The Main Line Hospitals IRB (MLHIRB) is comprised of three subcommittees located at each of the three Main Line Hospital sites. These subcommittees include the Bryn Mawr, Lankenau and Paoli Memorial Hospitals.

Within this site are links which will provide access to various information such as policies, meeting schedules, and forms.

Main Line Hospitals, Inc. is committed to safeguarding the rights and welfare of persons participating in research conducted under its jurisdiction. To that end it is cognizant of the Declaration of Helsinki - a code of ethics for clinical research - which had been approved by the World Medical Association initially in 1964 and most recently in 1989. Additionally, Main Line Hospitals, Inc. (MLH) subscribes to and abides by the Belmont Report which contains a statement of basic ethical principles governing research involving human subjects which was issued by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in 1978. Aware of its role in perpetuating ethical standards in the application of sound medical research, MLH maintains the above referenced documents on site as a written embodiment of the ethical foundation for all research conducted on MLH campuses.

These documents also served as a foundation for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when creating a mechanism to protect and regulate the conduct of human research in America. This was done by incorporating the ethical standards promulgated in the above national and international documents into the creation of what is now known as an Institutional Review Board (IRB). It is through the operation of the IRB that persons participating as subjects in research are assured treatment in accordance with basic ethical principles, namely, respect for persons, beneficence and justice. This IRB mechanism is codified at Title 45 Part 46 and Title 21 Parts 50 & 56 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

MLH serves as part of this mechanism to assure the safeguarding of the rights and welfare of research participants through its IRB which operates in accordance with the federal regulations promulgated by the FDA and the DHHS. It has entered into an Assurance with the Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP) a division of the DHHS, as a participant in federally conducted or supported research. As such, it has assured the OHRP that it will comply with the federal regulations, ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human research subjects as set forth in the Belmont Report. This Assurance is an agreement between MLH and the OHRP setting forth the specifics as to how it will protect the welfare of research subjects.