Meeting Schedule

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has four Institutional Review Boards, or IRBs: Committees A, B, C and D. For more information, read the policy regarding IRB Committee Structure.  Generally, any item may be reviewed by any Committee.

Starting in April 2023:  Incoming submissions are generally assigned to a Committee based on the PI’s last name*:

*Exceptions:  All Uganda and HVTN studies are placed on Committee A or B.

General Schedule

Refer to the table below for the full, current schedule of IRB meetings.

Fred Hutch IRB committees normally meet on Wednesdays as follows:

• First Wednesday of the month: Committee D
• Second Wednesday of the month: Committee A
• Third Wednesday of the month: Committee C
• Fourth Wednesday of the month: Committee B

In months with a fifth Wednesday, there is no IRB meeting that week.

Through March 2023: The IRB submission deadline for all items that require full committee review is 5 p.m. on the Friday three weeks prior to the meeting week.  This allows staff time to screen and prepare applications for the Committee and time for the Committee members to review all materials in advance of the meeting.

Starting with the April 2023 meetings:  Applications are placed on a meeting agenda only after IRO staff has assessed them and the study team has responded to any staff-requested clarifications, to ensure that submissions are clear and complete. This is called the screening or pre-review process.

The agenda for an IRB meeting is closed 5 business days before the meeting to allow IRB members sufficient time to review all items.

PI Responses to old business requiring full review will be assigned to the same Committee that reviewed the original submission.

If requested, the IRO Assistant Director and Committee Chairs may consider adding to the agenda an item received after the agenda has been closed based on the following criteria:

• Modifications to research relating to mitigating subject safety issues
• Urgent issues, such as funding deadlines

NOTE: Items requiring review by the Cancer Consortium’s Scientific Review Committee (SRC) must first have obtained SRC approval before submitting to the IRB for review.  Contact CRScommittees@fredhutch.org if you have any questions about SRC review. 

IRB Meeting Schedule