Human Participants, Animal Use and Safety Issues in Research

General Policy
Projects involving use of humans or animals as participants of research must be submitted for special institutional review and approval. Generally, sponsors expect that this review process will be completed - and institutional approval obtained - prior to submission of a grant proposal. These reviews are intended to minimize discomforts and/or risks to the participants and will assure that researchers comply with Federal regulations.
Please be advised all individuals submitting applications or interacting with human participants must be certified.
Dowload information on certification exam below.

  • What is the IRB? 
  • When must I submit a Request for Approval of Human Participants Research Application Form to the IRB?
  • IRB Meeting Dates
  • Elements of Informed Consent
  • Certification Exams

Human Participants
Projects that involve humans as research participants should be submitted for review and approval by the University's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Complete information regarding the University's policies and procedures on the use of humans as subjects can be obtained from the following documents:

Please see the University's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for more information on animal use.  All PDF documents require Adobe Reader 5.0 or above. If you don't already have Adobe Reader, click here.

IRB Going Paperless
The IRB (Institutional Review Board) has now gone paperless.  In the past the IRB required that researchers submit one paper copy and one electronic copy.  A paper copy will no longer be required.  The process of getting forms signed and moving the paper from one location to the next was time consuming. The great part about this change is that it will save everyone time and paper.  Instead of one paper form that is required to be signed by each party, we will now accept a chain of electronic signatures in the form of St. John’s emails.  In order for these signatures to be valid they must come from St. John’s email accounts.  For example, a student will attach all IRB documents to a St. John’s email, those documents will be sent to the faculty supervisor’s St. John’s email account.  The faculty supervisor will review all documents, approve, and forward all documents to the Department Chair’s St. John’s email account.  The Department Chair will review all documents, approve and forward all documents to the Dean’s St. John’s email account.  The Dean will review all documents, approve and forward to the IRB: nitopim@stjohns.edu.

Revisions and approval letters will be done electronically as well.  Please see the step by step process below that must be followed:

Process for Students

  1. The student sends an email to his/her Faculty Supervisor with all required IRB documents attached.
  2. The Faculty Supervisor forwards the email with the documents to the Department Chair with a statement of approval. For example, “I have reviewed the attached IRB documents and approve.”
  3. The Department Chair forwards the email with the documents with a statement of approval to the Dean.
  4. The Dean forwards the email with a statement of approval and the running history of approvals to Marie Nitopi, Ed.D., IRB Coordinator, at nitopim@stjohns.edu.
  5. The IRB will then print this email as the signature page.


Process for Faculty/Administrators

  1. The Faculty/Administrator sends an email with all required IRB documents attached to the Dean.
  2. The Dean forwards the email with a statement of approval and the running history of approvals to Marie Nitopi, Ed.D., IRB Coordinator, at nitopim@stjohns.edu.
  3. The IRB will then print this email as the signature page.


If you have any questions concerning this new process then please contact Marie Nitopi, Ed.D., IRB Coordinator, at nitopim@stjohns.edu.

Contact Information 
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
(718) 990-1440
Newman Hall, Room 108
nitopim@stjohns.edu

Dr. Jay Zimmerman
IRB Chair

Marie Nitopi, Ed.D.
IRB Coordinator