As Associate Vice President for Research Administration and Compliance, Victoria Rivera is responsible for providing leadership and supervision for the Office of Research Services (ORS) and the Office of Research Compliance (ORC).

ORS is responsible for administering and managing the university’s extramural grants and contracts for research and training. ORC is responsible for ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local government laws and regulations, including the areas of animal research, research involving human participants, biological safety, export controls, and conflicts of interest.

Rivera serves as the appointed official for several key federally-mandated roles, including serving as the University’s Research Integrity Officer (RIO) for allegations of research misconduct and the Facility Security Officer (FSO) for classified research.

Prior to her current role, Rivera served as ORC’s director for more than seven years. During this time, ORC was able to obtain accreditation of its human research protection program from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP), making it the only AAHRPP-accredited human research protection program in the state. ORC has also successfully maintained accreditation of its animal and veterinary services program (at JABSOM and UH Cancer Center) by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International.

Before joining ORC, Rivera was a Contracts and Grants Manager in ORS. Prior to coming to the University of Hawai‘i, Rivera served in key research administration roles for 17 years at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, where she served as director of research compliance and director of sponsored programs.

Rivera obtained a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) with a specialization in healthcare administration from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where she is originally from.