IREx Team
Emily Serdoz, MPA | Platform Director
Ms. Serdoz began her career at Vanderbilt in 2005 and is currently a Manager of Translational Research for the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). She began her career as a Research Coordinator at the Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement, coordinating the evaluation of several mental health programs where she managed the day-to-day operations and logistics. Ms. Serdoz then went on to manage the software development of a clinical feedback system for mental health clinicians.
Ms. Serdoz came to VICTR in 2011 and became the project manager for VICTR’s national single IRB (sIRB) initiatives in 2012, starting with IRBshare, which became IRBchoice and is now IREx. With the support of the IREx team and consultants, Ms. Serdoz oversees system development, testing and training; marketing and outreach; user education and support; evaluation; and strategic planning.
Bryce Embry, MMIS| Lead IT Developer
Bryce is a programmer, manager and teacher who has been working as the lead developer for the IRB Reliance Exchange (IREx) since 2017. Twenty years ago he was teaching students to create video games. Ten years ago he was leading a large school district’s IT department. Today he’s writing software to help medical researchers collaborate. At home Bryce has an amazing wife, a half dozen kids that come and go, a woodworking shop that matches his modest skills, and a guitar that’s too good for him.
For IREx, Mr. Embry is the lead developer and is responsible for the technical design, programming, and implementation of technical architecture.
David Crenshaw, MSW | Site On-boarding and Study Support
Mr. Crenshaw works as a Research Services Consultant for VICTR with a background in managing large pragmatic clinical trials. He has a lifelong association with Vanderbilt, graduating from the university in 1987 and serving as one of the university photographers for over 15 years. A mid-life master’s degree in social work led to his first position managing clinical trials for a Vanderbilt study researching the relationship between stress and health disparities. Over the next ten years Mr. Crenshaw has managed a variety of Clinical trials at VUMC, most notably the ADAPTABLE aspirin study which was featured in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In his personal life David is a father of two wonderful young adults and husband of 30+ years to his wife Cynthia, the Chair of the Math Department at the University School of Nashville. A few years back David received his fourth-degree black belt in Taekwondo, but now prefers the more gentle pursuits of hiking with his family and pups, as well as collecting and painting antique toy soldiers from the Napoleonic period.
Natalie Dilts, MPH | User Training and Study Support
Ms. Dilts is a Sr. Research Strategy and Program Specialist for the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). She joined VICTR and the IREx team in 2018, providing training and developing resources to support HRPP/IRB liaisons and study team members documenting Single IRB reliance on multisite studies. Currently Ms. Dilts is the lead project manager for evaluation of the usability of the IREx platform and quality improvement. Prior to joining VUMC, Ms. Dilts was a Clinical Research Manager responsible for all clinical trial oversight for Phase II-IV pharmaceutical drug studies for two regional hospitals and their affiliated clinics.
Outside of work, Natalie enjoys spending time with her family, playing pickleball, baking sweet treats, and being walked by her 95lb German Shepherd!
Bridget Swindell | User On-boarding and Study Support
Ms. Swindell is a Research Nurse Specialist in the Vanderbilt’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). Ms. Swindell has several years of clinical research experience working on NIH and industry trials focused primarily on sepsis and acute lung injury in the critical care setting. She has experience in recruitment, data management, study monitoring and coordinating center management.
Ms. Swindell joined the VICTR team in 2011 to help support the CTSA Consortium Coordinating Center activities; managing a Key Function Committee and leading the CTSA Tool Shop webinar series. She has also been helping to manage the Research Support Services Hotline call center. Ms. Swindell joined the IREx team in 2017 to help support HRPP and study team users as they move through the single IRB process for multi-site trials.
Jason Tan | Application Developer
Jason is a Manager of Application Development at the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). He joined VICTR in 2013 and functions as both a developer manager and lead developer on a number of projects across the Office of Resarch Informatics. He joined the IREx team in February 2021 and contributes to the maintenance and development of the IREx web application. Jason likes books, coffee, web applications, data visualization, music, and Vanderbilt baseball.
Linda Tan | System Development
Ms. Tan is an Application Analyst at Vanderbilt’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). She joined VICTR in November 2016 to provide support for the Trial Innovation Network (TIN)’s single IRB (sIRB) efforts and IREx. Ms. Tan now leads system development for IREx to support sIRB studies and coordination.
Evan Wimberly | Application Developer
Evan is an Application Developer at the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). He joined VICTR in April 2019 to maintain and develop the IREx system. Prior to joining IREx, Evan has worked in developing RESTful services and administrative web applications. In his free time, Evan enjoys running and is part of a weekly running group, hosting family and friends, time outdoors, and he’s also a pretty good cook.
Kaysi Quarles | User Support
Ms. Quarles is a Research Strategy & Program Specialist at the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). She joined VICTR in January 2018 to help support researchers with recruitment tools. She assists Vanderbilt researchers with distributing their study messages though Vanderbilt’s local listserv and helps researchers across the country join ResearchMatch, a national registry project. Ms. Quarles joined the IREx team in 2022 to provide user support and oversee materials and website management.
Tiffany Chen | User Support
Tiffany Chen joined the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) as a Research Strategy & Program Specialist in March 2023. Prior to joining VICTR, Tiffany worked as a clinical research coordinator and epidemiologist, where she gained experience in research design, data management, and statistical analysis. Tiffany is excited to bring her skills and experience to VICTR and looks forward to contributing to the advancement of clinical and translational research and supporting the IREx team.
IREx Internal Consultants
Gordon Bernard, MD | Advisor
Dr. Bernard is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Sciences in the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He holds the Melinda Owen Bass Professor of Medicine chair. Dr. Bernard has extensive experience developing, implementing, and leading large, collaborative translational science initiatives and has been directly involved in NIH-sponsored translational research for more than 30 years, supported by a wide variety of funding mechanisms. In addition, he is the Program Director for the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) and co-PI of the Duke-Vanderbilt Trial Innovation Center. Dr. Bernard formally served as Vanderbilt’s IRB Medical Director and was the Principal Investigator of the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (formerly Center for Research Resources)-funded R13 “Novel IRB Review Models for Efficient Multi-site Review” that established IRBshare, an early predecessor to IRBchoice and IREx.
Dr. Bernard continues to serves as a an IREx adviser, providing strategic guidance and helping to identify and resolve administrative and infrastructure inefficiencies.
Ross Davis, MCS | IT Consultant
Mr. Davis received both his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering and Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida. Mr. Davis has been in the programming field for 18 years and has expertise in application development, system administration, database architecture, and project management. He has experience developing applications to support research projects within the Vanderbilt Office of Research Informatics and also extensive experience working with requirements and technical architecture.
Mr. Davis serves as a general and triage consultant for IREx.
Todd Rice, MD, MSc | Advisor
Dr. Rice has been a clinical investigator since 2001, and is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine where he began his career at Vanderbilt in 2001 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. His interest in patient-oriented research and academic medicine led him to complete the Vanderbilt Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) degree. He served as chair of one of the IRB health science committees for 4 years and is now Medical Director of Vanderbilt’s Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) and head of research subject advocacy for Vanderbilt’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). He and Dr. Bernard co-led the IRBshare Project from 2011-2015.
Dr. Rice continues to serves as a an IREx adviser, providing strategic guidance and helping to identify and resolve administrative and infrastructure inefficiencies.