A recent blog entry on the Public Responsibility In Medicine & Research (PRIM&R) is a good reminder of some of the considerations associated with obtaining consent for research remotely. eConsent is becoming more common, both because of the growth of telemedicine in general, and also because of its ability to make research available across a […]

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer article indicates the dean of Penn Medicine has apologized for the work of a longtime faculty member (now deceased) for conducting medical research on inmates at a Philadelphia prison. The research led by dermatologist Dr. Albert Kligman was done at Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison, where most of the inmates were Black. The […]

We’ve been noticing, as we review studies that qualify for exempt status review, that sometimes it seems like the consent process is the longest and most daunting-to-subjects part of participation. We realized that we didn’t have any consent material templates geared for exempt status research readily available. At least that’s a problem we can solve […]

The use of a placebo in a study assessing whether vitamin D supplements reduced the number of asthma attacks in kids with asthma raised some eyebrows in research ethics circles, according to a recent online publication in Science. Per the article, children with asthma and known to have low vitamin D levels were to receive either […]

Simplifying the language in our HIPAA research authorization template has been on the IRB’s to-do list for, oh, about 15 or so years now. We’re happy to report that, thanks to both a nudge from and the assistance of the UAMS Center for Health Literacy, we have a brand new, much more reader-friendly HIPAA authorization […]

UAMS has updated its Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) Plan, and the revised version is now posted on the IRB’s website. The HRPP plan describes the various institutional components that play a role in the ethical conduct of human subject research at UAMS. The most notable change to this iteration of the plan is the […]

The research community is invited to hear a guest lecture by Elizabeth Victor, PhD, titled The Ethics of Risk Assessment in Prison Research. The talk is scheduled for August 5 at 10 am, in the Jo Ellen Ford Auditorium (1st Floor, Institute on Aging). Dr. Victor is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Liberal Studies […]

Join us in welcoming Neitrisha Harris to the IRB staff. Neitrisha came to the IRB from the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where she was a clinical research associate/study coordinator. Prior to coming to UAMS, she spent 8 years in quality assurance for the American Red Cross. While she’ll have varied responsibilities in the IRB […]

We didn’t hear about this title when it was first released in early 2020 (we, and the entire rest of the planet, had some other stuff going on around that time), but then the folks at PRIM&R posted a review of Regulating Human Research by Sarah Babb, PhD, on their blog, and we got intrigued. […]

We’ve made a small-but-significant update to the IRB’s protocol template. A sharp-eyed reader noticed an important word (“waiver”) was missing in the language requesting a HIPAA authorization waiver. It’s not missing anymore. And we’ll take this opportunity to remind everyone to always start with a fresh protocol template when creating a new study. Trying to update […]