University of Virginia Health System

This position is open to 4th years and is not an elected position.  Any interested students should send a CV and a cover letter to the Mulholland President.  The Mulholland Society will then recommend 2 students (1 and an alternate) to Dean Garson who would then recommend them to the Vice President for Research and the Chairman of the Human Investigations Committee.
 
A brief description:
 
The Human Investigation Committee is the Institutional Review Board for the University of Virginia.   The Committee is made up of physicians, scientists, an NP, a pharmD, a chaplain, a community member, a resident and a medical student. While most of what we do involves research that is being conducted in the Medical Center, we are also responsible for any research done at UVA that involves interventions and the use of human subjects.
 
The committee meets on the second and fourth Teusdays of every month to review research protocols submitted by UVA researchers.  Each committee member is responsible for reviewing all of the protocols for the meeting, and is specifically responsible for reviewing 1-2 protocols in depth and for presenting them to the committee at the meeting.  
 
The general purpose of the committee is to ensure the protection of human subjects in clinical research.  We pay attention to the ethical and legal obligations of the University and the researcher and review all informed-consent procedures and make sure that all research performed at UVA complies with state and federal regulations.
 
This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about research procedures and to get involved and be-in-the-know about the very front line research that is being conducted at UVA.  In this role, the medical student functions as a full voting member of the committee.  Bear in mind that this means that this student sits at the table with 1 resident, about 12 attendings, and several researchers, pharmacists, and nurses, as well as a chaplain and at least 1 community member.  As a full member of the committee the student is expected to participate in all discussions, and is treated as an equal.
 
There is some time requirement involved.  Time requirement may be 4-5 hours every other week preparing for the meeting.  But because there is an alternate, it is possible to miss the occasional meeting during interviews etc. 
  

For questions, contact officers using the Current Officers page.