Grant: Operating Grant: Pediatric REB initiative

It is important that we do our best in Canada to make sure children are treated with tested and proven medicines and therapies. Child health research studies often need to be done in many hospitals or research institutes across Canada so that enough research participants can be found to finish the study in a timely way. In Canada, health research studies involving people must be reviewed and approved by a Research Ethics Board (REB). Often, when the same research study is being done in more than one hospital, the REB for each hospital must review and approve the same study. When a REB review must be done in each hospital it takes more time and work to start and finish a research study. As well, with different REBs reviewing the same study, how research participants are treated from hospital to hospital may differ. Our project will help will develop ways for all Canadian hospitals (and research institutes) involved in the same child health research study to have one REB review, instead of many. To do this we will build a web-based system that researchers and REBs across the country can use to manage a single REB review. We will also work with researchers and REBs to develop educational and other materials to ensure research involving children has the highest ethical standards. Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO) and the Maternal Infant Child & Youth Research Network (MICYRN) are the lead groups for this project. Our team involves over 35 experts in research ethics review and child health from across Canada. While our project focuses on child health research, we hope that this project will be a first step in developing a single research ethics review for any health research study done in more than one hospital or research institute in Canada.