VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System Research Services

VA Ann Arbor Research Service - Research workflow

All research projects that use VA space, personnel, resources, equipment, or time must have approval by the Associate Chief of Staff for Research (ACOS/R) before they can begin.  In order to get ACOS/R approval, research projects need to be reviewed/approved by various committees.  All projects will need Research and Development committee (RDC) approval.  Depending on the scope of the project, approval by other committees, including IRB, IACUC, Safety, Privacy Officer/Information Security Officer, may also be required.  All applications for review must be completed in VAIRRS, the VA's regulatory management system.  

Step 1:  The PI signs and submit a new project in VAIRRS/IRBNet.  This will trigger a pre-review by the Privacy Officer (PO) and Information Security Officer (ISSO) as well as a pre-review by the Research and Development Committee (RDC) Coordinator.

Step 2:  The PO, ISSO, and RDC coordinator will return comments and questions.  The PI will submit a corrected application. 

Step 3: The project will be put on the agenda for RDC review.  After review, questions/comments will be returned to the PI.

Step 4:  Concurrent with step 3, the RDC will route the project for review with the other committees that will need to provide oversight.  Pre-review corrections will be returned to the PI by committee coordinators and will need to be addressed prior to placing on a meeting agenda.  After committee review, questions/comments will be returned to the PI.  The PI will submit a revised application

Step 5.   When subcommittee approval has been obtained, this will trigger a final review at the next RDC meeting as well as final PO/ISSO review.  Any final questions/comments will be communicated to the PI.

Step 6.  R&D approval and PO/ISSO approval will result in the issuance of an ACOS/R approval letter.  This letter is required before work can begin on a new project. 

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