The Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects

The Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) is charged with protecting the rights of human subjects who participate in research on or through this campus. This includes research conducted by all SFSU faculty, staff and student investigators, and also research by investigators from other institutions or agencies who are working in conjunction with SFSU in any capacity. The CPHS, acting as the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for SFSU, is responsible for ensuring that human subjects are informed about and protected from any unnecessary risks that may be associated with participating in research.

The Code of Federal Regulations,Title 45 Part 46, enforced by the Office of Human Rights Protection, details the regulations surrounding research with human subjects. Subjects must be informed about and protected from unnecessary risks associated with participating in research. The Belmont Report outlines the history of human subjects protection.

The SFSU Federal-Wide Assurance (FWA 00006416), on file in the CPHS office, assures the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and other federal funding agencies that this university will apply the federal regulations to all research conducted on and through this campus.

All researchers using human subjects are required to pass an online research training course. This includes not only the principal investigator but also all co-investigators, research technicians, research assistants, or student assistant who have contact with the research subjects. A course completion report will be issued upon completion of either course. The report must be printed out and submitted with the protocol materials. Both reports are valid for 3 years from the date of issue.

Links and information on the research training course options are listed at http://www.sfsu.edu/~protocol/human/nih.htm