For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Justin Burke - 213.201.1525

EMAIL:jburke@apla.org

AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES FIRST AIDS SERVICE ORGANIZATION
IN LOS ANGELES APPROVED FOR INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD
APLA IRB issued a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA), Formalizing Its Commitment
to Protect Human Subjects

Los Angeles, Feb. 18, 2003 —Committed to supporting its expanding and evolving community-based research and evaluation efforts, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today announced the establishment of its own independent Institutional Review Board (IRB), an action approved by and registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. With this authorization, APLA is now able to review protocols and conduct HIV/AIDS socio-behavioral research without relying upon other governmental and University IRBs. This review board protects the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities. The first meeting of the APLA IRB Board will take place February 18, 2003.

“APLA has now instituted the standard of care to ensure that clients, volunteers and staff who may be invited to participate in research protocols receive maximal human subjects protection," stated Lee Klosinski, Ph.D., APLA Director of Programs. APLA’s Research and Evaluation Core is currently involved in several projects funded by the Universitywide AIDS Research Program.

Trista Bingham, MPH, MS, HIV Epidemiology Program, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LACDHS), will Chair the IRB. "Trista understands that everyone in the research community must share the responsibility for protecting research subjects, and she knows how to make institutions and investigators sit up and respond fully to the needs of APLA clients," said George Ayala, Psy.D., Director of Education, APLA. "She has the experience needed to meet this challenge." Bingham is currently the Seroepidemiology Unit Chief of the HIV Epidemiology Program at Los Angeles County DHS. She oversees several HIV prevalence and incidence studies funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Los Angeles County.

"The new IRB establishes APLA as a leader in community-based HIV/AIDS socio-behavioral research, an area today that is exploding with opportunity," said Bingham. "But to achieve the benefits of that research, we need a solid foundation of thoughtfully designed research protocols that take into serious consideration the ethical issues surrounding the protection of human research subjects. The new APLA IRB will work with researchers from health service agencies and research institutions to ensure that this foundation is in place and working productively."

Bingham will serve a three-year term as APLA IRB Chair. The 11-member APLA IRB board is composed of healthcare professionals, members of the HIV/AIDS community, researchers and university professors. Klosinski is the Institutional Signatory Official for the IRB.

AIDS Project Los Angeles, which this year marks 20 years of prevention, advocacy and service, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County. Services include prevention education, food banks, professional dental care, housing assistance, mental health counseling and case management. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level. For more information, please visit www.apla.org.

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