Changes made to conflict of interest policy

Lee Anna Clark, associate provost, and David Wynes, assistant vice president for research, chaired the committee that revised the Conflicts of Commitment and Interests Policy, which went into effect Feb. 10. Standards in the policy have changed little, Wynes says.

“These are generally dictated by state law and federal regulation,” he says. But the document is much shorter and more clearly delineates conflict of commitment, conflict of interest in the workplace, and conflict of interest in research.

Among other notable changes:

• Supervisors must prepare and file a written disclosure and management plan when conflict of commitment and conflict of interest in the workplace are determined.
  
  
• More detailed reports of outside paid professional activities by faculty are now required, as requested by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.
  
  
• All research, irrespective of funding, must comply with the policy on conflict of interest in research. Previously, only sponsored research was covered.
  
  
• In all instances of conflict of interest in research, the investigator’s DEO and dean must be notified and consulted before the Conflict of Interest in Research Committee takes action on the application.
  
  
• A researcher who invents technology used in his or her research presents a conflict requiring disclosure and management—a change recognizing the potential for financial benefit by the inventor/investigator. In the past, this would have been considered a conflict only after the inventor actually began receiving licensing or royalty income.
  
  
• There are new restrictions on human subjects research by investigators with a conflict of interest, bringing the policy in line with more recent policy statements from the American Association of Medical Colleges, American Association of Universities, and the federal Office of Human Research Protections.

The full text of the policy is available on-line at www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/ii/18.htm.

Article by Charles S. Drum