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Deborah Zarin

Director Emeritus, ClinicalTrials.gov

Deborah A. Zarin, M.D. was the Director of ClinicalTrials.gov between 2005 and 2018. In that capacity, she oversaw the world’s largest clinical trials registry, as well as the development and implementation of the first public database for summary clinical trial results. She also played a major role in the development and implementation of key legal and policy mandates for clinical trial reporting, including regulations under FDAAA (42 CFR Part 11) and the NIH trial reporting policy. Dr Zarin’s recent research has been on the quality of trial reporting, as well as issues in the design and analysis of clinical trials. Dr. Zarin is now Program Director, Advancing the Clinical Trials Enterprise, as part of the MRCT Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard, and Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School.

Previous positions held by Dr. Zarin include the Director, Technology Assessment Program, at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Director of the Practice Guidelines program at the American Psychiatric Association. In these positions, Dr. Zarin conducted systematic reviews and related analyses in support of evidence based clinical and policy recommendations.

Dr. Zarin graduated from Stanford University and received her doctorate in medicine from Harvard Medical School. She completed a clinical decision making fellowship and a pediatric internship, and is board certified in general psychiatry as well as in child and adolescent psychiatry.