Crista Brawley joins as senior associate provost for research compliance and regulatory affairs

September 2, 2025
To: Office of the Provost; Office of Research Administration; Office of Research Compliance; Office of Sponsored Projects; Award Management; Contracts at Yale; Animal Research Support; Human Research Protection Program; Faculty Research Management Services; Conflict of Interest Office; Environmental Health and Safety; Export Controls; Research Integrity & Security Office; Deans' Offices; Finance leadership; Lead administrators in YSM, YSPH, YSE, SEAS, and FAS

Cc: University Cabinet, Office of the Provost; Vice Provosts; Senior Associate Provosts

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that Crista Brawley joined Yale on September 1, 2025, as the senior associate provost for research compliance and regulatory affairs. This position represents one part of a strategic restructuring of research administration leadership. Responding to the increasingly complex research environment and the support researchers require, we are reorganizing research administration leadership into two distinct roles: Crista’s position and a senior associate provost for sponsored projects, who will oversee research grants and contracts through their life cycle. The two will work closely with the Vice Provost for Research and others in the university community to ensure the overall operational efficiency, compliance, and effectiveness of our research administration infrastructure.

Pam Caudill, who has served as the senior associate provost for research administration since 2019, will retire at the end of this year. Pam will remain full-time through September and continue part-time for a few months thereafter to support the transition and sponsored projects administration within the Office of Research Administration.

Crista comes to Yale with more than 15 years of university leadership experience in research compliance and administration. Most recently, she has served as associate vice president for research at Northwestern University, where she was also the Institutional Official for the university’s Human Research Protection Program and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. In that role, she led a broad portfolio spanning research safety, research security, export control, international compliance, research integrity, and research misconduct. She oversaw a team of more than 80 staff and a $14 million annual budget, building collaborative and service-oriented operations across 12 schools and multiple clinical affiliates.

Prior to her position at Northwestern, Crista held senior leadership roles at Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago, where she directed research operations, clinical trials administration, and regulatory oversight. A scientist by training, Crista earned her doctorate in biochemistry, cellular, and molecular biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago. She is also a certified clinical research professional and has been recognized nationally for her contributions to the research community. Her breadth of experience and commitment to supporting compliant, ethical, and innovative research make her exceptionally well-suited for her role at Yale.

In her new role, Crista will lead the offices responsible for animal research support, human research protection, conflict of interest, export controls, and research integrity and security, among other key areas. She will also serve as Yale’s Institutional Official for both the human research protection and animal care and use programs and will work closely with an incoming senior associate provost for sponsored projects, who will lead administrative and financial processes that support externally funded research. As she transitions into her new role, Crista will work in a hybrid capacity, spending approximately half her time on campus in New Haven.

I want to express my gratitude to Pam for her extraordinary leadership over the past nine years. Under her guidance, Yale has advanced its research administration systems, continued to effectively support our faculty as our research community has grown significantly, and built on its strong culture of innovation and service. Pam’s dedication, expertise, and steady leadership have left a lasting impact on the research enterprise at Yale. I am grateful that she will remain with us part-time this fall to assist with the transition.

Please join me in welcoming Crista to Yale and thanking Pam for her outstanding service to the university.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Crair
Vice Provost for Research
William Ziegler III Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science