The Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) is the global USC program that oversees the safety and welfare of participants in Human Subjects Research in accordance with all applicable federal regulations, state laws, and USC policy. At the institutional level, the HRPP includes five areas: USC as an academic institution; the Institutional Review Boards; the investigators and their study personnel; the study sponsors; and the research participants themselves.
HRPP, in partnership with the research community, is responsible for:
The Mission of the HRPP is:
The HRPP is committed to strengthening USC’s policies governing Human Subjects Research (HSR) and ensuring the policies comply with the Federal Regulations for the protection of human subjects (HHS: OHRP/ FDA). Please view all of our Policies and Procedures.
The HRPP is committed to furthering education at all levels of the Human Subject Protection Program. We have implemented an education policy that requires all USC human subjects researchers to complete training in Human Subjects Protection regardless of the researchers’ funding source, or study risk-level. We offer regular and ongoing human subjects educational training sessions covering federal regulations, human subjects ethics and history, the Institutional Review Board process, conflicts of interest, and more. We provide IRB members with monthly education and refreshers in research regulations as needed.
To maintain excellence in the protection of human subjects and to meet federal and Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) requirements, a successful monitoring program is essential. At USC, the Quality Improvement program serves to keep investigators cognizant of rules, to correct procedural errors, and most importantly, to increase protections for subjects enrolled in research projects. Quality Improvement procedures also include assessing internal HRPP and IRB processes.
Please refer to Chapter 17 of our policies for more information.
There are four Institutional Review Boards (IRB) at USC responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of study participants. There are three Biomedical IRBs and one Social Behavioral IRB.
Each IRB is sufficiently qualified through the experience, expertise, and diversity of its members (46.107). Each IRB has a minimum of five members:
Length of Service and Attendance Requirements
Appointments to the IRBs are for a period of one year. Continued tenure on the IRB is at the discretion of the HRPP Director and IRB Associate Directors in consultation with the IRB Chairs.
If a member is unable to attend a meeting, the IRB office must be informed sufficiently in advance so that an alternate can be invited to attend. Frequent absences will be cause for removal.
Duties
Members of each IRB or their designated alternates are required to:
Please view Chapter 5 of our policies for more information.
If interested in joining as an IRB member, please email hrpp@usc.edu.
The HPC brings together members of the USC research community to provide advice and support regarding the Human Protection efforts at USC. The charter for the group will be to: