Welcome to VCU HRPP News
VCU’s Human Research Protection Program involves the shared responsibility to ensure the rights and welfare of human participants in research. The office is staffed by research professionals with advanced training in human research ethics, regulatory oversight, and ethics board operations.
Visit the HRPP website for resources that support human research protections.
About the HRPP:
The charge of the HRPP office is to ensure the rights and welfare of human participants in research are safeguarded through a rigorous regulatory and peer review and ongoing oversight process supporting ethical and responsible conduct. The HRPP office does this by:
- Maintaining clear and concise policies and procedures.
- Ongoing quality assurance activities to ensure program quality, efficacy, and compliance, including educational, outreach, and quality assurance activities.
- Collaboration with regulatory partners, including the Conflict of Interest Committee, Radiation Safety Committee, Biosafety Committee, and Research Data Management and Security Plan/Processes.
- Collaboration with research protection partners to ensure the application of all regulations impacting human subject protections, including special protections for privacy and confidentiality, and specialized sponsor requirements as applicable.
- Operational oversight of the VCU Institutional Review Board (VCU IRB) and regulatory oversight of the process involving single IRB reliance/central IRBs.
- Maintaining VCU’s FederalWide Assurance (FWA), an assurance to the US DHHS that VCU will ensure that all applicable ethical codes and regulations are carried out, as applicable, regardless of the source of funding. This assurance includes required reporting to responsible agencies, sponsors, and external IRBs, as applicable.