July 17, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

As you may know, we have developed an informatics tool, eIRB, to support electronic, on-line submission of protocols to the Johns Hopkins Medicine IRBs. Some departments in the School of Medicine are already using eIrb. Effective immediately, all JHU SOM researchers may now use eIRB for new protocol submissions and must use it beginning September 1, 2005.

eIRB is accessible at http://e-irb.jhmi.edu and from a link on the main JHM IRB website. Most faculty and staff who do clinical research have already been given access to eIRB. If you find that you cannot gain access to eIRB, email your first and last name and JHED ID (not your password!) to jhmeirb@jhmi.edu and we will set up an account for you. You will receive an email confirming that your account has been set up. The system is fairly self-explanatory, but some orientation is required. We will hold orientation sessions on both the East Baltimore and Bayview campus. For the schedule, go to the JHM IRB website, select “Link to eIRB,” and then select “Technical Training.”

Protocols that have been submitted using the paper system will continue to use paper forms for continuing review, to request changes in research plan, report adverse events, etc. We are working on a process that will allow investigators to efficiently enter such protocols already in our system into eIRB.

Our hope is that this new system will improve the IRB's efficiency and ability to serve the faculty. If you have any questions about eIRB, please contact the Office of Human Subjects Research eIRB Help Desk at 410-955-3008 or via email at jhmeirb@jhmi.edu. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Klag, M.D., M.P.H.
Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation
David M. Levine Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management