Conflict of Interest Policy
Message from Jeffrrey R. Botkin, M.D., M.P.H – Associate Vice President for Research
The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) accredits the University of Utah oversight of research involving human participants. During our recent re-accreditation evaluation, AAHRPP determined that the University of Utah is not adequately capturing conflict of interest disclosures from staff, students, post-docs and residents involved in human subjects research. Additionally, they determined that we are not adequately capturing conflict of interest disclosures from co-investigators who are added to a project after IRB approval.
Resolution of these determinations is necessary for our re-accreditation.
The University Conflict of Interest Policy requires that a conflict of interest disclosure be submitted by “the principal investigator and all faculty, staff, postdoctoral appointees, residents or students, whether paid by the University or not, who are responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research or scholarly activities conducted in whole or in part at the University.” (U Pol 1-006 http://www.regulations.utah.edu) To foster better compliance with our institutional policy, we have developed additional guidance to assist you in identifying who should be completing conflict of interest disclosures for research conducted under the auspices of the University. Principal Investigators and their staff are encouraged to consider this guidance when submitting applications to the IRB.
We are also implementing new safeguards in ERICA to ensure that all appropriate individuals complete conflict of interest disclosures before a study is approved by the IRB, or as individuals are added to an existing study through the IRB amendment process.
More details about how this will be implemented in ERICA will be provided in the near future. We appreciate your cooperation with our research integrity and compliance efforts. Please contact me if you have any questions about these changes.