Research Compliance Office

Guidance for Tulane University Researchers Regarding COVID-19

The Tulane University Research Compliance Office (RCO) remains fully operational during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect this to continue even if the university further suspends on-site operations for purposes of decreasing COVID-19 transmission.

As Tulane University makes decisions on how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to reassure the university community that our primary concern is the safety of our research participants and the research team members at the university. Our secondary goal is to preserve the scientific integrity of the research and its protocols.

Contact Information

RCO staff members are working remotely and are available to assist you:

• Research Compliance Officer Brian Weimer – bweimer1@tulane.edu or (504) 988-1147
• Deputy Research Compliance Officer Lisa Wurtzel – lwurtzel@tulane.edu or (504) 988-2557
• Administrative Assistant Kay Leger – kleger@tulane.edu or (504) 481-7914

Please contact us if we can assist you. Our policies and procedures are available at https://research.tulane.edu/compliance.

Tulane University resources regarding COVID-19

The university has issued and continues to update guidance regarding operations during the pandemic. Below are links to current online guidance that may be helpful to you.

• Required changes to research practice based on the coronavirus will be posted on the Office of Research website: https://research.tulane.edu/.
• Guidelines issued by the Tulane School of Medicine: https://medicine.tulane.edu/research-covid-19-information.
• Tulane University COVID-19 website (information, FAQs, and current recommendations): https://campushealth.tulane.edu/health-center/primary-care/infectious-disease-care/coronavirus-covid-19.
• Tulane University President’s announcements on university actions: https://tulane.edu/tulane-university-moves-online-instruction-cancels-large-events.

Additional resources

Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

Website location of this document: https://research.tulane.edu/compliance

Document last updated: March 20, 2020

On behalf of the Vice President for Research, the University Research Compliance Office assists researchers in order to ensure compliance with regulations, university policies, and accreditation standards that are applicable to research activities, including

• use of human and animal subjects in research
• biological safety
• pre-award grants administration
• export controls
• research misconduct
• responsible conduct of research training
• responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
• registering and posting research results in www.ClinicalTrials.gov
• use of controlled substances.