Academic Faculty Coordinator for Research Administration Compliance
Debra Schaller-Demers has been an adjunct lecturer for CUNY’s SPS MS in Research Administration and Compliance program since 2019. She teaches Introduction to Research Compliance, Ethics, and Integrity and the Capstone Practicum. In 2021 she received the CUNY Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.
Debra serves as the Senior Director of Research Integrity and Compliance and Research Integrity Officer at NYU. She has oversight for Responsible Conduct of Research education, Conflict of Interest and Commitment and the Human Research Protection Program. She is responsible for ensuring compliant research programs that support openness, integrity, and reproducibility.
Debra served as the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI) President-elect, President, and Immediate Past-President (’19 - ‘24). She received the SRAI Excellence Award and Hartford-Nicholsen Award in 2011 and SRAI’s highest honor, the Herbert B. Chermside Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to Research Administration in 2024.
Debra is a frequent speaker and curriculum developer in research ethics/compliance and research leadership development. She has facilitated talks globally and was selected as SRAI’s recipient of the INORMS Award for Excellence in Research Management Leadership 2020 in recognition of outstanding contributions made at the international level to the research administration profession. She delivered the closing keynote on Transformative Leadership at the 2025 INORMS conference in Madrid and at the 2025 Virtual CARA Conference.
Debra has authored research integrity articles for SRAI's Journal of Research Administration, the SRAI Symposium (Best Paper Winner in 2005, 2007, 2010) and Research Global Magazine. She has written a book chapter entitled: “Building a Responsible Conduct of Research Program to Sustain an Institutional Culture of Research Integrity and Compliance,” for a research compliance textbook that was published in 2015. She holds a Master of Science degree in Organization and Management (MSOM) from Capella University.