Equal Employment Opportunity Award of the Year and the Arthur S. Fleming Award for Exceptional Federal Service in recognition of his efforts to grow a culture of learning and accountability.

Willie May, Ph.D.,
Vice President for Research and Economic Development,
Morgan State University. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) President-elect 

Dr. Willie E. May currently serves as Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Morgan State University where he has been working aggressively to increase the quality and quantity research outputs, facilitate increased entrepreneurship and tech transfer, and to better connect research across Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University to community needs. He previously served as the Senate-Confirmed Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. In this role Dr. May provided high-level oversight and day-to-day leadership for the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), in promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life, and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) in providing innovative data services to federal agencies, through joint venture partnerships with the private sector, to advance federal data priorities, promote economic growth, and enable operational excellence. He began his career as a bench Chemist at NIST/NBS and went on to work at every management level within the organization. His personal research activities were focused in the areas of trace organic analytical chemistry and determination of physico-chemical properties of organic compounds, where his work is described in more than 100 peer-reviewed technical publications. During his career, Dr. May has given more than 250 invited lectures at conferences and symposia around the world.

Dr. May currently serves as President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the Board of Directors for Consumer Reports, and on the NASA Advisory Council’s Science Committee. Until recently he maintained several international leadership responsibilities as well, including but not limited to serving as: Vice President of the International Committee on Weights and Measures (CIPM); President of the CIPM’s Consultative Committee on Metrology in Chemistry and Biology; a member of the Scientific Advisory Board’s for the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL); and a member of China’s National Institute of Metrology (NIM).

Dr. May earned his B.S in Chemistry from Knoxville College and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park. His numerous honors and awards include: Honorary Doctorates from Wake Forrest University and the University of Alabama Huntsville; the American Chemical Society’s Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Analytical Chemistry Award; the American Chemical Society’s Public Service Award; the Department of Commerce’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal Awards; the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award; and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers’ Percy Julian Award. In 2015, he was recognized as the Federal Government’s “Top Chemist” by Chemical and Engineering News Magazine, and in 2016, as the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s “Laboratory Director of the Year.” Dr. May is a Fellow of both the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.