Establishment & Operation of Institutional Review Board (IRB, Ethics Committee)

Institutional review board (IRB) and ethical issues in clinical research

Clinical research has expanded tremendously in the past few decades and consequently there has been growing interest in the ethical guidelines that are being followed for the protection of human subjects. This review summarizes historical scandals and social responses chronologically from World War II to the Death of Ellen Roche (2001) to emphasize the lessons we must learn from history. Intern...

A Framework for Navigating Institutional Review Board (IRB) Oversight in the Complicated Zone of Research

The treatment therapies and technologies currently emerging from the rapidly evolving health care industry must undergo full examination in a clinical setting if they are to be marketed to the public. All elements of clinical studies involving human subjects must undergo thorough IRB review before study activities can commence. Regulations regarding IRB oversight apply to all clinical studies-i...

Institutional Review Board Mission

In this article, I scrutinize the process by which scientific research on human subjects is regulated by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). At the outset, let us agree that at least some biomedical scientific research on human subjects must be externally monitored and that whether government should sometimes be involved in that process is at least an open question. We simply cannot forget the ...

Stages of institutional review board activities.

Victor Frankenstein's Institutional Review Board Proposal, 1790

To show how the case of Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein brings light to the ethical and moral issues raised in Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocols, we nest an imaginary IRB proposal dated August 1790 by Victor Frankenstein within a discussion of the importance and function of the IRB. Considering the world of science as would have appeared in 1790 when Victor was a student at Ingolsta...