Topic: Jeffrey Cheek, Associate Vice provost for Research Compliance and Operations, and Karen Moe, Acting Director of the Human Subjects Division (HSD) and Associate Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, will provide an overview of the transitions underway at the Office of Research and HSD, respectively. Topics will include the upcoming accreditation in human subjects research and resulting assessment of current HSD policies and procedures, optimizing informational and educational tools to provide investigators with proactive consultation on applications to HSD, and proposed metrics to identify areas for overall quality improvement in UW’s oversight of human subjects research.
Commentary: Both speakers emphasized that compliance with federal regulations related to ethical research with human subjects is a responsibility shared by the institution and individual researchers. Several initiatives have been undertaken to improve the quality of the dialogue at UW: the Human Subjects Policy Board; maintaining a balance between education (e.g., resource creation and individual consultations) and enforcement in compliance; developing specific accountability metrics such as application turn-around time; enabling electronic submission and review of HSD applications to allow for inter-organizational coordination; targeting outreach to students, fellows, and junior faculty; introducing Committee J for social and behavioral research oversight; modifying forms for exempt classes of research to reduce the time needed for applications to be reviewed.
Open questions: How do emerging online research methods and sources of data affect IRB review processes? When is data on the internet considered public and when is it considered private? How can research collaborations develop with corporations and other entities external to UW?
