New director leads major changes in campus human research protection program Gretchen Anding gets a good laugh from the question: When you were a little girl, did you dream of leading the Institutional Review Board at a major research university? “I don’t think anybody grows up dreaming of working in research compliance, and if they did, I would love to talk to them,” says Anding, who became the director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison IRBs on April 1. Gretchen Anding Anding studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate. But it was a course in bioethics that led her to pursue a master’s degree in bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin. That steered her toward a career in research compliance, first at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital and then as a member of the UW–Madison IRB office in 2004. In 2010, she was promoted to assistant IRB director.