Recertification

All BU Medical Campus/BMC human researchers must be recertified every three years. Individuals with expired training will not be permitted to submit new protocols to the IRB, nor be named on any new protocols, nor added to existing protocols until the recertification requirements have been met. Details of the certification requirements can be found on the page entitled Human Subjects Protection Training.

Who needs to be recertified?

All faculty and staff who are engaged in human research, who are employed by the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, BU SPH, BU GSDM, or Boston Medical Center, and whose training has expired or is about to expire. Trainees (students, house officers, post-docs) who are named on BU Medical Campus/BMC IRB protocols must also be recertified. In addition, because the BU Medical Campus/BMC IRB is their IRB of record, human researchers at the Boston Public Health Commission and at any of the Boston HealthNet Community Health Centers must also be recertified. If you fall into one of these groups, you will need to complete recertification.

Who does not need to be recertified?

There are two groups who do not need to be recertified:

1. BU Medical Campus/BMC faculty, staff, and trainees who are primarily based at a VA facility who wish to be named on a protocol being reviewed by the BU Medical Campus/BMC IRB do not need to complete the BU Medical Campus/BMC recertification process. We will accept documentation that they have completed the VA’s CITI certification/recertification program. These VA-based investigators must email a copy of their up-to-date VA CITI recertification form to medirb@bu.edu with an explanatory email.
2. Clinical researchers whose primary affiliation is at another institution but who are named on a BU Medical Campus/BMC IRB protocol (for example, a collaborator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) do not need to complete our BUMC recertification. They would, however, be expected to meet any recertification requirements of their home institutions.

How to get recertified?

– If your training, that has expired or is about to expire, was not obtained through CITI under the “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center” institution (i.e. obtained from another institution other than “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center”), then you need to follow this link which provides directions for accessing the CITI web site where training courses are offered that allow investigators to become “Certified” and “Recertified.”  Note:  If your last recertification was through the CR Times training, you will need to complete the CITI initial training (see instructions).

– If your training, that has expired or is about to expire, was obtained through CITI under the “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center” institution, then CITI will send you email reminders close to the course’s expiration date and will create a Refresher Stage course for you to complete on your CITI Home page under the “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center” institution. In this case you would follow the instructions below for accessing the CITI web site and completing the “Refresher Stage” course that allow investigators to become “Recertified.”  We suggest that you print this page before navigating to the CITI website.  The instructions below will be helpful to you as you navigate on that site.

My training, that has expired or is about to expire, was completed using CITI under Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center and my Refresher Stage course is now due:

1. Navigate to: https://www.citiprogram.org/
2. Click on the “Log In” button and log in into your existing CITI account using the username and password you previously registered with. This should take you to the Welcome screen of your CITI account.
3. Under “Institution Courses,” next to “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center,” click on “View Courses.” This will take you to the “Show Courses for” page.
4. You will see the selected courses listed under “Boston University Medical Campus/Boston Medical Center Courses.” Locate the course that you want to complete (the one that has “Refresher Stage” following the course’s name) and click on the “Start Now” or “Continue Course” button (depending on whether the course was started or not)
5. If this is the first time you are visiting this page, then you need to click on “Complete the Integrity Assurance Statement before beginning the course”; select “I agree…”; and then click “Submit.” If you have already done this, skip this step.
6. You should notice that the “Start” button for the first module listed under “Required Modules” is clickable now. Click on “Start” button to start reading it and taking the quiz.
7. As soon as one module is completed, the next module (if there is one) will be available and the “Start” button for that module becomes clickable.

Once you pass the Refresher Stage course, the system will email your certificate to the IRB on the next morning. There is no need for you to send the IRB a copy of your certificate unless specifically requested to do so by the IRB. Your CITI training information will automatically be uploaded the next morning directly into the IRB’s INSPIR system and into your INSPIR account if you already have one.