Washington University has received an Award of Excellence from the Health Improvement Institute for the merger of its multiple Institutional Review Boards (IRB).
The best practice awards are given for demonstrated excellence in promoting the well-being of people who participate in research.
The University merged its Danforth Campus and School of Medicine IRBs last summer to further improve the University’s already nationally recognized programs, to achieve even higher levels of responsiveness and effectiveness in protecting research participants and to enhance the University’s reputation among other institutions and within the national IRB arena, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton wrote in a July 2005 letter to faculty and staff.
In addition, the move was designed to incorporate systems for continuously improving the services provided to University researchers.
The functions of the two IRB offices were combined into the Human Research Protection Office (HRPO), under Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the medical school. Shapiro also participates on an HRPO advisory board chaired by Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., vice chancellor of research.
Philip Ludbrook, M.D., associate dean for human studies and professor of medicine and of radiology, is chair of the HRPO.
When the consolidation was announced in July 2005, a Faculty Advisory Work Group was established to find the most effective method of IRB review of research in the behavioral sciences. The group endorsed two subcommittees to review the research by type: biomedical or behavioral.
“About two years ago, the biomedical research IRB at the medical school and the behavioral research IRB at the Danforth Campus received full accreditation from the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs,” Ludbrook said. “This prestigious award acknowldges full compliance with the high regulatory, ethical, legal and business standards required by AAHRPP.
“The recent Award of Excellence and previous Best Practice Awards by the HII affirm the national stature of the Washington University HRPO in the human research community at large,” Ludbrook said.
Rose Walker, executive director of the HRPO, said there is an average of 3,200 protocols reviewed annually at the medical school and about 350-400 at the Danforth Campus.
“When we were discussing this merger, the Danforth faculty had many concerns,” Walker said. “But we streamlined the application process by implementing an electronic IRB system that would consider the differences in the information needed for behavioral and biomedical research studies.”
The Bethesda, Md.-based Health Improvement Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality and productivity of America’s health care.