Required training programs at the Broad Institute are designed to promote awareness of ethical issues in research and the rights of the people who have generously provided us with the research samples and information that make our biological insights here possible. 

Everyone at the Broad (including all members of the administrative staff) must complete and regularly renew a course on the ethical treatment of human subjects.

 

Human Subjects Training

All Broad employees and affiliates must complete a Human Subjects Protection (HSP) course. The Broad utilizes the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) to satisfy this training requirement among others. Broad subscribes to CITI's web-based training platform to administer six courses in Research, Ethics, Compliance, and Safety.

If you are new to the Broad (and to CITI Program), please register an account via www.CITIProgram.org. Please refer to the HST page for further instruction. 

If you have a CITI account that you've registered via another institution, please add the Broad Institute as an “affiliate institution” within your existing account. 

Once you have registered a CITI account and added the Broad Institute as an affiliate institution you'll be prompted to answer our CITI Course Enrollment questionnaire (a series of six questions that will allow you to self determine which courses you will need to complete). Broad has two specific courses that will satisfy the Broad's Human Subjects training requirement, the Introduction to Human Research Protections" course, and the "Biomedical Research" course. You will be prompted to select one of these two courses upon answering the CITI enrollment questions. Please choose the appropriate course based on your professional role and involvement in human research.

If you are a Principal Investigator, work directly with human subjects OR their identifiable information, or need to be listed as study staff on an IRB protocol application, you will need to take the "Biomedical Research" course. Note: this course has a continuing education component, those required to complete this course must renew their training every three years.

If you do not fit into any of the categories cited above, you will just need to complete the “Introduction to Human Research Protections" course to satisfy the Broad's HSP training requirement.

If you've taken an equivalent HSP course at another institution, please send your CITI certificate and CITI completion report to ORSP@broadinstitute.org. HSP courses taken at outside institutions may be applied to satisfy Broad’s HSP training requirement. The Office of Research Subject Protection (ORSP) will confirm and credit you accordingly.

 

CITI HIPAA and Health Information Security training

If you work in certain departments at the Broad, or if you work with identifiable information about human research subjects, you are required to take the CITI HIPAA and Health Information Security course training. If you work in the Broad's Genomics Platform (GP) or the Data Science Platform (DSP), OR work directly with human subjects and/or have access to their identifiable information (at Broad or another institution) please enroll in and complete this course. 

To enroll in this course, please visit the CITI Program website (www.citiprogram.org), log in with your Broad-associated CITI account, and follow the instructions below.

  1. Once you’re in CITI, click the “View Courses” button. 

  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Add Course.”

  3. You will be presented with a short questionnaire. Your response to Question 3 determines whether or not you’re enrolled in the HIPAA and Health Information Security course.

  4. After you submit your responses, CITI will enroll you in the training courses you’re required to take. HIPAA and Health Information Security should be in your “My Courses” list for you to complete.          

For questions about this training course, please email Sarah Tahiri & Lila Lamar.

 

Training in Responsible Conduct of Research

This training program consists of online training modules and workshops designed to promote discussion. Please visit the RCR page for more information. This course can be accessed via the CITI Program website (www.citiprogram.org).  

All postdoctoral scholars whose primary appointment is at the Broad and all principal investigators with less than five years of experience as a PI are also required to complete training in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR).

 

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training

Investigators who are conducting or involved in a clinical trial are required to complete Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training. A clinical trial is defined by NIH as a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes.

The Dana-Farber IRB also requires that investigators who are listed on federally funded IRB protocols complete the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training course whether or not the study meets the definition of a clinical trial.

*Investigators who are listed on Dana-Farber IRB protocols with no participating sites other than the Broad Institute and no federal funding are not required to complete GCP training.

You can complete the online course through your Broad or DFCI CITI accounts:

1. Log in to the CITI Program Website (www.citiprogram.org).

2. Under "Broad Institute Course" (or DFCI Course), click "Add a Course" from the My Learner Tools for Broad Institute/DFCI.

3. This will bring you to the Curriculum page. Select the "GCP for Clinical Trials with Investigational Drugs or Medical Devices (U.S. FDA Focus)" course. Please note that you will need to click "not at this time" next to the additional courses if you are only fulfilling the GCP requirement at this time. Click submit.

4. You will then return to the home page. When you are ready to complete the course, click on the course and complete the modules.

Upon completion a copy of your training record will be automatically routed to the Broad's Office of Research Subject Protection.

If you have any questions about GCP training, please contact orsp@broadinstitute.org

 

Broad's Data Security & Stewardship Training

All employees and appointees who have access to raw sequence data will need to complete the Broad's Data Security & Stewardship Training course. You will also need to take the course when part of your work at Broad will involve either analyzing individual level genomic sequences of human subjects, or publishing findings that are a result of individual level human sequencing data. 

You can access the course by logging into Broad’s 'My Learning' platform. At the top left of the page, click the search box that says “search site” within. Please enter 'Broad Data Security & Stewardship Training' within the search box and click return. Select the “Broad Data Security and Stewardship Training” to access and begin the course. You will need about 20-30 minutes to complete this course. Upon completion, please notify the Office of Research Subject Protection at orsp@broadinstitute.org so they can award you credit for this course.

Please note, this particular training was once referred to as "Data Safety training" but is now known as the Broad’s "Data Security and Stewardship" training course as of September, 2021. If you have taken the preceding "Data Safety" course, you will not be required to take the updated "Data Security & Stewardship course" unless required by your specific lab and/or department. For questions about this training, please email orsp@broadinstitute.org.

 

 

Conflict of Interest Training

Principal investigators and key personnel must complete financial conflict of interest training before engaging in NIH-funded research at least every four years. Instructions to access the CITI training module can be found in this presentation. Please contact Whitney Dodds for questions about this training.

 

training

Research Subject Protection