The Ohio State University Medical Center excels in clinical trials because of collaborative relationships among clinical and basic sciences faculty and through its relationships with research centers and institutes on campus and across the nation.
OSU Office of Responsible Research Practices (ORRP), a unit of the University's Office of Research, supports the University's goals of promoting the ethical conduct of research involving human and animal subjects.
The ORRP provides administrative support for:
- Faculty, staff and student education on the responsible conduct of research
- Pre-review of protocol submissions for compliance with regulatory requirements
- The University's research review boards (e.g., IRB, IACUC, IBC)
All clinical trials at Ohio State are carefully evaluated, approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) under the ORRP. OSU currently has three IRBs – for biomedical sciences, cancer, and behavioral and social sciences. They are staffed by physicians, scientists, patient advocates, clergy, community members and other healthcare providers – who are responsible for overseeing the protection of human subjects in clinical research.
In addition, the Clinical Trials Office (CTO) of The OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center facilitates the development and implementation of all OSUCCC clinical trials. By providing regulatory processing, subject recruitment, financial development, data collection and protocol management services, the CTO fosters a supportive environment conducive to the conduct of clinical trials in a methodologically sound, expedient and cost-effective manner. Although enrollment in clinical trials at Ohio State is 16 percent – higher than the national average – OSU continues to work on increasing patient participation rates.