October IRB Education Session
Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) – What’s the Difference?
Presented by: Melanie Locher, IRB Director & Liz Abrecht, MS, Administrative Director, UVM Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office
Thursday October 29, 2026 | 3:00-4:00pm | HSRF 400
For researchers who intend to recruit cancer patients from cancer-focused clinics, or the primary aim of the study is related to cancer (diagnosis, screening, treatment, or prevention of cancer; risk factors associated with the development or survivorship of cancer; data and/or biological specimens from cancer patients) this session will review the fundamental differences and regulatory mandates required for each committee’s review. No registration is needed, stop in anytime with questions.
Did you miss the July IRB Education Session?
Access the slides here (PDF) - Managing Financial Conflicts of Interest in Human Subject Research
Slides will assist researchers navigate the federal regulations and local UVM policy when disclosing a significant financial conflict of interest specific to an IRB protocol. Access UVM policy, define types of potential conflicts, and possible management plans. Contact Victoria.Jones.1@uvm.edu with questions.
New LCOM transitioning from Zoom to Microsoft Teams
LCOM's current Zoom Web Conferencing license expired at the end of August 2026. Researchers who need to access, use, and disclose Protected Health Information as part of their IRB approved teleconference meetings must transition to a HIPAA-compliant Zoom license. To request access, please submit a LCOM FootPrints ticket identifying the specific users who require a license.
The HIPAA-compliant version of Zoom includes restrictions on certain features, including recording, transcription, chat, and content sharing. These compliance controls are applied only when the meeting host has a HIPAA-compliant license. Licenses are assigned to individual users. Please note that licensing fees may be introduced in the future based on the number of licenses required.
Zoom Basic accounts remain available to the LCOM community for meetings that do not involve PHI. Users can sign in with their LCOM credentials and join meetings hosted by others. However, Zoom Basic accounts have limitations on hosted meetings and access to certain advanced features, and PHI must not be shared using this service.
COMTS encourages faculty and staff to use Microsoft Teams for new online meetings, appointments, and collaboration. Teams is not HIPAA compliant and can not be used as part of an IRB approved study when PHI is involved.
The IRB will expect changes to consents, protocols and DSMP’s switching from Zoom to Teams going forward.
New The Data Management Office (DMO) has been renamed: Enterprise Data & Analytics (DnA)
The DnA is not accepting data requests for research purposes currently. Many reporting and analytics for research can be accessed through the UVM Health Self-Service Tools. To learn more, visit the DnA website.
Reminder Department of Defense (DoD) Supported Research Protocols
All awards issued by the Department of Defense are subject to the regulatory policies and procedures of the US Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC) under DoD Instruction 3216.02, effective July 25, 2025. Researchers may not begin research activities involving human subjects, biospecimens, and/or human data or expend funding on such effort until applicable regulatory documents are reviewed and approved by The Office of Human Research Oversight (OHRO) to ensure regulations are met.
The Office of Human Research Oversight (OHRO) is responsible for conducting the following activities:
- Principal advisor to the Command for human subjects protection.
- Develop and implement human subjects protection policies — regulations.
- Maintain the USAMRDC Volunteer Registry Management System.
- Review and approve intramural and extramural human subjects protocols.
- Conduct human subjects protection site visits.
UVM policy can be found here. Questions regarding applicable human subject protection regulations, policies, guidance should be directed to usarmy.detrick.medcom-usamrmc.other.hrpo@health.mil
Reminder Free CITI Webinars
The VPR’s office has provided resources to add an all-access pass to view educational webinars produced by the CITI program. There are currently 100 webinars that cross all domains, and they are all available to UVM and UVMMC researchers. Go here to review the available series along with brief descriptions.
Update Closing Exempt Studies
The IRB is obligated to know which research protocols are active at UVM, we expect researchers to close exempt protocols with the IRB once the research activities are complete. This can be done by submitting a continuing review submission to close the protocol. Researchers receive annual reminders to update the IRB on the status of the exempt research. Reminders inform the researcher that the exempt protocol will be closed after 3 years if there has been no contact with the IRB.
On September 18, 2026, the IRB will be closing all open exempt protocols approved prior to 2023. If you wish to continue working on an exempt study that is greater than three years old, please submit a continuing review indicating the research is active. Alternatively, researchers can submit a modification to their research updating key personnel or revising the protocol. This will also let the IRB know the study is still active. If a protocol is closed by the IRB and the PI indicates after closure, it is still active, a new protocol will need to be submitted to allow the IRB to ensure the research is still exempt from the regulations.
Update Amazon MTurk survey research will discontinue by September 30, 2026
Researchers using Mechanical Turk for survey data collection on exempt research should begin revising their studies to use alternative platforms this month. Please submit modifications to remove MTurk from protocols, consents and DSMP’s as applicable. Other companies such as Prolific and CloudResearch may be used as substitute recruitment options. More info on the closure can be found here.
IRB Policy & Procedure Updates
Section 1.2 Committee Membership V. 7.9.2026
Section 1.3 Operations of the IRB 45 CFR 46.108 v. 7.8.2026
Section 1.3.5 Institutional Review Board Minutes v. 7.8.2026
Section 3.4 Exempt Research 45 CFR 46.104 v. 7.9.2026
Section 8.1.3 Plans for Recruitment/Screening/Retention v. 7.13.2026
Section 8.8 Department of Defense Supported Research Protocols v. 8.17.2026
Section 14.6 Fees for Committee Review v.7.22.2026
IRB Forms
Access to the IRB Forms Library
Request for University of Vermont Net ID for Access to UVMClick v.7.21.2026
HIPAA Authorization Template for use when the research involves PHI v. 7.30.2026
2026-2027 Research Professionals Network Workshop Series
Title: RPN Research Jeopardy
Date/time: Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 2:30-4:00pm
Workshop Description:
To kick off the new Academic Year 2026–27 workshop series and celebrate our 10th year, we invite you to join us for a fun and interactive game of Research Jeopardy!
Register for the September workshop. To become a member of the Research Professionals Network
Fundamentals in the Conduct of Clinical Research Training Program – Upcoming Sessions
The Larner College of Medicine, in conjunction with The Office of Clinical Trials Research, requires that all research staff engaged in human subjects research at LCOM and the UVM Health Network complete LCOM Research Professionals Training, “Fundamentals in the Conduct of Clinical Research”, including, but not limited to; Research Coordinators, Research Nurses, Research Health Care Professionals, and Regulatory Staff, or individuals fulfilling these roles regardless of job title.
This requirement applies to all research staff who are involved in the conduct of research involving human subjects, irrespective of funding source supporting the research activity. Next training sessions (via Zoom)
October 2026 Session
- Wednesday, October 07, 1:00pm-3:30pm
- Wednesday, October 14, 1:00pm-3:30pm
- Wednesday, October 21, 1:00pm-3:30pm
- Wednesday, October 28, 1:00pm-3:30pm
Register for Fundamentals in the Conduct of Clinical Research (Staff Training)