Research Oversight & IRB

INSPIRE is reviewed and overseen by the Institutional Review Board at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. An IRB is an independent committee — researchers, clinicians, and community members — whose job is to protect the people in a study, not to help the study along.

Before anyone is enrolled, the IRB examines what the study asks of participants, what the risks are, how consent is obtained, how data is protected, and whether the burden on the community is justified by what the community gets back. Changes to the study go back to the IRB for review.

• Consent is informed and in writing, after your questions are answered.
• You can decline any part of the study and stay in the rest.
• You can withdraw at any point, without penalty and without explaining why.
• Your research records are kept under a study ID, not your name.
• You can ask what data exists about you and request that it be deleted.

The community owns this research. CDU is the research partner. Findings go back to the congregations and neighborhoods that generated them, in plain language, before they go anywhere else.

If something about the study troubles you and you'd rather not raise it with the study team, you can contact the CDU Institutional Review Board directly through the university, or reach us and ask to be put in touch. Either route is fine, and using it doesn't affect your participation.