We collaborate with the National Cancer Institute Central Institutional Review Board (CIRB) for cooperative group projects. The CIRB Initiative is a partnership between the NCI CIRB and local institutions based on the signed Authorization Agreement and Division of Responsibilities document.
The CIRB conducts all IRB reviews of selected NCI-sponsored trials. The CIRB also reviews local context considerations pertaining to Signatory Institutions and their Signatory Institution Principal Investigators for the NCI trials opened at the institution using the CIRB.
IRBshare is a joint IRB review model for multi-site studies that provides a mechanism to streamline IRB submission and the IRB review process at all phases of IRB review through sharing of and reliance on IRB-approved documents between IRBs.
This joint review model has acknowledgement from OHRP, FDA, and AAHRPP and benefits research studies by reducing duplication of effort for review boards and researchers, facilitating faster study start-up, promotes transparency and consistency between IRBs and encourages communication and education.
SMART IRB is designed to harmonize and streamline the IRB review process for multisite studies, while ensuring a high level of protection for research participants.
SMART IRB is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and intended to serve as a roadmap for institutions to implement The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Policy on the Use of a Single Institutional Review Board for Multisite Research.
Tufts CTSI, established in 2008, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is dedicated to stimulating innovative broadly engaged team science across the translational research spectrum to improve clinical care and health. Founded by Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center, it also includes other academic institutions (including all the schools of Tufts University, Brandeis University, MIT, Northeastern University; and RAND), the hospitals affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine, community stakeholders, and various members of the health care industry. Tufts CTSI’s purpose is to accelerate the translation of laboratory and medical research into clinical use, widespread medical practice, and into improved health care delivery and health policy. It connects people to research resources, consultation, and education, and fosters collaboration with scholars of all disciplines and with community members, with the ultimate goal of improving the health of the public.
Tufts CTSI’s promotion of collaborative, cross-disciplinary, full-spectrum translational research will have a substantial impact on how research is done, at Tufts and beyond. The CTSI reflects Tufts' unique emphasis on community in biomedical research by including multiple hospitals and health plans, industry leaders, community organizations, and other participants who share our vision, in Massachusetts and nationally.
WIRB provides review services for more than 400 institutions and their affiliates (academic centers, hospitals, networks, and in-house biotech research), as well as individual investigators, nationally and internationally. These long-standing institutional relationships give them deep knowledge of unique investigator requirements and established consent language for different institutions, enabling us to develop efficient processes for comprehensive, streamlined reviews. WIRB representatives are there to answer questions and exchange information about research protocols, regulations, submission requirements.
We have chosen to outsource industry-sponsored research reviews to WIRB in an effort to accelerate review turnaround time, reduce costs incurred by review delays, and provide the expertise needed to review any protocol.