Research using human subjects provides vital medical and scientific benefits to individuals and society.  However, researchers must balance societal and other medical benefits with their ethical obligations to protect the rights and safety of individual subjects who choose to participate. USC established the Office for the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) to ensure that human subjects research at USC is conducted with these high ethical standards.

OPRS is charged with coordinating the activities of the USC Institutional Review Boards (IRBs).  All proposals involving human subjects must be submitted to an approved USC IRB for approval.  The IRBs have been established to comply with existing federal and state regulations, as well as the ethical principles articulated by organizations who take a leadership role related to the ethical conduct of human subjects research.

This fundamental commitment to the protection of human participants applies to all University of Southern California research involving human participants regardless of whether the research is funded through Government, non-profit or industry sponsors or through University funds and regardless of the location of the research.

USC’s human subjects protection compliance program includes the following elements:

The University requires all investigators to complete Human Subjects Education every three years in order to conduct human subjects research.  OPRS also provides educational and training resources for investigators and research staff, such as presentations, newsletters, and other guidance.

Policies and Procedures

USC’s policies and procedures related to the conduct of human subjects research may be found in the Policies section of the OPRS web site.

iStar Human Subjects IRB Submission Tracking and Review System

Monitoring and Auditing

OPRS and the USC IRB’s regularly conduct reviews and audits of studies under their review and oversight.

If you have a question or concern about how OPRS or the IRB process works, or any other question related to the conduct of human subjects research at USC, please contact OPRS, the USC IRB’s, the Office of Compliance, or USC’s Hotline.