April 20, 2006

Dear Colleagues,

As of July 1, 2006, SOM faculty have the option of submitting all new applications to the JHM IRBs for review, regardless of the source of support for the project. Effective January 1, 2007, all new applications for human subjects research must be submitted to the JHM IRBs for review. We will no longer have WIRB review new protocols. JHM IRB initial review fees of $2000 and continuing review fees of $1000 will be charged against the applicable study budget. We will not charge for amendments. We will continue our contractual relationship with WIRB as they will continue to review amendments, change in investigators, continuing reviews, etc. for studies originally approved by them. During the transition we will carefully monitor review times of the IRB Committees and make changes to the process if necessary. If you want to read more about the rationale for this decision please go to our website http://irb.jhmi.edu/ChangesinWIRBReview.html .

Sincerely,

Daniel Ford, MD, MPH
Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation