Schwetz Retires

Dr. Bernard Schwetz has announced his retirement as director of the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). Schwetz has led the office since February 2003. During that time, it has agreed to broad exemptions from IRB review for oral history, reneged on that agreement by publishing nonsensical guidance, then refused to discuss the matter with historians. Most recently, in February Schwetz told the New York Times that he intended to issue new guidelines by the end of 2007, a promise that now seems unlikely to be kept.