Every three years, the IACUC at Great Eastern University met to review its own standard operating procedures (SOP) to assure they were up to date and compliant with federal regulations and policies. SOP III-42 stated that the Principal Investigator (PI) of an IACUC protocol is the person who has the responsibility and authority to direct the animal activities on the protocol. III-42 had always been interpreted by the IACUC as allowing postdoctoral scholars (postdocs) to function as PIs, as long as the postdoc’s faculty mentor was listed on the protocol as the postdoc’s sponsor. This interpretation was now being questioned by Dr. Jamie Matthews, an assistant professor of cell biology, who said that the SOP seemed to contradict itself. “How is it possible,” she asked, “to be a PI with the responsibility of directing an animal research project if you have to have a faculty mentor overseeing or guiding you?” She wanted to know if a postdoc would have the authority to spend a mentor’s grant money if, for example, the IACUC requested a pilot study or if a mentor’s oversight would be required if a postdoc had a grant of his or her own. Matthews said that she wasn’t trying to be a trouble maker; rather, she envisioned unnecessary research delays or animal welfare problems if a financial, personnel, or significant scientific problem arose and the mentor wasn’t immediately available. Did the postdoc have or not have the authority to handle such problems?

Larry Covelli, the IACUC chairman, responded that the problems Matthews envisioned had never occurred during the many years he had chaired the IACUC, but if the committee thought that an SOP change was needed, it could vote for that change. However, as the discussion progressed it became clear that other members on the committee, especially the more senior faculty, were perfectly happy with the SOP as it was currently written because they saw the SOP as a good training mechanism for their postdocs and less work for them.

Do you think that Matthews has reasonable concerns? How do you think the Great Eastern IACUC should resolve the issue raised by Matthews?