The federal Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) appears to be facing the same kind of, um, resource constraints many other human subject research institutions are also facing, per a recent article in Report on Research Compliance. A large percentage of its positions are vacant, per the report.
OHRP is the agency that oversees human research protections for federally funded, supported, or conducted research studies. An agency spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying that the job posts are on hold “pending the availability of funds.”
OHRP Deputy Director Julie Kaneshiro says the agency is also trying to increase its use of technology to maximize its use of its resources, “so we don’t have staff doing things that we could otherwise accomplish through advances and investments in technology.”
Agency priorities in the time ahead include working with the FDA to harmonize OHRP and FDA human subject protection regulations; developing policies and issuing guidance on the Revised Common Rule, and developing an OHRP Human Research Complaints form to make it easer to report alleged noncompliance.