Dr. Irene Anne Jillson, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, teaches in the School of Nursing and Health Studies (NHS), School of Foreign Service Science and Technology in International Affairs Program, and School of Medicine and has designed and launched courses in global health ethics, global health systems and politics and global health research. She also teaches medical ethics, graduate and undergraduate health research, physician role and behavior and medical ethics. She is the Principal Investigator for a Lounsbery Foundation grant, Bioethics and Scientific Exchange, is the She is conducting a policy Delphi study on bioethics, biosafety and biosecurity for the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) on their project, International Engagement: Responsible Science for a Safe and Secure Society, and is CO-PI for an AAAS-funded grant, Bioethics, Biosafety and Biosecurity in Tunisia related to this project.
She currently is Co-Investigator of an NIH-funded study of drug abuse among youth in Egypt, and is an advisor on studies related to HIV/AIDS, conflict-resolution education in early childhood development programs in the West Bank and Gaza, and youth in Morocco, Upper Egypt and Tunisia. She was the Co-Principal Investigator of the Congressionally-mandated Study of the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, and has designed and implemented training in ethical issues related to health care and health research in the U.S. and other countries. She co-led the first international conference on social and ethical issues related to HIV/AIDS—held in Stockholm in 1984— and is frequently invited as a plenary speaker on global health ethics issues at conferences from Stockholm to Tehran to McAllen, Texas. She has conducted research in the U.S. and a number of other countries, related to drug abuse and other behavioral health conditions, HIV/AIDS, women’s health, health and social systems and services integration, adolescent health, and the use of information technology in health and social services, health disparities, and the engagement of communities in the health research. She has lectured extensively on behavioral health and ethical issues at conferences and seminars, from Stockholm to Tehran to McAllen, Texas.
Prior to joining Georgetown University in 2003, Dr. Jillson, who has a PhD in technology policy and management from Westminster University, was founder and President of Policy Research Incorporated, a private research firm that carried out local, national and international health and social policy research studies for more than 25 years.



1974-2004
President, Policy Research Incorporated (PRI.
Dr. Jillson provided leadership, management and technical guidance to the organization’s wide ranging work in research and analysis of policy and program issues, as well as management services and analyses, for government, international and private organizations in the U.S. and other countries. This work focuses on design and application of research and evaluation methods to support and inform decision-making and program and project design and implementation at the international, national, state and local levels. Areas of experience include, for example: policy planning and evaluation, particularly in health and social services; research design, including a focus on combining qualitative and quantitative methods, and participatory research; use of telecommunications systems for knowledge transfer and participatory development planning; information systems; intersectoral development issues; comparative analysis of international economic and social data; and design and evaluation of national and regional development strategies. Specific health and social issues in which Dr. Jillson has conducted research include for example substance abuse and mental health; occupational stress; family violence; HIV/AIDS; health and socioeconomic status of disadvantaged populations; health and social status of adolescents; health care financing; and integration of health and social services.