This message to all students, faculty and staff has been approved by Dr. Gary K. Ostrander, Vice President for Research.
To minimize COVID-19 and Coronavirus Disease risks to human research participants and to our community, the FSU Vice President for Research and the Office for Human Subjects Protection (OHSP) announce the immediate cessation effective March 24, 2020, and until further notice of some research activities that involve in-person interactions or interventions with human research participants.
Which studies or study procedures must be paused?
This temporary cessation applies to all ongoing studies or study procedures (including exempt studies or study procedures) that involve in-person interactions or interventions with human research participants except those that involve:
- Studies involving in-person interactions or interventions that comprise or that can be modified to appropriate remote interactions (e.g., web-based, telephone calls, emails) and which interactions and interventions don’t compromise human subject safety;
- Diagnosis, treatment, interventions, or other research activities directly focused on COVID-19 or Coronavirus Disease and for which there is a substantial likelihood of direct and meaningful biomedical or behavioral health-related benefit or outcome;
- Clinical trials where all in-person interactions and interventions occur only within the context of a necessary clinical care visit and for which continuing interactions and interventions take place only at a licensed health care facility or medical practice office. Clinical trial-related activities (such as for example screening, follow-up or safety monitoring) that can be done remotely must be done that way.
The above exceptions are subject to FSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. To request any other exception not listed above, contact the OHSP Director Dr. Howard Stone at thstone@fsu.edu; no exceptions will be considered unless routed through the OHSP Director.
New studies or study procedures that involve in-person interactions or interventions with human research participants will only be accepted for FSU IRB review if the studies meet the above conditions.
Additional and more detailed information is available at the OHSP webpage at https://www.research.fsu.edu/research-offices/ohsp/. OHSP staff are also available to answer questions at humansubjects@fsu.edu.