​The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Hamad Medical Corporation is an independent committee designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans. The purpose of the IRB is to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights and welfare of humans participating as subjects in a research study. The IRB reviews research submissions to ensure that they adhere to basic ethical principles underlying the acceptable conduct of research involving human subjects.

The key goal of the IRB is to protect human subjects from physical or psychological harm, which they attempt to do by reviewing research protocols and related materials. The research proposal review assesses the ethics of the proposed study and its methods, promotes fully informed and voluntary participation by prospective subjects capable of making such choices (or, if that is not possible, informed permission given by a suitable proxy), and seeks to maximize the safety of subjects.

This information will act as a resource for the research community regarding the HMC-IRB process.

HMC IRB Report
22 October 2017 to 22 April 2018