Meeting Schedule

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research 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.

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.

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.

New Research Applications

New research applications that require full review at a convened meeting will be assigned to one of the four Committees for review. Applications are typically assigned to the next available Committee in the order they are received. 

Committees review a maximum of five new applications per meeting. Complete submissions received by 5 p.m. on the day of the agenda deadline are placed on the meeting agenda, unless the meeting is already at capacity. 

Other Submission Types

Modifications requiring full review will be assigned to the next Committee meeting based on the day a complete submission arrives in the Institutional Review Office (IRO), unless the meeting is already at capacity.

Continuing Review Reports are scheduled to be reviewed by the IRB in the 30-day period before the expiration date.

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

Exceptions to Meeting Deadlines

Submissions received after the deadlines will be scheduled for the next available meeting. Requests for exceptions to the submission deadline must be presented in writing from the principal investigator.

If requested, the IRO Assistant Director and Committee Chairs may consider adding to the agenda an item received after the submission deadline 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. The following schedule applies to projects submitted directly to the IRO, not the SRC.

IRB Meeting Schedule