About the IRB

The purpose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to assure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of individuals who have volunteered to participate in both biomedical and behavioral research. The IRB is comprised of affiliated and unaffiliated, scientific and nonscientific, members designated to review, approve and monitor research involving humans. The IRB is given its authority through an assurance with the US federal government called the Federal Wide Assurance (FWA).

The IRB Full Board Meeting Schedule for Spring and Summer Terms AY2023 - 2024 is outlined in the table below:

Month

Meeting Date

(subject to quorum)

Submission Deadline

January

1/25/2024

1/13/2024

February

2/22/2024

2/10/2024

March

3/28/2024

3/16/2024

April

4/25/2024

4/13/2024

May

5/23/2024

5/11/2024

June

6/27/2024

6/15/2024

July

7/25/2024

7/13/2024

August

8/22/2024

8/10/2024

Please note that submissions must be ready before the submission deadline outlined above to be placed on the agenda for full board review.

The submission deadline in the table above only applies to studies requiring full board review. Other types of applications that do not require full board review will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

An expedited or exempt review may take about two to three weeks.  Studies requiring full board review may take three or more weeks.  The IRB timelines posted here are as a general guide only. Various factors impact the overall timeline, such as the quality of the submissions (e.g., well-prepared applications result in fewer requests for changes raised as issues by the IRB); how quickly the study team replies to requests for clarification or changes (e.g., rapid response by the PI to the IRB issues speeds the approval process.); and spikes in submissions to the IRB.  Please submit early whenever practicable.