AUSTIN, Texas—The University of Texas at Austin has received full accreditation of its human research protection programs from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).
The association’s standards are the benchmark governing human subject research, emphasizing the inter-related roles that the community, researchers, sponsors, Institutional Review Boards and administration have in protecting human participants in research. The rigorous accreditation process often results in system-wide improvements that provide greater protection for research participants and ensures the integrity of research. Accreditation is valid for three years.
Through an intensive process, the university demonstrated that it has built extensive safeguards into every level of its research operation to achieve full accreditation. The AAHRPP designation assures research participants and sponsors that the university has taken extra steps to protect participants and produce quality results.
Dr. Juan Sanchez, vice president for research, and Dr. Sharon Brown, associate vice president for research, announced the accreditation.
Sanchez commended the leadership of Dr. Lisa Leiden, director of the Office of Research Support and Compliance, and Andrew Karberg, human research participants program coordinator, in reaching this milestone.
The university becomes one of just 35 research organizations in the United States and the first in the University of Texas System to achieve full accreditation from the AAHRPP.
Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. also received full accreditation from the AAHRPP at the same time The University of Texas at Austin did.
“These two universities are internationally recognized for their extensive research programs,” said Marjorie A. Speers, Ph.D., executive director of AAHRPP. “They represent the full continuum of research conducted with research participants from biomedical to behavioral and social science, to humanities, architecture and business. Each has a strong commitment to human research protection.”
The University of Texas at Austin has more than 90 research units, where disciplines include neuroscience, drug and alcohol addiction, biomedical engineering, human physiology and kinesiology, research into cancer and other diseases, drug discovery and delivery, and nursing.
The University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University join the growing list of research institutions nationwide accredited by AAHRPP. The list is made up of organizations in the biomedical and behavioral and social sciences research fields, including community hospitals, teaching hospitals, independent review boards, research institutes and universities. AAHRPP is working with an additional 365 organizations that are in the accreditation process.
About The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs Inc.
The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP) is a nonprofit organization that works with organizations that conduct human research to raise the level of protection for research participants. AAHRPP accredits organizations that can demonstrate they provide participant safeguards that surpass the threshold of state and federal requirements. The accreditation program utilizes a voluntary, peer-driven, educational model. To learn more about AAHRPP accreditation, visit the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs Web site.
For more information contact: Tim Green, 512-475-6596.
