When an investigator involved in research has a financial interest, the interest must be evaluated to prevent violation of state or federal law and/or basic principles of ethics and fairness. Appointed by the Vice President for Research, the University of Iowa Conflict of Interest in Research Committee (CIRC) includes faculty representing a broad range of research disciplines. In addition to its regular membership, the CIRC includes a number of non-voting advisory members from various administrative offices.

Members

  • Delwyn Miller (Chair) - Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine
  • Ned Bowden (Vice Chair) - Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
  • Christopher Coffey - Biostatistics, College of Public Health
  • Erik Lie - Finance, Tippie College of Business
  • Wen Liu - Nursing, College of Nursing
  • Kathy Schuh - Psychological & Quantitative Foundations, College of Education
  • Kyungsup Shin - Orthodontics, College of Dentistry
  • Lucy Santos Green - School of Library Science, Graduate College
  • Botond Banfi - Anatomy and Cell Biology, Carver College of Medicine

Meetings

CIRC meets the third Wednesday of every month. Meetings are closed to the public and documentation/records considered or created by the CIRC are treated as confidential personnel records.

No CIRC member may participate in the review of a disclosed financial interest if they have an interest or other relationship that may affect the objectivity of review, except to provide information requested by the Committee.

Management Plans

It is the CIRC's responsibility to determine if the financial interest can be managed satisfactorily. If the Committee agrees that the financial interest can be managed, it will develop a plan which is then recommended to the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. The Vice President for Research will approve the management plan, and return the documents to the COIR Office.

The plan documents will be sent to the investigator for their approval in Universal Workflow. The Division of Sponsored Programs will not release funding until the COIR Office confirms it has received the approval plan from the investigator, signaling his/her agreement to comply. If human subjects are involved, the IRB will not release the project until the management plan has been received by the COIR Office from the investigator.

Copies of the management plans will be provided to the investigator's immediate supervisor, the PI of the study, and the Human Subjects Office (if applicable). When required by the management plan, students and additional study team members will also be notified of the presence of a conflict of interest.