The UMBC IRB Seeks New Members

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is looking for new members!! If you are invested in the human research enterprise and want to keep up-to-date with the latest human research regulations and projects, this is your opportunity! We currently are compiling a list of individuals who are interested in serving on the UMBC Institutional Review Board.

We need to increase our membership roster for two reasons. First, the Board must have members with varying backgrounds to promote complete and adequate review of research activities commonly conducted by UMBC. Second, we need to augment the current Board with alternate members, to be called upon as needed in the event a member is not available for a meeting.

By federal statute, the IRB is the campus committee responsible for the oversight and ethical use of humans in a research studies. The IRB is empowered to review, approve, require modifications in, or disapprove all research activities dealing with human participants.  Members of academic and administrative units are encouraged to contact us. Persons not affiliated with UMBC or who are not part of the immediate family of a person who is affiliated with the institution may also apply.

Full members are appointed for a 3-year term. They are expected to review new research applications and to attend IRB meetings on a regular basis. Alternate members, on the other hand, are called upon as needed. Both full and alternate members will learn regulations, policies, guidelines, etc. that relate to the protection of human subjects in research studies, a topic of increasing importance to investigators who plan to continue their research ventures.

If you are interested in the possibility of serving on the IRB, please contact Susan Sonnenschein, IRB Chair, at 410-455-2361 (sonnensc@umbc.edu) or Timothy Sparklin, Administrator, Human and Animal Research Protections Office, at 410-455-2737 (sparklin@umbc.edu).

11/07/05

Last updated 03/07/2006