The Office of Research Subject Protection, Research Integrity and Corporate Ethics supports Roswell Park’s mission of eliminating cancer’s grip on humanity:

  • Promoting and advancing a culture of corporate ethics that fosters ethical behavior – acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values and the values of Roswell Park.
  • Advancing responsible and ethical research practices, to ensure that the rights, dignity and welfare of all research subjects are protected.
  • Minimizing the risks associated with such endeavors in accordance with the Belmont Report and governing regulatory bodies, by providing oversight, education and monitoring.
  • Advocating for research subjects, especially those who are vulnerable and/or susceptible to manipulation and exploitation.
  • Fostering a culture of compliance oversight for protection of research subjects and enhancing protections for those in research studies.

Our office provides education for investigators, research and administrative staff, and board members including but not limited to:

Reporting research concerns

Concerns related to research may be reported anonymously to the Office of Research Subject Protection.

Report a research concern

Conflicts of interest

For Information regarding conflicts of interest contact Erika Bennett, Esq. at 716-845-8132.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) policies & resources

Roswell Park IRB policies and procedures are available on our intranet.

Single IRB review

The Single IRB (sIRB) mandate is a set of complementary federal policies that require certain types of federally funded studies that involve multiple institutions to use a single IRB to accomplish IRB review and approval for all the institutions. 

The NIH Single IRB Policy and Common Rule Cooperative Research Requirement are the two policies that require the use of a Single IRB.

NIH Policy: Effective January 25, 2018: All competing NIH grant applications (new, renewal, revision or re-submission) for multi-site studies with NIH receipt dates on or after January 25, 2018. 

  • Applies to: Domestic sites of NIH funded studies where each site will conduct the same protocol involving non-exempt human subjects research, whether supported by grants, cooperative agreements contracts or the NIH Intramural Research Program.  It does not apply to Foreign Sites, career development (K), research training (T) or fellowship awards (F) and current awards.
  • Exceptions: VA sites; international sites; sites involving tribal nations.

Common Rule Requirement: Effective January 20, 2020: Federally funded projects, involving multiple research locations conducting human subjects research, with IRB approval dates on or after January 20, 2020, must use a sIRB. This is mandated by the Cooperative Research provision which expands upon and supersedes the NIH’s Single IRB policy. 

  • Applies to: All sites in the United States participating in a federally funded cooperative research study (involves more than one site).
  • Exceptions: Cooperative research for which more than single IRB review is required by law (including tribal law passed by the official governing body of an American Indian or Alaska Native tribe); or Research for which any Federal department of agency supporting or conducting the research determines and documents that the use of a single IRB is not appropriate.

Single IRB may also be useful for multi-site/collaborative studies that are not federally funded but wish to use a Single IRB. 

For more information regarding IRB Requirements for federally funded, multi-site/collaborative research, or IRB Reliance Agreements, please contact IRBReliance@RoswellPark.org or Leonard Caruana at 716-845-8769.

Regulatory affairs

Our goal is to facilitate interactions with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support clinical investigations where FDA regulations are applicable. Staff from the Office of Research Subject Protection serve as liaisons with FDA and work in conjunction with investigators to prepare and submit required regulatory applications. We provide the following support to investigators:

  • Regulatory guidance to help in developing regulatory strategies prior to and throughout the clinical investigation.
  • Communication with the FDA which includes meetings and submissions.
  • Assistance in the preparation, filing, and maintenance of all applicable regulatory documents required for Investigational New Drugs (IND), Investigational Device Exemptions (IDE), Investigational Tobacco Products (ITP) and Single Patient Expanded Access applications for submission to FDA.

Research Subject Protection committees

The Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center committees promote integrity and strive for clarity in the midst of what can be complex and confusing ethical situations, including the committees outlined below:

The Institute Biosafety Committee (IBC) is comprised of representatives from the scientific community, Radiation Safety, Environmental Safety, Employee Health Services, Comparative Oncology Shared Resources and community members who represent the views of the general public.

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Roswell Park is a convened group of physicians, scientists and members of the community dedicated to advancing responsible and ethical research practices and to ensure that the rights, dignity and welfare of human subjects are protected.

The Stem Cell Research Oversight (SCRO) Committee is comprised of members from Roswell Park, the University at Buffalo, and community members to represent the views of the general public to review and research applications requiring the use of human stem cells and provide education in the field of stem cell research and ethics.

Accreditation

Our office has received accreditation from:

Full AAHRPP Accreditation

Meet our team

Ericka Bennett
Vice President
Corporate Ethics, Research Integrity and Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-8132
Email: Ericka.Bennett@RoswellPark.org

Donald Handley
Senior Executive Director, Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-3455
Email: Donald.Handley@RoswellPark.org

Leonard Caruana
IRB Multisite Research, Compliance
Senior Research Subject Protection Administrator
Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-8769
Email: Leonard.Caruana@RoswellPark.org

Kelly Dewey
COI, IRB
Associate Director, Corporate Ethics
Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-4942
Email: Kelly.Dewey@RoswellPark.org

Linda Herter
IBC, SCRO, Grants
Senior Research Subject Protection Administrator
Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-8854
Email: Linda.Herter@RoswellPark.org

Debra Speidel
IRB
Senior Research Subject Protection Administrator
Research Subject Protection
Phone: 716-845-7676
Email: Debra.Speidel@RoswellPark.org

Pragya Srivastava
FDA
Regulatory Affairs Specialist
Phone: 716-845-4508
Email: Pragya.Srivastava@RoswellPark.org