University of Michigan
Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR)
Research Policies Committee (RPC)

Friday, February 18, 2005
4006 Fleming Building
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

MEETING NOTES

PRESENT:  Toni Antonucci, David Blair, Rex Holland, Roscoe Warner, Carol Persad, Hunter Waite, Mary Haan (chair), Susan Shore, Jane Ritter (staff), Pinaki Mazumder, Anika Ball, Jackie Kasa-Vubu

NOT PRESENT:  Michael Combi, Wendy Banka and Jack Li.

OVPR:   Lee Katterman

1. Fred Bookstein has resigned as he is leaving the University. SACUA has been contacted about a replacement.
    

2. PEERRS
1. The mentorship policy addition to PEERS was discussed at length by the committee. The committee recommended some changes in policy so that the section on potential conflicts is integrated into the Authorship module and the commentary is broadened to describe the potential for conflicts between any set of investigators including graduate students.
2. HIPAA certification addition to PEERS.  A proposal to add HIPAA certification to the PEERS system was put forth. Discussion included the feasibility of such an approach, the benefits (more standardization, inclusion in an existing system of research certification) and the potential targets (medical school vs. all other human research).  Lee Katterman will look into the feasibility of this and report back to the committee next meeting.
    

3. Stem cell research. There is no further action or issues around stem cell research.
    

4. Multidisciplinary initiative.  Hunter Waite and Toni Antonucci have taken the task of organizing the discussion on this for the April-May meetings.  Hunter will present a case study of a multidisciplinary effort at the April meeting. Committee is interested in identifying the barriers to multidisciplinary cooperation in research which may include fiscal policies. A committee organized by the President has been looking into this issue but their report is not yet available. There are three levels at which these issues arise: University, School and Departmental. The committee plans to focus on University and School levels at this time.
    

5. Human subjects issues/research directions.
1. The RPC would like to obtain factual information from OVPR and/or IRBs about the impact of changes in human subjects research regulations on faculty research. Much anecdotal information exists and much of this is very negative. This could include:

                                                                          i.      Data on the length of time (for each IRB) from initial submission to final approval (or not), number of resubmissions, number of faculty complaints (if logged),
 ii.      Peer review efforts by IRB members of funded, previously peer reviewed research
iii.      IRB committee composition (appropriateness, selection process), compensation for faculty serving on IRB committees
iv.      How are staffing patterns determined for each IRB and what is their impact on processing
v.      Identified bottlenecks in processing: are these documented?

2. The notion of an ongoing evaluation of faculty experience with IRBs that can be fed back to the IRBs to improve service by the IRBs to faculty.
    

6. Next meeting:  March 18: 10 am – 12 pm

Draft agenda

1. Update on HIPAA certification in PEERS                                 L Katterman

2. IRB Health co-chairs                                                                Al Franzblau, C. Kowalski
   Discussion of IRBs

3. Update on multidisciplinary initiative and case study:                  Hunter Waite, T. Antonucci

4. Committee discussion                                                               All