Mount Sinai's Program for Protection of Human Subjects Awarded Full Accreditation by AAHRPP
Award affirms the Mount Sinai program’s overall pursuit of excellence.
Mount Sinai's Program for Protection of Human Subjects (PPHS) has been awarded full accreditation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) last week. Earning AAHRPP accreditation is public affirmation of the overall excellence of the human research performed at Mount Sinai, and demonstrates Mount Sinai's pursuit of the highest ethical practices and principles of human research protections. As the "gold seal," AAHRPP accreditation offers assurances—to research participants, researchers, sponsors, government regulators, and the general public—that a human research protection program is focused first and foremost on excellence.
To earn accreditation, organizations must provide tangible evidence—through policies, procedures, and practices—of their commitment to scientifically and ethically sound research and to continuous improvement. Mount Sinai was able to accomplish the accreditation preparation, applications, site visit, and site visit response in about one year, while many institutions require three to five years. The expedited accreditation timeframe was achievable due to the invaluable support of institutional leadership, the highly experienced and enthusiastic PPHS leadership and professional staff, the large number of knowledgeable and conscientious IRB members across five boards, and the investigators and research support staff who demonstrated extraordinary commitment to protecting their research participants. The AAHRPP site visitors, who conducted three days of interviews and records inspections in February 2011, thoroughly complimented the program, highlighting a clear "culture of compliance" at Mount Sinai.
The PPHS accreditation project was spearheaded by Dr. Jeffrey Silverstein; Executive Director, PPHS; Carol Bienstock, Director of Regulatory and Administrative Affairs; and Liz Carroll, Senior IRB Specialist. It was vigorously supported by the entire cadre of talented PPHS department members.