Significant financial interests which have any relationship to proposed research, must be disclosed at the time the application is submitted to an external agency for funding, or when an application for that research project is made to the IRB (whether or not the study has external funding). If external funding is obtained for the project, the conflict must be reviewed, and managed, reduced, or eliminated, before any external funds would be received or spent.

The requirements for disclosure and management of conflict of interest for research come from the federal government, and need to be taken seriously in every instance. More details regarding the federal requirements are found under the tabs on “Resources” and “Office of Research Affairs”.  Dr. Sheila Vrana, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research, reviews applications for funded research projects. If any significant financial interests are disclosed, she and Neal Thomas, Conflict of Interest Coordinator, will work with you to resolve them.