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[variable]

Hello wonderful forumites,

as I wrote in a different thread, I have accepted a job (woo-whoo!) with a start date of next fall. My question concerns an emeritus in the department I will be joining.  I will be using lab space that is partly shared with his. When I visited my future digs not long ago, I became aware that the emeritus, who continues to do research, is running experiments without IRB approval, and without "bothering" with informed consent. The experiments don't involve huge health risks or anything, but there is some risk, particularly claustrophobia and physical discomfort. The subjects are never told that they could choose not to complete studies that make them uncomfortable and still be paid.

My understanding is that is that, if the IRB (or NSF, NIH, etc) audited the dept, this guy's behavior could cost the entire dept its federal funding. Does anybody know if that understanding is correct?  If it is, how can I make sure I won't get zapped for this?

[jimmycorrigan]

I believe that you are correct, that this person's behavior could potentially jeopardize the university's federal funding. However, that is highly unlikely to be the first step that the feds would take, unless there were repeated or more widespread violations that were not being adequately addressed by the university. 

More likely, this prof's ability to receive funding for said research, or to conduct research through the university would be, at least temporarily, massively interrupted, and rightfully so. Clearly, IRB approval is not optional for research with human participants, and informed consent is not something you can simply disregard. Further, the individual researcher does not get to make decisions about whether the research involves substantial health risks on their own--this is exactly what IRB oversight is required for. 

I don't really know what your own liability is in this situation.  Depending upon your field, there may be an ethics board that you can confidentially consult  to get a more informed opinion. If so, you should take such a consultation seriously.

[variable]

thanks, jimmycorrigan, for your response.

- Yes, I'll need to find some way to voice my concern confidentially. Once I'm actually in the dept, I can talk to my students (some of whom will also be working with the emeritus) and make it clear that they need to be in the clear IRB-wise all the time, or I will not allow them to work in my lab. I'm afraid the emeritus doesn't need a lot of research money for the kind of work he does. It's of course still a violation, regardless of how little money is spent. But the point is that he doesn't feel the IRB can do much to him. I don't know if he realizes that the entire department could lose funding over this.

Anyway, thanks again. -variable

[august_leo]

How do you know he doesn't have IRB approval? Did he just say "oh, that's not important"?!

If it were me, I would probably consider doing something before you get there, confidentially. For example, call the IRB office and explain. Once you are sharing lab space it will be harder to play innocent. I can just imagine one of your students saying something to a friend about how you had this huge "lecture" about IRB. Then, in another lab some grad students talk about "did you hear what happened to Prof. Emeritus?" And the friend of your student says "IRB must be important, huh? Prof. Variable was harping on the students in that lab just the other day." In other words, I think you can't be confidential once you share the lab space. And I don't think you want to start there with the whistle-blower reputation.

But, this is outrageous! No IRB.....

[variable]

thanks, august_leo.  - Thinking this over, I also came to the conclusion that I need to raise this issue before I get there, or it'll be impossible to do so confidentially.
I don't know for a fact that the emeritus doesn't have IRB approval; his RA, who is in charge of equipment during experiments, said he had never seen people sign a consent form and didn't think they knew what they were in for. But it's possible that that part is dealt with out of sight of the RA.

[august_leo]

It is possible, but I doubt it. Good luck - I think saying something before you get there is the right choice.