Regional IRB Consortium

Institutional review boards (IRBs) across Kentucky strive daily to promote and facilitate research within the current regulatory framework and the evolving ethical environment. An inaugural meeting of regional IRBs took place on June 3, 2008, at the Clinical and Translational Science Spring Conference at the Lexington Civic Center.

Workshop topics included regulatory issues impacting Kentucky IRBs, coordination of multiple IRBs for cooperative research, and possible directions and agenda for establishing and operating an IRB consortium. Focused discussion topics following the presentations included consideration of an IRB consortium; the need for establishing access to Web-based IRB documents, such as informed consent templates supporting off-site, cooperative research; and the need for ongoing education and dialogue among diverse regional IRBs.

Forty-two IRB representatives from 14 IRBs – including a number of hospitals, regional public universities, private universities, UK, and the Veterans Affairs Administration – attended this inaugural event.

The CCTS Spring and Fall Conference Series will provide a platform for sustaining the Regional IRB Consortium (RIC) through program-specific activities carefully woven into thematic programming offered at each conference.