Ms. Rachlin’s interest in the use of animals in research dates back to her middle school biology class where she dissected her first crayfish. Through PRIM&R, she was privileged to meet Dean Frank Loew, Dr. Andrew Rowan, and Dr. Christian E. Newcomer. All three became important and inspirational teachers to her, and Dean Loew and Dr. Rowan worked with Ms. Rachlin to plan PRIM&R’s first animal care and use meeting in October of 1983.
Ms. Rachlin has also served on the faculty of several colleges, where she taught women’s health, health law,
And then there are the achievements accumulated before her tenure at PRIM&R. Prior to her full-time commitment to PRIM&R, Ms. Rachlin practiced law, concentrating in the areas of women’s health, civil rights, and criminal and civil litigation. She holds a JD from the Suffolk University School of Law, and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Anyone who knows Ms. Rachlin recognizes that her greatest passion is to build and nurture relationships, both professional and personal, with an eye toward improving society. She believes that advancement of any kind is achieved through networking, mentoring, collaborating, and celebrating. The PRIM&R community, which largely owes its existence to her efforts, is proud to celebrate Ms. Rachlin and her extraordinary achievements. PRIM&R’s 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Ms. Rachlin on November 9 at the 2013 Advancing Ethical Research Conference in Boston, MA.
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A number of high-profile events also took place during her early years at PRIM&R, including the publication of two books that gave rise to the term “animal ethics”: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer in 1975 and The Case for Animal Rights by Tom Regan in 1983. In addition, there was a resurgence of the antivivisection movement in the late 1970s that involved an aggressive legislative campaign to prevent the use of animal testing by cosmetic companies. Ms. Rachlin believes in the necessity of respectful listening for constructive dialogue, and she has worked diligently to ensure that both opponents and proponents of animal research have a voice at PRIM&R’s animal care and use conferences.
and research ethics. Ms. Rachlin is a contributor to the well-known resource, Our Bodies, Ourselves, and serves on its Advisory Committee. She is a past member of the editorial board of the journal, IRB: A Review of Human Subjects Research, and of Boston-area IRBs.