HRPP Newsletter – January 2025
Reminder about NIH funding and Certificates of Confidentiality (CoCs)
As a reminder, if a study's NIH funding expires (and no other NIH funding applies to the study), newly collected data will not be protected by the CoC that is automatically issued with the NIH funding. If a study involves the collection of sensitive information (such as information about illegal activities), it is recommended that you apply for a discretionary CoC (i.e., a CoC for non-NIH-funded research) prior to the expiration of the NIH funding so that future data will be protected. Please see the NIH's guidance on applying for a discretionary CoC and UW's CoC application guidance. If you will not be applying for a discretionary CoC (or the NIH does not grant one in response to a CoC application), a Change of Protocol will need to be submitted to remove any CoC language from the consent forms. If you have questions about this, please contact compliance@research.wisc.edu.
Bi-Annual Toolkit Updates
The latest revisions to Toolkit and ARROW will be live by the end of January and include:
- New questions on the Conflict of Interest (COI) page of all application types prompting users to upload approved exceptions to relevant COI management plans.
- New Investigator Manual guidance and worksheets on research involving artificial intelligence.
- New Investigator Manual guidance on points to consider when adding or removing federal funding to already approved studies.
- New documents (worksheets and templates) relevant to NIH studies involving digital health technologies.
Study Finder Outage
The SMPH Informatics and IT team has requested that we inform you about an ongoing outage of Study Finder, an online searchable database of UW clinical trials that are recruiting participants. There is an issue with the connection between OnCore and Study Finder that, likely, won't be resolved until, at least, late January.
In the meantime, the Study Finder link has been set to redirect to a ClinicalTrials.gov query that captures most UW trials. If your website links to Study Finder, consider how this outage may affect site visitors. You may want to add a temporary note about the disruption or temporarily direct individuals seeking information on trials to the ClinicalTrials.gov query link.
If you have specific concerns about Study Finder, please contact Sheri Alexander.
You can find more information about the outage here: https://iit.med.wisc.edu/study-finder-outage/