Association for the Accreditation
of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. ®

Education, News & Events: Press Releases

AAHRPP Accredits Three More Research Organizations: Harvard University, Tampa General Hospital and Castle IRB

Dec 16, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 16, 2020―The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs today announced that it has accredited three more organizations: an Ivy League research university, an academic medical center and an independent  institutional review board that specializes in gene and cell therapy and rare diseases. 

The newly accredited organizations are:

  • Castle Institutional Review Board, St. Louis, Missouri
  • Florida Health Sciences Center, Inc. doing business as Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Florida
  • President and Fellows of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University joins several other Harvard-affiliated entities that are longstanding AAHRPP-accredited organizations. See www.aahrpp.org/learn/find-an-accredited-organization.

“These accreditations come at a pivotal time, when trust in the research enterprise has never been more essential,” AAHRPP President and CEO Elyse I. Summers said. “We commend our newly accredited organizations—and our more than 600 accredited entities worldwide—for helping strengthen that trust through their commitment to high-quality research that prioritizes the safety of research participants.”

To earn accreditation, organizations must conduct a comprehensive assessment of their human research protection programs and document the extensive safeguards that are built into every level of their research operations. Organizations also must demonstrate that they adhere to AAHRPP’s accreditation requirements, which are widely regarded as the gold standard for research protections.

AAHRPP has accredited research entities across the U.S. and in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Jordan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

All major U.S. independent institutional review boards have earned AAHRPP accreditation. In addition, more than 70% of U.S. medical colleges and 85% of the top U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded academic medical centers are AAHRPP accredited or have begun the accreditation process.

About AAHRPP: A nonprofit organization, AAHRPP provides accreditation for organizations that conduct or review human research and can demonstrate that their protections exceed the safeguards required by the U.S. government. To learn more, visit www.aahrpp.org.