Monday, March 21, 2011

Bioethical Issues Commission Narrows Scope of Investigation

In January, I complained that President Obama had asked the Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues for "a thorough review of human subjects protection to determine if federal regulations and international standards adequately guard the health and well-being of participants in scientific studies supported by the federal government."

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Defino Notes Big Drop in OHRP Letters and Cases

Theresa Defino, editor of Report on Research Compliance, kindly alerted me to her recent analysis of OHRP activity and allowed me to post a reprint of the article.

["Big Drop in OHRP Letters, Open Cases Raise Questions of Agency Commitment," Report on Research Compliance, March 2011, 1-3.]

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Notre Dame Frees Oral History

I stumbled across the Notre Dame Office of Research's IRB Procedures Manual & Guidelines. The manual, which bears no date, appears to give considerable leeway to oral historians:

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

AAHRPP and PRIM&R Plan Conferences

Both the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc ., (AAHRPP) and Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) plan conferences next month. AAHRPP's conference, "Breaking Down Barriers, will be held in Washington, April 6-8, then PRIM&R meets in Boston, April 28-29, for a "Social, Behavioral & Educational Research Conference."

Monday, March 14, 2011

Report from APPE

Earlier this month I traveled to Cincinnati for the annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. There I met a fascinating group of researchers, ethicists, university administrators, IRB staff, and IRB members--with significant overlap among those groups.

One conference panel was devoted to Ethical Imperialism. Lyndall Angel of Charles Sturt University chaired the session, and John J. Laukaitis (Elmhurst College), Douglas J. Adams, (University of Arkansas), and William L. Gannon (University of New Mexico) provided comments on the book.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Professor Sues Brown University Over IRB Mission Creep

Jin Li, Associate Professor of Education at Brown University, has sued the university in federal court for forbidding her from using data from a study she conducted with private funding.

[Alexandria D'Angelo, "Professor Says Brown U Has a Lot of Nerve," Courthouse News Service, 1 March 2011. Thanks to Illuminata for catching this.]

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Who Should Investigate Research Misconduct?

Two recent items do not directly involve IRBs, but they raise broader issues of accountability for research misconduct.

[Erin O'Connor and Maurice Black, "Save Academic Freedom," Inside Higher Ed, 28 February 2011; Alice Dreger, "Darkness's Descent on the American Anthropological Association: A Cautionary Tale," Human Nature (published online 16 February 2011).]