Full Board Meetings

The federal regulations dictate the membership for the Board which must consist of five members of various and experienced backgrounds; at least one member must be a scientist, one must be a non-scientist, and one may not be affiliated with the institution.  Every effort is made to include members who have expertise that is pertinent to the protocols reviewed at the meeting, and where necessary, guest experts are invited to give commentary at meetings. 

The Board meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month (with the exception of November and December, see the Google Calendar above for specific dates) and the meetings are typically two hours long. Protocols that need full board review need to complete the Pre-Review phase of the Review Process and the revised protocol needs to be submitted by 5 PM on the Tuesday one week prior to the meeting. For example, if the Board Meeting is on June 9th, the protocol needs to be submitted to the assigned Pre-Reviewer by June 1st at 5 PM. This allows our office to have adequate time to prepare the agenda as well as give our Board reviewers time to review the protocols prior to the meeting. For specific Meeting Agenda Deadlines, see the Google Calendar above. 

At an IRB-SBS Board Meeting, the Board reviews protocols requesting continuation, modifications, as well as new protocols. All attending Board members review the protocols assigned to a meeting; in addition each protocol is assigned a Primary Reviewer and a Secondary Reviewer who carefully review the protocol and add comments to it. The Primary Reviewer generally summarizes the protocol and starts the discussion; the Secondary will also weigh in, as well as any other Board members who have concerns or questions.  The Primary Reviewer will recommend a determination for the Board’s vote and the Board will vote to confirm the determination. 

After the meeting, the assigned Pre-Reviewer will notify the Principal Investigator (PI) regarding the Board's determination as well as any requested revisions as well as instructions regarding the next steps towards approval. For more information see Protocol Review Process.