The University of Michigan Medical School IRB meeting minutes dates from 1966 to 1995 and are organized in chronological order by year, and in reverse chronological order within the folders. The original organization of the collection was maintained, except where notes that were originally grouped together could not physically fit in the same folder, in which case they were split into two or more folders as needed. Due to the nature of the content, the minutes are restricted.
On February 8, 1966, U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart sent a letter to all research institutions detailing a new policy concerning the use of federal grants for experiments on human subjects. This new policy required that all such institutions create a board for the "protection of the rights and welfare of the individual or individuals involved, of the appropriateness of the methods used to secure informed consent, and the risks and potential medical benefits of the investigation." In response, University of Michigan Medical School created what was then called the Standing Committee on Clinical Research and Investigation Involving Human Beings, in March of that same year.
The committee was first chaired by William J. Fry, and included eleven other members, with one or more specializing in each of the following departments: Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Anesthesiology, Obstetrics, Gynecology, Pharmacology and Pediatrics. The committee also included consultants from the School of Law, as well as the Chaplain of the University Medical Center.
The committee was charged with reviewing only those experiments which were partially or fully funded by federal Public Health Service grants, which that year amounted to $9.8 million for the University of Michigan. To do so, they were given full access to the actual grant application, minus the financial statements. Each grant application was assigned to a subcommittee of two members to review and subsequently present their findings to the rest of the committee. The committee would then vote for approval, rejection or modification of the proposal; any committee member that had a personal interest in the proposal would be excused from the meeting during the discussion of that particular proposal.
In 1969 Nurse McDowell became the first member from her department to join the committee, despite hesitation from some committee members. Fry's retirement in 1970 marked the beginning of William W. Coon's 25 year tenure as chair of the committee, until Sumer B. Pek took over in 1995. In 1985 the committee added the first pharmacist, a Ms. Colwin.
The committee is now referred to as the University of Michigan Medical School Institutional Review Board (IRB-MED). IRB-MED has five separate boards with a total of over 100 members reviewing applications three times per week.
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Sources Consulted
Memorandum of the Surgeon General William H. Stewart to the Heads of Institutions Conducting Research with Public Health Grants. February 8, 1966
University of Michigan President's Report 1966-1967, pp.88-93.
