BIDMC Receives AAHRPP Accreditation for Clinical Research
Designation reflects BIDMC's longstanding commitment to the safety of human research subjects
Date: 6/18/2009
BIDMC Contact: Bonnie Prescott
Phone: 617-667-7306
Email: bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON -- The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has awarded full accreditation to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Made to organizations that conduct human research, the three-year accreditation signifies that BIDMC is committed to providing clinical research participants with safeguards that surpass the threshold of state and federal requirements.
“BIDMC maintains an active clinical research program, with more than 1,300 studies currently in progress,” says Randy Mason, Institutional Official for Research and Vice President for Research Operations. “Being accredited by AAHRPP reflects our longstanding commitment to the safety and well-being of individuals who volunteer to participate in clinical research activities, and is testimony to the dedication of our clinical investigators, our Institutional Review Boards and all of our research staff.”
Through the rigorous AAHRPP accreditation process, considered the industry gold standard, organizations must demonstrate that they have built extensive safeguards into every level of their clinical research operation.
“AAHRPP standards exceed even federal regulations, which are quite robust,” adds Mason. “Their requirements that we address conflicts of interest and provide community outreach and education help enhance the already-stringent protections we apply to medical research involving human participants.”
“It’s a privilege to conduct clinical research,” adds Kaarkuzhali Babu Krishnamurthy, MD, Director of BIDMC’s Human Subjects Protection Office. “We, therefore, want to take every possible measure to provide comprehensive protection to the research subjects who volunteer to be a part of this process. Without the participation of these individuals, we would be unable to conduct the investigations that lead to important new medical discoveries.”
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks in the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is a clinical partner of the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
