Investigator Feedback Corner

Dr. Avery August is an Associate Professor at Penn State in the Veterinary Science Department. His research seeks to understand the regulation of T-cell activation in vitro and in vivo during disease processes.

Dr. August's first experience with the Office for Research Protections (ORP) was in 2000. After years of interacting with the ORP, Dr. August feels that the experience has been a positive one. He believes that the strongest quality of the ORP is the staff members. Dr. August states "The ORP staff is extremely helpful and willing to work with investigators and very willing to help you with what you need".

His experience with the ORP has allowed him to think more about the experiments he is conducting, identify exactly what will be achieved as a result and determine the best method to keep subjects at minimal or no risk. Dr. August's advice to new investigators would be to submit early (both new submissions and continuing/annual reviews) and put a lot of thought into the entire experiment before submitting the proposal and conducting the experiment. He also recommends using lay terminology on applications and providing exact details of the proposed research to help ensure a successful submission.

Taking his relationship with the ORP a step further, Dr. August is currently participating in the revision of one of the ORP's educational programs. His role is to discuss the oversight process from a faculty member's point of view.

There are many ways to become involved in ORP educational activities and functions. It is very important to hear the voice of a research investigator. The ORP welcomes and encourages research investigators to become involved in research committee membership, participate in the brown bag discussion series as a guest speaker and in other feedback requests and review of new processes. The research committees available to select from are: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), and the University Isotopes Committee (UIC).

Give the ORP your feedback! There are several easy ways to do this - call 814-865-1775, send an email to the ORP (ORProtections@psu.edu), snail mail your comments (201 Kern Graduate Building) or submit them via webform (http://ask.psu.edu/orp.html). Let us know about your experience with the ORP, tell us how you would rate our services and what you would you feel we could improve on. As part of our ongoing customer service enhancement, we are collecting feedback.