Recently there has been much attention focused on human research and the safeguards necessary to protect the research participants. In response to this increased concern and scrutiny by both regulatory and other public entities, those charged with the protection of human participants in research are seeing a growing need for comprehensive management and oversight capabilities. The University of Iowa has traditionally provided a productive and dynamic research environment, committed to excellence, and intent on the proper conduct of human research. As part of this commitment, we have developed a comprehensive, systematic response to the changing human research environment and have defined requirements to support the increased management, education and oversight needs of the protection program. To this end, we have identified four specific aims that we believe are central to the enhancement of the Iowa human research protection program: 1) Provide an expanded, high quality educational program for investigators, research staff, administrators, and IRB members in the protection of human participants and ethical conduct of human research. 2) Develop a web-based information and educational resource for research participants. 3) Upgrade the technological infrastructure for the efficient administration, tracking and oversight of research activities and practices specific to the human research protection program. 4) Expand the monitoring and compliance program for active human research protocols.
