An email with an attached self-evaluation was sent to all IRB reviewers Wednesday, Aug. 12. We know that completing self-evaluations might rank somewhere between “cleaning the gutters” and “going to the dentist” on the fun scale. However, we do ask that you take the time to complete the evaluations and return them to us. We will […]

The free marketplace of ideas can be an interesting place. In a recent Boston Globe opinion piece, psychologist and Harvard faculty member Steven Pinker has a recommendation for bioethicists who weigh in on the merits of biomedical research: Get out of the way. “A truly ethical bioethics should not bog down research in red tape, […]

In an attempt to streamline the overall approval process of industry-sponsored studies,  IRB office prereviews of those studies will be handled a little differently In the future. When our only prereview contingencies involve changes to the consent or HIPAA authorization forms, we will send those studies to the full board for review with those contingencies […]

The potential for actual or perceived conflicts of interest is always a concern in carrying out, reporting, and reviewing research. As reviewers, we have to be careful not to get involved in study reviews when a conflict exists. UAMS IRB Policy 3.3 spells out the various kinds of conflicts that need to be managed in […]

The AAHRPP reaccredition process has us all thinking about the regulations, policies, and guidances that govern human subject research. And there are an awful lot of regulations, policies and guidances. Do we expect you to remember them all, and what they all say? Of course not. Even those of us who work in IRB-land full […]

The University of Minnesota (UM) recently found itself in the news because of concerns related to human subject protections in its research program. (See the recent IRB Members Blog item on this issue for a refresher.)  As a result, UM has undertaken a reorganization of its human research protection program. The workplan guiding the reorganization is […]

When reviewing a study you’ve been assigned for a meeting, please remember to take a look at all of the previously entered contingencies, notes, and comments. You can find these under both the “Other Committees” and “My Committee” tab. (You don’t need to look at “required changes;” those are entered by budget reviewers and others […]

We know the regulations governing human subject research can seem cumbersome. But when we read about the things that happened before such research was regulated, we can understand their intent better. A recent National Public Radio story about raced-based testing of chemical agents during WWII highlights the types of activities that seem to be have […]

  We’ve had several requests to put together a list of commonly used IRB acronyms. Below is what we could come up with right off the top of our heads. Please let Edith Paal in the IRB office know if there are others you’re curious about – we can track them down for you.   […]

The short answer: You may not need to review it at all. Please check with the IRB office (Edith Paal prereviews almost all of the new submissions before you see them, so she’d be a good place to start) to see if you need to do anything with the CRF in the file. The less […]