HSPP/IRB Bulletin
July 31, 2022
Hot Off the Press
With Sincere Appreciation to Our Retiring Board Members

As your time on the Rutgers Human Subject Protection Program draws to a close, we wanted to express our sincere gratitude for your service. HSPP service is one of the toughest volunteer roles at an Academic Medical Center.  Thank you for your contributions and the expertise you brought to our deliberations. 

  • Nora Cosgrove, RN who has served as an IRB member since 1994 and an IRB Vice Chair since 2004.  
 
  •  Florence McAuliffe, PhD who is a Science teacher and an unaffiliated community member for many years 


Surveys

The HSPP/IRB Program begin sending out the General IRB Member Survey and Customer Service Satisfaction Surveys for the website and e-mail interactions. Everyone is encouraged to provide their feedback.

Implementation of a Human Subjects Training Program known as CIRTification

The Rutgers Human Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) IRB will begin offering an educational training alternative option for research involving community partners; the alternative option is known as CIRTification. The rollout of CIRTification at Rutgers will begin soon.   
 
What is CIRTification? The CIRTification is a program developed by Dr. Emily Anderson at the Center of Clinical and Translational Sciences (the University of Illinois at Chicago) to provide the core research ethics in lay language CIRTification is a free, web-based human research protections training program tailored specifically to the needs and roles of community research partners. The program is offered in English and in Spanish. The CIRTification program is a training alternative for individuals in community organizations, with limited understanding of conducting human research and protecting potential research participants. This option provides training that focuses on establishing the skills in community partners to conduct human subject research effectively and safely in their communities.   
 
 
Who can take CIRTification? The CIRTification program is only for individuals from community organizations who are working with Rutgers faculty, staff, or students on human subjects research.  
  
Who cannot take CIRTification? CIRTification training will not be available to Rutgers faculty, staff, and students; instead Rutgers faculty, staff and students are required to complete the Rutgers CITI training. For more information about CITI training requirements of Rutgers faculty, staff, and students engaged in human subjects research, please see:https://research.rutgers.edu/researcher-support/research-compliance/research-integrity/collaborative-institutional-training.   
 
 
Any other Information? The community-based partners cannot have access to Protected Health Information (PHI) associated with or derived from a healthcare service event (I.e., from treatment, payment, operations or from medical records). Community-based partners cannot be associated with an institution that has its own Human Subjects Training requirements. More information about CIRTification is coming soon. 


  Pre-Review Process Update

The Pre-Review SOP's (copied below) have been updated to reflect the revised Pre-Review Team effective immediately. 

To begin the Pre-Review process, please upload the relevant documents as WORD documents in Rutgers OneDrive or Rutgers Box (i.e., only one of these folders needs to be used) to allow the pre-review team to make tracked changes/comments See Rutgers OneDrive Instructions below 

Share the folder with the pre-review team members listed below:  
 
Jason Lin, Senior Research Project Manager, jcl268@research.rutgers.edu 
Rebecca Chen, ClinicalTrials.Gov, chennr@research.rutgers.edu 
Angela Cartmell-McGlyn, Sr IRB Manager, ac2200@research.rutgers.edu 
Claribel Vega, Sr. Reliance Manager, vegacl@research.rutgers.edu 
Carlotta Rodriguez, Executive Director HSPP, rodrigcm@research.rutgers.edu  
Cheryl Kennedy, IRB Chair, kennedy@njms.rutgers.edu  
Irbprereview@research.rutgers.edu 
 
This Pre-Review should be done simultaneously as you work on the following:  
eIRB application (please do not submit the application or upload the documents until they have been pre-reviewed by the pre-review team and then finalized by you).  

If your research will be conducted on Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) New Brunswick property or involve RWJUH New Brunswick patients, their data or biospecimens, then you must submit an application to the RWJUH Research Utilization Group (RUG).  

To access the RUG form, please visit our website under 'Performance Site Approval Forms': https://research.rutgers.edu/researcher-support/research-compliance/human-subjects-protection-program-toolkit .  

If your research is conducted on University Hospital (UH) property or involve University Hospital patients, their data or biospecimens you must submit a UH Registration and Research Plan through the Office of Clinical Research Administration. 

Please refer to our website at https://research.rutgers.edu/researcher-support/research-compliance/human-subjects-protection-program-toolkit and view instructions under ‘Performance Site Approval Forms’ then under University Hospital.  

eCOI disclosures/CITI for the Principal Investigator and all research personnel 

eCOI - Please click the ‘Create financial disclosure certification in eCOI’ in the eIRB study workspace and select all study personnel. 

Any other required approvals applicable to your protocol such as Biosafety, Radiation Safety, Scientific Review Board, University Behavioral Health Care signoff, etc.  

Any contracts or agreements applicable to your protocol such as Clinical Trial Agreements, Data Use Agreements  

IRB Reliance Agreements, to accept another IRBs approval or for Rutgers to serve as the IRB of record for other sites involved in your research. For information regarding IRB Reliance Agreements please contact the IRB Reliance Administrator: IRBRelianceAdmin@research.rutgers.edu 
 
*Options for studies recommended for Pre-Review after submission in eIRB: 

Option 1:  
Withdraw the study in eIRB. 
Upload the protocol and relevant documents to Rutgers OneDrive or Rutgers Box and share with the Pre-Review Team listed below.  
Once you are notified the Pre-Review is complete, address the comments/suggestions as you deem appropriate. 
The PI creates and submits a new application in eIRB and submits for IRB review. 

Option 2:  
Allow the study/modification to proceed through the regular IRB process as submitted without pre-review 
 
II. Pre-Review Completed  
We will notify you via email once the pre-review is completed. Please keep in mind that this courtesy pre-review is intended to help expedite the approval process and the comments are recommendations - individual IRB members (who are faculty familiar with a variety of research) may have additional comments during the review process, after you submit your protocol through eIRB.  

Log into Rutgers OneDrive or Box to review the comments and address as you deem appropriate.  

When your revisions are complete upload the final versions in eIRB before submitting your application.  
For research related questions please email irboffice@research.rutgers.edu  
 
III. Instructions for Uploading to OneDrive 
Navigate to connect.rutgers.edu. Log in using your Rutgers NetID and password. 

If you are already logged into your Rutgers e-mail it will bring you to your email home screen. If you haven’t logged in yet it will direct, you to log in  

From your e-mail home screen via connect.rutgers.edu click on the icon in the top left corner (it is a box made up of 9 dots)  

Click on “OneDrive.”  

Click on the tab “New” (there is a plus sign next to it) and select “folder.”  

Create a name for the folder using the following notation: PI FULL NAME AND SHORT TITLE.  
Example: “John Doe Perceptions of Masks.” (Please do not simply label it as “IRB” or a similar generic title.)  

Click on the folder created.  

Click on the tab “Upload” and select the WORD documents you would like to upload.  

Return to the previous screen that has the Folder you created.  

Highlight the folder you created and click on the arrow icon (to the right of the folder name) to “share” 

Select the Pre-Review Team members for your campus (listed above) to share the file with them by entering their e-mail addresses. You may also enter an optional message to the team. Once you have entered everyone you want to share the file with click on send.  

The Pre-Review Team will automatically receive an email notification and link to the file 
 
IV. Instructions for Uploading to Rutgers BOX 
  
Link to the BOX website instructions 
 
 
 
IRB Member Spotlight

Lauren Feldman, PhD

Dr. Lauren Feldman, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. Dr. Feldman earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Duke University and both a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has focused on the effects of media on public knowledge, opinion, and behavior related to political and environmental issues.

Dr. Feldman is one of our newer IRB members, joining in January of 2022. Her strong interest in research methods led her to become a member of the IRB as she thought that joining the IRB would be a rewarding way to contribute to the Rutgers community. So far, Dr. Feldman reports to enjoy helping to support research at Rutgers as well as learning about the innovative work being conducted by her Rutgers colleagues. Dr. Feldman’s research experience and knowledge are a welcome addition to the IRB.  



Kathryn Greene, PhD 

Dr. Kathryn Greene, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University. Dr. Greene earned her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate in the field of Speech Communication from the University of Georgia. Her research has focused on the central role of communication in preventing risk and maintaining health and wellness in individuals and populations.

Dr. Greene has been a member for approximately fifteen years. In addition, Dr. Greene served as an IRB advisor for about 5 years, making IRB submission presentations across the university and keeping office hours to facilitate submissions and address questions (from approximately 2009 to 2014). Dr. Greene initially joined the IRB because she wanted to provide University level service that would forward our research mission. It was also important to her that active researchers, such as herself, who were doing research on stigma with adolescents and with hard to reach populations were involved in reviewing the human subjects components. Dr. Greene reports to enjoy seeing the variety of research at Rutgers that can have an impact on the lives of many. Dr. Greene expertise has been and continues to be a valued asset to the IRB.  
 


Mary O. Carayannopoulos, PhD


Dr. Mary O. Carayannopoulos, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She is also the Director of Clinical Chemistry at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Dr. Carayannopoulos earned a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Texas A & M University and a PhD in immunology from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her career and research interests are in the fields of immunology, as well as reproductive endocrinology and development.
Dr. Carayannopoulos has been an IRB member since 2014. She initially joined the Rutgers University IRB because she was looking for ways to get involved in interdepartmental committees and grow in her career. Since joining the IRB, Dr. Carayannopoulos has enjoyed getting to know people from other disciplines and she has learned a great deal about a variety of research activities from reading protocols and seeing all the exciting studies going on throughout Rutgers. Dr. Carayannopoulos’ knowledge and experience in the field of immunology, as well as the field of reproductive endocrinology and development make her an essential part of the IRB.  



New Board Members

  • Laura Sullivan, RN, BSN (she/her) has joined the Rutgers IRB as an expedited reviewer. Ms. Sullivan is a nurse navigator and a Research Study Manager for the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ)'s Phase I/Developmental Therapeutics Program. As a nurse navigator or sometimes called a patient navigator, Ms. Sullivan is a medical professional whose clinical expertise and training guides patients and their caregivers to make informed decisions, collaborates with a multidisciplinary team to allow for timely cancer diagnosis, and treatment, and provides increased supportive care throughout their cancer journey.  She leads a team for Phase 1 Cellular therapy with breast, lung, and gynecologic research groups and supervises ten employees in various roles while providing education to staff, evaluating current workflows, implementing changes to workflows, and ensuring change management techniques are utilized. We welcome Ms. Sullivan onto the IRB and look forward to working with her.  


  • Evan Kleiman, Ph.D (he/him) has joined the Rutgers IRB as an expedited reiew. Dr. Kleiman is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Health Behavior, Society, and Policy in the School of Public Health. Prior to coming to Rutgers, Dr. Kleiman was a Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2017) and Research Associate at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at George Mason University (2014), completed his clinical psychology internship at Temple University (2014), and received his BA in Psychology from Temple University (2008). Dr. Kleiman’s work focuses on understanding the everyday occurrence of factors of interest to clinical psychological scientists. He has a specific focus on the everyday lives of individuals at risk for suicide using smartphone and wearable monitoring technology. His work has been published in over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is currently funded by several NIMH grants. We welcome Dr. Klieman onto the IRB and look forward to working with him.  


  • Dr. Sean Duffy, Ph.D (he/him) has joined the Rutgers IRB as an expedited reviewer. Dr. Duffy is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University-Camden. His area of research interests include Experimental Psychology and Economics (statistical models of judgment and memory), Cognitive Development (spatial reasoning and representation in infancy and toddler-hood), Cultural Psychology (cultural differences in perception, cognition, and reasoning between Asians and Americans), and Environmental Psychology (how we rationalize or compartmentalize existential threats like climate change). Dr. Duffy is also an accomplished musician: Please click here for free recordings and sheet music of carillon (cathedral/church bell) music he has arranged and composed. We welcome Dr. Duffy onto the IRB and look forward to working with him.  



New Departmental Approvers

The following have completed eIRB Departmental Approver (RBHS) training and been included online under the IRB's eIRB Departmental Approvers Listing
  
  • Yanille Taveras, BS, MS (who is a Regulatory Coordinator within the Clinical Research Unit at NJMS).   




Interested in Becoming an IRB Member
Do you (or someone you know) have an interest in biomedical or social science research? Or do you know someone from the community that might be interested in serving as a community member on the Rutgers IRB? Would you (or they) like to be involved with protecting the rights, safety, and welfare of individuals who volunteer to participate in research?

Please read more information online about IRB Membership or by contacting our Training and Communications Manager, Michelle Watkinson, CIP.


Interested in Being a Featured Board Member in a Future Issue of this Bulletin?
Share your background, interests, and area(s) of expertise by being a featured board member in an upcoming issue of the HSPP/IRB Bulletin

Please contact Claribel Vega @ claribel.vega@rutgers.edu or Angela Cartmell-McGlynn if interested.

HSPP Website

Website Revisions



 

AAHRPP Accreditation Updates
The Rutgers University has just completed the AAHRPP on-site visit for the evaluation of the HSPP/IRB program! A special thanks to everyone who provided their assistance, guidance and expertise in this process:

·     Adam Berger  
·     Aiden Ziobro
·     Angela Cartmell-Mcglyn
·     Anoja Warusawithana
·     Babara LoDico
·     Brandon Alderman
·     Brenda Griffin
·     Carlotta Rodriguez
·     Cheryl Kennedy
·     Claribel Vega
·     Daniel Horton
·     Deborah McCloskey
·     Elizabeth Minott
·     Glen Krell
·     Griselda Villanueva
·     Hila Berger
·     Howard Hochster
·     James Galt
·     Jason Lin
·     Jeralyn Pierre
·     Jerrold Ellner
·     Jesus Cortes
·     Joanne Onyschak
·     Jonathan McCoy
·     Jorge Serrador
·     Jose Roman
·     Karen Jackson
·     Kathleen Villapiano
·     Kathryn Greene
·     Kathy London
·     Katie Zapert
·     Kerri Lee
·     Kristen Krause
·     Kristen Powell
·     Lauren Rogers Feldman
·     Malica Dock
·     Machteld Hillen
·     Marc Einstein
·     Mary Carayannopoulos
·     Matthew Bridgeman
·     Melissa Matsil
·     Michael Zwick
·     Michelle Watkinson
·     Morgan Pesanelli
·     Nancy Reilly
·     Niemtzu “Rebecca” Chen
·     Oliver Sheldon
·     Oona Harrigan
·     Pamela Hargwood
·     Pedro Cortes
·     Reynold Panettieri
·     Richard Drachtman
·     Roger Howell
·     Ronald Hart
·     Salma Jabbour
·     Shawna Hudson
·     Stephanie Bonne
·     Suhayl Dhib-Jalbut
·     Susan Goodin
·     Swapnali Chaudhari
·     Taryn Bollaro
·     Tatiana Litvin-Vechnyak
·     Thomas Izbicki
·     Vikram Bhise
·     Vivien Hsu
·     Yasmeen Beckett
·     Yingting Zhang
·     Zachary Mieklejohn

A special thanks to Emerson Wen, Jesus Cortes and Maria "Joy" Racaza for their assistance and contribution in this process.

Rutgers University is currently awaiting the report from AAHRPP for the next steps. Stay Tuned!
ClinicalTrials.gov News


ICMJE Journal Policies & ClinicalTrials.gov
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) policy obliges its member journals to require that clinical trials be registered in a public trials registries such as ClinicalTrials.gov before enrollment of the first participant as a condition of consideration for publication.
ICMJE defines a clinical trial as "any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome.”
  • Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes.
  • Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.
Additionally, ICMJE expects authors to ensure that they have met funder policy (e.g., NIH) and regulatory requirements for results reporting. ICMJE recommends referencing the ClinicalTrials.gov record in publications, and journals therefore often carefully verify whether the results data submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov aligns with the manuscript, particularly in regards to outcome measure data. In some cases, journals have declined to publish a manuscript, or have asked that discussions of certain outcome measures be removed from the manuscript, due to discrepancies between the results reported to ClinicalTrials.gov and the manuscript.
Avoiding heartache when it's time to publish is easy! Simply:
1.   register any interventional health-related research in humans prior to enrollment (err on the side of caution if unsure), and
2.   be sure to post accurate results data, if required, within 12 months of the Primary Completion Date (usually the last participant's last study visit).
For assistance registering your study or submitting results to ClinicalTrials.gov, contact Rutgers ClinicalTrials.gov Support at rutgersctgsupport@research.rutgers.edu for help.

Single IRB News

Status Report for “Administrative Review” submissions


Effective June 1, 2022, to reduce administrative burden for our investigators and research community, requests for continuing review of “Administrative Review” submissions will be replaced by “Status Report”. For submissions approved as “Administrative Review”, the investigators will now submit a “status report” instead of completing a “continuing review” request along with the approved renewal from the IRB of Record.


When the eIRB continuation reminder is received, please sign into your eIRB initial workspace and create a Continuing Report. For renewal, please select “Status Report” in section 1.0 Study Status as the type of report as shown in the screen shot below.  
The eIRB system will populate an abbreviated continuation application that requires information regarding the status of your research. If there are any questions, please contact us via IRBOffice@research.rutgers.edu

 
Pre-Consultation for Multi-Site or Collaborative Study


It is highly recommended that a Rutgers Principal Investigator contact the Rutgers Institutional Review Board (IRB) to discuss the options available for IRB review to process a multi-site or collaborative study where Rutgers will either be the lead or participating site.

Please contact the IRB Reliance Administrator at irbrelianceadmin@research.rutgers.edu to schedule a pre-consultation meeting.
Education and Training Opportunities
time_2_learn_vector.jpg

eIRB Virtual Training Workshops Sessions will include a step-by-step tutorial on the electronic submission system, eIRB and Q&A.

These workshops are open to Rutgers faculty, staff, and/or students regardless of campus location or specific Rutgers IRB of Record.

Upcoming eIRB Workshops (all dates available online):   
 
  • Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 11:30 am 
  • Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 11:30 am 
  • Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 11:30 am 
  • Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 2:30 pm 



Education Items
 
Upcoming Human Subjects Research Webinar: 
Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) is offering a free, live exploratory workshop on "Beyond Altruism – Exploring Payment for Research Participation" on Thursday, September 15th,2022. All are welcome to attend (no advanced registration is required). OHRP is excited to announce this year’s Exploratory Workshop on Thursday, September 15. This free live-streamed one-day workshop will explore the role of paying people for their participation in research, as well as practical challenges and considerations for how payments should be made. Session one will include a variety of unique participant perspectives regarding payment for research participation. Session two will cover practical challenges and implementations of the financial aspects of research participation. Event panelists include many distinguished experts in the field of bioethics and research ethics, including Emily Largent, Jill Fisher, Luke Gelinas, Celia Fisher, David Borasky, and many others! To learn more, please click here! CIP credits available.  
  
Educational Items (some articles might require access/subscriptions). The three articles below highlight the importance of Belmont Report's Ethical Principles of Respect for Persons (operationalized by informed consent), Benefiience (operationalized by minimalization of harms while increasing benefits) and Justice (which is meant to promote equitable representation in research in terms of fairly distributing the risks and benefits of research):   
 
The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America. This article is adapted from “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation,” published this month by Doubleday. In the summer of 1973, Minnie Lee and Mary Alice were taken from their home in Montgomery, cut open and sterilized against their will and without the informed consent of their parents by a physician working in a federally funded clinic. The Relf case would change the course of history: A lawsuit filed on their behalf, Relf v. Weinberger, helped reveal that more than 100,000 mostly Black, Latina and Indigenous women were sterilized under U.S. government programs over decades. It also officially ended this practice and forced doctors to obtain informed consent before performing sterilization procedures — though as it would turn out, forced sterilizations by state governments would continue into the 21st century. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/magazine/eugenics-movement-america.html
 
Research must do no harm: new guidance addresses all studies relating to people (Nature, Editorial) There are now several well-established ethics frameworks that govern studies involving human participants, including the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki (amended most recently in 2013; see World Medical Association JAMA 310, 2191–2194; 2013) and the 1979 Belmont Report (see go.nature.com/3mj33xy). But these are generally silent about the benefits and harms of academic research whose conclusions could affect groups of people that haven’t directly participated. Examples include research that could lead to people being stigmatized, discriminated against or subjected to racism, sexism or homophobia, among other things. Such work might be used to justify undermining the rights of specific groups, simply because of their social characteristics.  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01607-0   
  
Many researchers say they’ll share data — but don’t (Nature) Most biomedical and health researchers who declare their willingness to share the data behind journal articles do not respond to access requests or hand over the data when asked, a study reports1. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01692-1  
  
Diversity Push for Clinical Trials Prompts House Panel Look (Bloomberg Law) Clinical trial diversity is garnering more attention from lawmakers as they seek to resolve a longstanding deficiency amid a larger national focus on health equity. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health panel Wednesday will consider a bill (H.R. 7845) that would require researchers to submit “clear and measurable goals” in their grant applications to recruit and retain clinical trial participants who reflect the race, ethnicity, age, and sex of the patient or general US population. The bill would apply to clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health.  https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/diversity-push-for-clinical-trials-prompts-house-panel-look?context=search&index=1  





Stay Tuned!
In the works: 

  • “How to Write an IRB Review” Guidance for IRB Members.
  • General IRB Member Survey
  • ​Customer Service Satisfaction Surveys for Website & Email Interactions.