IRB Committee

About IRB

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is responsible for approving studies done by UTRGV faculty, staff or students that involve human participants. The IRB is comprised of 13 university members across the colleges and one outside member. The Executive Vice President for Research, Graduate Studies and New Program Development, Dr. Parwinder Grewal, oversees the functions of the UTRGV Institutional Review Board and Office of Research Compliance. The Office of Research Compliance assists the IRB by facilitating research reviews and providing administrative support. 

IRB Reciprocity Agreements

In order to avoid duplication of IRB applications to two separate review committees when conducting multi-site studies, 15 UT universities have IRB Reciprocity Agreements. The following is the current list of reciprocity agreements:

  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler
  • The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  • The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
  • The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
  • The University of Texas Austin
  • The University of Texas Arlington
  • The University of Texas at Dallas
  • The University of Texas at El Paso
  • The University of Texas at Permian Basin
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio
  • The University of Texas at Tyler

Under the agreement, one institution serves as the IRB of record (reviewing), and the other institution can accept the approval of the IRB of Record (Relying IRB). Each study will have an Overall PI at one institution, and every other institution involved must have a local PI.  For a brief description of the process, please contact the ADR Office at 956-296-1465.

NEW !!!  Effective 3/31/2018 UTRGV School of Medicine  -UTRGV and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance LTD Cooperative Agreement for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research and Reciprocal Institutional Review Board (IRB) Authorization. For unfunded UTRGV research projects conducted at DHR, DHR is the IRB of Record and UTRGV is the Relying IRB.- Read Full DHR Agreement   For all extramurally funded research projects conducted at DHR, UTRGV is the IRB of Record and DHR is the Relying IRB.  For more information on the process for submitting IRB approval (IRBNET), please contact Jorge Teniente at 956-296-1465 or Kimberly Fernandez at 956-665-2093. 

Texas State IRB Reciprocity Agreements: 

  • University of Houston
  • Angelo State University 
  • Baylor College of Medicine
  • Rice University 
  • Texas A&M University 
  • Texas Tech University Health Science Center
  • Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso
  • Texas Tech University 
  • University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth

 

Master Confidentiality Agreements "Only"

  • Genprex, Inc. 
  • Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

Master Agreements for Clinical Trials/Studies

Master agreements are available as starting points for negotiations with research sponsors for clinical and, in some cases, preclinical or other types of studies.  Faculty members are welcome to use these agreements as starting points; however, all contracts must be processed through the appropriate office at each UT Institution.  For your information, below is an updated list of companies with whom UT System has executed master agreements for clinical trials/studies on behalf of their component institutions:

  • Astra Zeneca
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
  • UT System-Clinical Trials Express
  • UCB Biosciences
  • Genentech
  • GSK
  • Abbvie
  • Lilly USA
  • Pfizer
  • Pharmacyclics
  • PPD (Confidentiality agreement only)

The agreements are available at the Office of Sponsored Programs and at utsystem.edu.

 

TRAINING

Human Subjects Protection Training (CITI)

Note: 6/29/2017 all persons conducting research are required to complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training on the CITI Program website, in addition to any other training required by the committee in which approval is being sought.

An active CITI Human Subjects Protection Training and Responsible Conduct of Research Training is required for all members of the research team.  The Human Subjects Protection Courses are good for 2 years while the Responsible Conduct of Research Courses are good for 4 years.

Human Subjects Protection Courses:

  •  Group 1: Social Behavioral Research Course
  •  Group 2: Biomedical Research Course

Responsible Conduct of Research Course

  • Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research Course
  • Social Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course

The course you should complete depends on the type of research you are going to conduct.  All CITI completion reports must be provided upon submission of an IRB request such as a new project or modification to add someone to the project. If you are submitting a continuation request for extension of approval, be sure to check whether your CITI course is still valid.  It should be at least 3 months from expiration.  If you registered on IRBNet, you may include a copy of his  or her CITI completion report within IRBNet package prior to submission.  The CITI completion report is a 2-page document that lists details such as user information, a course name, date of completion and expiration, and a list of modules with scores.

Citi Program Training

If you are registered under another institution (UTB,UTPA, or any other institution) and are now part of UTRGV.  You can change your affiliation with another institution without having to create a new account. To set-up your affiliation with The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, please follow these steps:

  1. Log In
  2. Select blue tab below your Course that reads "Click here to affiliate with another institution"
  3. Type in"Rio Grande Valley" in the search box, our institution should pop up directly below the search box.
  4. Select "University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley"
  5. Enter the required information for your profile

To add the Human Subjects Protection, Basic Course

   6.  Select "Basic Course, Human Subjects Protection"

   7.  Select "Group 1: Social Behavioral Research Course" or   "Group 2: Biomedical Research Course"

To Add the Responsible Conduct of Research

   6. Select "Responsible Conduct of Research"

   7.  Select "Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research Course" or "Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course"  

The CITI course will be added to your main menu