FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 26, 2006
Contact: Becky Ceraul rceraul@som.umaryland.edu 410-706-7590
Ellen Beth Levitt eblevitt@umm.edu 410-328-8919

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND RECEIVES FULL ACCREDITATION FOR ITS HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION PROGRAM

The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has awarded full accreditation to the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, which oversees all research involving human subjects at the campus’s seven professional schools. The HRPP at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, which is administered by the School of Medicine, is one of only 35 programs in the country that has achieved full accreditation.

“The University of Maryland voluntarily sought this accreditation, which signifies that our program is the best of the best and that we are exceeding what is required by federal regulations and state law when it comes to the protection of human research participants,” says Susan C. Buskirk, executive director of the Human Research Protections Program. “Accreditation also means that our program is comprehensive in that we have the depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise to ensure the highest level of protection for our participants and for obtaining sound, high-quality research results.”

In its notification of accreditation, AAHRPP highlighted five specific areas of distinction in the University of Maryland’s Human Research Protection Program: dedicated resources for the program; departmental scientific review; data and safety monitoring; quality improvement activities; and investigator and study staff knowledge and training.

“The University of Maryland has demonstrated its commitment to the most comprehensive protections for research participants and the highest quality research,” said Marjorie A. Speers, Ph.D., executive director of AAHRPP. “We are confident that it will lead the way for others who also want to put human safety and well-being first.”

“Accreditation represents the fact that our program has been carefully scrutinized and found to be state-of-the-art in terms of human subject protection,” says Bruce E. Jarrell, M.D., vice dean for academic affairs at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a professor of surgery. “We have the safest environment available for human research subjects, and we pay very close attention to this very important part of our research enterprise and institution.”

The mission of the Human Research Protection Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore is to cultivate a culture of conscience in the campus’s research community to ensure the highest levels of advocacy and protection for human research participants.

The HRPP provides support for the University’s Institutional Review Board, which conducts ethical and scientific review, compliance and oversight activities for more than 2,000 clinical research protocols. The program also provides education and training for over 2,000 investigators and staff involved in research involving human subjects. It oversees human subject research at the University of Maryland’s Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Social Work, Nursing, Law, and the Dental and Graduate Schools.

The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that works with institutions that conduct human research to raise the level of protection for research participants. AAHRPP accredits organizations that can demonstrate they provide participant safeguards that surpass the threshold of state and federal requirements. The accreditation program utilizes a voluntary, peer-driven, educational model.

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This page was last updated on: September 8, 2006.