Georgia Highlands College (GHC) maintains an Institutional Review Board (IRB) with the charge of protecting the rights and welfare of humans who participate in research. All activities related to human subjects research must initially be reviewed and approved or exempted by the Georgia Highlands College IRB whether they are conducted by faculty, staff, assistants, students, or any external researcher or collaborator.

GHC is currently undergoing policy changes related to IRB. If you are interested in human subjects research at GHC, please contact Jesse Bishop (jebishop@highlands.edu) for more information. We hope to have our new policies and documents in place soon.

• The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) – OHRP Decision Tree
• NIH Guidance for Research Involving Human Subjects
• NIH Guidance on Research Involving Human Specimens
• Research Involving Private Information or Human Specimens – NIH Decision Tree
• OHRP Guidance on Coded Private Information or Biological Specimens
• NIH FAQs for Research Involving Human Specimens, Cell Lines, or Data