News & Announcements

We are pleased to announce the following IRB Office staff announcements: Angela May Baumgartner as Lead IRB Compliance Analyst, Compliance and Education Team; Katie Wright as IRB Analyst, Social and Behavioral Team; and Candy Melara as IRB Analyst, Biomedical Team.

Research Document Retention Requirements for Principal Investigators (HRP-1914) was published this month.

Guidance for Determining Engagement in Human Research at Northwestern University and Affiliated Institutions and Use of Northwestern University IRB Services Policies were published this month.

We are pleased to announce that Nazneen Ali will assume the role of HRPP (Human Research Protection Program) Education and Communication Specialist, a new position within Northwestern University's IRB Office. 

We are pleased to announce that Marcella Cooks will assume the role of IRB Reliance Manager, which is a new leadership position within Northwestern University’s IRB Office. 

After a 3-month long nationwide search with a diverse candidate slate of high-caliber applicants, we are pleased to announce that effective Monday March 14th, 2022 that Lisa Linn will assume the inaugural role of Associate Director, IRB Operations for Northwestern University’s IRB Office.

After a 3-month long nationwide search and with a diverse candidate slate of high-caliber applicants, we are pleased to announce that Piper Hawkins-Green will assume the inaugural role of Associate Director, IRB Compliance and Reliance for Northwestern University’s IRB Office.

Post-Approval Monitoring Checklists were updated in February 2022 and a new Minors Acting as Research Study Team Members Policy is now available.

COVID-19 Resources and various other documents were updated in January 2022.

Researchers proposing to list COVID-19 vaccination and/or testing as part of eligibility criteria must provide scientific justification in order to add this requirement to any research study.

The IRB Office updated the COVID-19 Pre-Screener.

The Biomedical Protocol template was updated this month.

The Reportable New Information SOP and various other documents were updated this month.

The Biomedical Protocol template, Social Behavioral Protocol template, Local Protocol Addendum template, Investigator Manual, and various other documents were updated this month.

As a part of the Northwestern University IRB Office’s continued support of the research enterprise, and to help fund services provided by the IRB, the IRB Office charges fees to review industry sponsored research.

The Institutional Review Board Office (IRB) updated the Informed Consent webpage to incorporate electronic consent information. The webpage has also been updated to clarify the different types of consent waivers and when each type of consent waiver is applicable.

We are pleased to announce that the IRB Office has updated the website to include several timely revisions to documents related to research with children. Notably, revisions do not reflect any changes in policy, practices or regulatory criteria, but are geared to improve readability/accessibility of documents.

In alignment with the recent communication from VPR Milan Mrksich regarding the State of Illinois Phase 5 re-opening and lifted restrictions for vaccinated University community members, the IRB Office has updated policies for PIs and research teams conducting on-campus human research activities.

As of Sunday, May 16th, the sites section of the eIRB+ application now includes a list of all affiliated NMHC locations. If a new application or modification has the NMHC box checked, an ‘NMHC sites’ question will populate to allow research teams the opportunity to indicate the specific site. This update is only applicable when NMHC is as a study site.

On October 12, 2020, WCG announced the unification of its five industry-leading IRBs – Western IRB (WIRB), Copernicus Group IRB (CGIRB), Midlands IRB (MLIRB), New England IRB (NEIRB), and Aspire IRB – into the single WCG IRB brand.